STRONGSVILLE, Ohio — With a spin out of a tackler, Sam Dimacchia raced to the end zone for Strongsville’s second — and go-ahead — touchdown Friday night to race past Cleveland Heights.
The Mustangs’ 31-14 win in the first round of the OHSAA Division I football playoffs marked their second victory of the season vs. the Tigers. It also gave Strongsville the school’s first playoff win since 2008, which first-year coach Jason Trusnik made an immediate point to congratulate his players about in their postgame huddle at Pat Catan Stadium.
“It’s a crazy feeling,” said Dimacchia, a senior who rushed for 177 yards and two scores on 21 carries. “We’ve been talking about it all season. We kind of have our mindset on it and, one of our goals was hosting and winning a playoff game.”
Strongsville (7-4) advances as the eighth seed in Region 1 to play Mentor after the top-seeded Cardinals (11-0) dispatched St. Ignatius, 31-7. Their meeting on Friday next week will be a rematch of their Week 9 encounter, won 44-17 by Mentor for the Greater Cleveland Conference championship.
Trusnik told his players he cannot wait to get on the bus for that trip in a week.
“There’s some things that obviously we need to do better,” he said, reflecting on the first game. “I’m eager to get back to work. We knew this was a possible matchup, so the boys are excited.”
Mentor represents the Mustangs’ only loss in a stretch of the last seven weeks. Their winning stretch began to take shape in Week 6 with a 28-6 victory against the Tigers on the same field where they met Friday. Cleveland Heights senior running back Marquise Davis rushed for 142 yards and the Tigers’ lone touchdown in that one.
He ran for just 8 yards on Friday, slow to get up on his third carry. Davis had just picked up a first down on the Tigers’ second possession midway through the first quarter. Coach Mac Stephens came to see him and walked him off the field.
Davis, the reigning cleveland.com Offensive Player of the Year and a Kentucky commit, watched the rest of the game with his pads on and helmet off.
“When he got tackled on that play, he got bent in an awkward way,” Stephens said, “and it just wasn’t worth it for what he’s got on the line. As much as I would have loved to have him in the lineup, you’ve got to look at the big picture.”
Fellow senior running back Mercellus Harris rushed for 84 yards on 11 carries, including a second-quarter TD run of 65 yards that rallied the Tigers. They added an E’mere Atkins run on the two-point conversion and took an 8-7 lead.
It lasted for 42 seconds on the scoreboard.
Dimacchia, who scored Strongsville’s first touchdown on the opening play of the second quarter, came right back with a 46-yard run. Two plays later, he spun out of a tackler’s grasp and raced to the end zone on a 15-yard run with 11:01 left in the half.
“When stuff like that happens, it’s not like it’s intentional,” Dimacchia said of his instincts. “I broke out of a tackle and it was good blocking.”
Senior quarterback Nolan Good added a 50-yard run to score later in the quarter, pushing Strongsville’s lead to 21-8 at halftime. They iced it on a pick-six by J.J. Pleasant late in the fourth quarter to set the final score.
“I know they’ve got guys,” Dimacchia said. “They’ve got a lot of running backs. They’ve got players, but Austin (Adkins), Braelin (Dally) and Storm (Miller), of course, they’re just out here doing work. They’re getting it done on defense, and they’re really helping us out.”
That trio of Adkins, Dally and Miller on the defensive front helped Strongsville contain the Tigers to 200 yards in total offense, including 151 yards on the ground. Strongsville, meanwhile, rushed for 226 yards in the first half alone.
Contact sports reporter Matt Goul on X (@mgoul), Threads (@mgoul) or email ([email protected]).