By Dave Alligood
BROOKLYN, OHIO—With all the current talk about hurricanes, the Brooklyn High School Hurricanes held their own conversation with a 48 – 22 blowout win over the Lincoln West Wolverines Friday night at Brooklyn Memorial Athletic Stadium.
The Hurricanes dominated both sides of the ball in the first half en route to a 41-0 lead at the break.
The Wolverines had no answer on defense as the Hurricane offense scored at will.
Neither did they have an answer on offense, as the ‘Canes defense held them to 15 yards of total offense in the first two quarters.
With the victory, Brooklyn enjoyed its first winning streak since 2011.
Coach Sean Belveal was pleased with his team’s performance, saying, “Our offense was clicking tonight, and our defense was really, really good.”
The Hurricanes offensive onslaught took half of the first quarter to get started. After forcing Lincoln to punt after a short five play drive, Brooklyn began their first drive at the 40-yard line.
Combining the running of seniors Yamil Rivera and Matt Crossman, the Canes drove to the Lincoln 19-yard line. A botched play resulted in an 11-yard loss and a 3rd-and-16 from Lincoln’s 30. Senior John Kenderes then just missed senior wideout Isaiah Linder, forcing a long 4th down. Out of field goal range, the Canes snapped the ball, and this time Kenderes hit Rivera who found the end zone for Brooklyn’s first score. With the PAT, the Canes led 7-0 at the 5:01 mark in the first.
Brooklyn’s next score took a little more than 30 seconds.
Lincoln fumbled the kickoff, and Rivera pounced on the loose ball at the 10-yard line. Two plays later, Matt Crossman scored from six yards out. With the PAT, the Canes led 14-0 with 4:15 left in the first.
After a three-and-out, Lincoln’s punt was short and set up the Canes at Lincoln’s 30-yard line.
The first play of the second quarter resulted in another score as senior Joey Sullivan took the pitch from Kenderes and scampered around the end from 12 yards out. Kenderes’ third PAT made the score 21 – 0 with 11:46 left in the half.
Brooklyn’s defense forced another 3-and-out as senior QB Jarhod Wilson could get little momentum. The Wolverines’ short punt gave the Canes the ball at Lincoln’s 43-yard line.
A long 31-yard pass and run from Kenderes to Sullivan set up the Canes with a first-and-goal at Lincoln’s eight-yard line. Then on fourth-and-goal from the 3, Matt Crossman bulldozed his way into the end zone for his second touchdown. Kenderes’ fourth PAT gave Brooklyn a 28-0 lead with 6:20 left in the half.
Lincoln’s next drive was disastrous as they suffered multiple penalties and faced 4th down and long from their 23. The resulting punt gave the ball to Brooklyn at their own 42-yard line.
On first down, Kenderes found Sullivan again, who raced down the right sideline before getting caught at Lincoln’s 12-yard line for a 46-yard play.
Four plays later Crossman again found the end zone, this time from the 2-yard line. Kenderes’ first missed PAT made the score 34-0 with 3:52 left in the half.
Lincoln’s next possession ended as all their other first half possessions: No points and giving the ball back to Brooklyn with good field position, though with only 47 seconds left on the clock.
Taking over at Lincoln’s 29-yard line, Brooklyn attempted three consecutive incomplete passes, the last one in the end zone as an open Isaiah Linder let the pass fall through his hands.
Then on fourth down, Kenderes scrambled around before finding Linder open again in the end zone. This time Linder held on for the touchdown as the half expired. The successful PAT gave a half-time score of 41-0 for the Canes.
With a running clock in the second half, and Brooklyn utilizing many reserves both on offense and defense, the Canes managed only one touchdown on a 10-yard run by junior Seth Majewski.
Friday night’s offensive effort resulted in 270 yards of total offense and featured multiple players. Coach Belveal said, “We moved people around a little bit to get some of our guys the ball in the best position [to make plays].”
Senior QB John Kenderes finished with an efficient passing effort, completing 8 of 13 passes for 155 yards with two touchdowns, all in the first half as junior Hunter Smith took over at QB in the second half. Kenderes was also 6-7 on PAT attempts.
Joey Sullivan finished with 2 long receptions of 31 and 46 yards and contributed a 12-yard touchdown run. He also prowled the edge on defense with 1 sack and multiple QB hurries.
Yamil Rivera finished with 4 receptions including a 30-yard touchdown, while Isaiah Linder contributed 2 receptions including the 29-yard touchdown play to close out the first half.
On the ground, Matt Crossman led the Hurricanes with 49 yards on 9 carries and the 3 touchdowns.
Senior end Alex Gucwa contributed stellar defense with a sack and multiple tackles.
Lincoln West was led on offense by junior running back Chase McMichael who finished with 111 yards on the ground on 7 carries on the strength of 2nd-half touchdown runs of 48 and 37 yards.
Senior running back Cortez Robinson contributed 39 yards on 11 carries, including a 31-yard touchdown run as the game clock reached zero to account for the final 48-22 score.
Coach Belveal lauded Lincoln’s efforts despite the lopsided first half: “We’ve been in that situation before. We’ve been where they’ve been, and they battled really hard. I give that coaching staff and their kids a lot of credit.”
Brooklyn faces a tough challenge next week as they face Firelands in their first road game of 2017.
Coach Belveal looks forward to this challenge: “Firelands is kind of where we want to be. That’s a program that we want to emulate. For us it’s a big test.”
Lincoln West will search for their first win of 2017 as they visit Rhodes.
Player of Game: Senior running back/linebacker Matt Crossman paced the Hurricanes offensively with 9 carries for 49 yards and three touchdowns. He also helped stuff the middle and led a defensive attack that held Lincoln West to 15 yards total offense in the first half. Coach Belveal said of Crossman: “Our senior middle linebacker Matt Crossman was huge for us. He’s always huge. He allows us to do some other things out there.”
Scoring summary
Brooklyn: Kenderes 44-yard pass to Rivera 5:01 1Q (PAT good)
Brooklyn: Crossman 4-yard run 4:15 1Q (PAT good)
Brooklyn: Sullivan 12-yard run 11:52 2Q (PAT good)
Brooklyn: Crossman 3-yard run 6:20 2Q (PAT good)
Brooklyn: Crossman 2-yard run 3:52 2Q (PAT missed)
Brooklyn: Kenderes 29-yard pass to Linder 0:00 2Q (PAT good)
Lincoln West: McMichael 48-yard run 5:47 3Q (2 pt conversion good)
Lincoln West: McMichael 37-yard run 0:41 3Q (2 pt conversion good)
Brooklyn: Majewski 10-yard run 7:55 4Q (PAT good)
Lincoln West: Robinson 31-yard run 0:00 4Q (no PAT attempt)
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