Medina youth gridders split with Akron
Medina split 2-2 with Akron Saturday in Niagara Orleans Football Association (NOFA) competition at Vets Park.
Medina won the JV Division game 38-0 and the Varsity contest 40-0 while Akron won the Beginners 24-0 and the Minis 12-0.
Beginners
Akron 24, Medina 0
Offensively the Ponys could not sustain drives despite a few good runs by Kaydence Russaw, Zack Allen, Lyric Chinn and Cayden Dubois as penalties and negative yard plays plagued them every time they would get a drive going. On the defensive side the Ponys had a tough time with Akron’s speed and some good plays were made by Allen, Dubois, Russaw, Easton Hodgins and Shane Re.
Minis
Akron 12, Medina 0
The Colts put up a good fight defensively in this one as the second TD wasn’t given up until late on an interception return, but the usually strong running game of Damereon Shine and Luke Hungerford was stymied for most of the day. Austin Harper did hit a couple of good passes to Ja’Kier Taylor. Defensively they were strong as always lead by Shine, Hungerford, Taylor, Xander Groves, Jeremiah Baity-Medina and Patrick Grollmes.
JV
Medina 38, Akron 0
Improving to 5-0, this game was all Broncos from start to finish as they opened early with a 20 yard TD run from Kaydence Russaw and never looked back. Jude Lacy followed that up with a 25 yard TD run and a Zia Dix extra point run and Dix hit Russaw for a 2 yard TD pass, with Dix adding the extra point and making it 20-0.
Dix found Zack Graham in the second quarter for a 20 yard TD pass then Darrell Shine III scored on a 3 yard TD run to make it 32-0 at half time. In the second half Tarvarias Griffin scored on a 72 yard TD run that may have covered twice that much yardage as he reversed fields a number of times for the 38-0 final score.
Defensively the entire team was making plays, led by Shine, Liam Skowneski, Jaden Luxon, Russaw, Julian Session, Caliyah St. Louis and Jayveon Wills.
Varsity
Medina 40, Akron 0
The game opened up with a Matthew Jacobs TD run and the 2 point conversion to Preston Woodworth for an 8-0 lead. On the next possession Woodworth picked off the Akron QB and returned it for a TD and a 14-0 lead. Malik Lamar scored from 30 yards out and Hadrian Batista hit Trey Rhim for the 2 point conversion. Batista added on an interception return it for a TD and a 28-0 lead heading to half time.
Ryan Frentz scored a 60 yard TD run in the third quarter and Autumn Rizzo closed out the scoring with a 2 yard TD run for the 40-0 final score.
The defense was dominant in this game, led by Jacobs, MacKoy Hall, Will Ribbeck, Miguel Molina, Frentz and Dean Fischer. The biggest play came from Jayden Shivel who intercepted a pass and returned it 40 yards to set up one of the Medina scores. Stallions move to 2-3 on the season.
