BRIMFIELD TWP, Ohio – Streetsboro football coach Pete Thompson preached to his team all week about intensity. The players listened, as the Rockets dominated from start to finish in a 49-0 win over Field to clinch the Metro Athletic Conference title on Friday night.
Despite wins over Woodridge (42-0) and Ravenna (45-14) the past two weeks, Thompson felt like his team wasn’t playing with the same fire they had earlier in the season, and especially in a 55-0 win over Norton on Sept. 27.
So, he tested his team early on Friday night.
With Streetsboro (9-0, 6-0) facing a fourth-and-2 at its own 28 on its first possession, Thompson left his offense on the field. The Rockets responded by picking up the first down and driving the rest of the way down the field, resulting in a 2-yard touchdown run by quarterback Cohen Klimak.
“I think if we were to punt that, Coach Thompson would’ve heard it from us, because that’s what we expect, we expect to go for that,” Klimak said. “But I think that’s just kind of how we play ball. We’re just real physical. We play with an attitude. So the fourth-and-2 is just another first down for us.”
Streetsboro, ranked No. 20 in the latest cleveland.com Top 25, then recovered a loose ball on the ensuing kickoff and Klimak scored again, this time from 4 yards out, to make it 14-0 with 7:02 left in the first quarter.
Midway through the second quarter, junior running back Janiere Cook ran nearly untouched through the middle for an 18-yard touchdown and then on the next Streetsboro possession, with time winding down in the half, Klimak found wide-open Manny Gibson down the left sideline and the speedy junior wide receiver took it 67 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-0 with 1:30 left in the half.
Field (7-2, 4-2) had a chance for one final drive in the second quarter, but Klimak stepped in front of a pass from Falcons quarterback Peyton Anderson, intercepted it and ran it 53 yards for a touchdown with seven ticks remaining. He gave credit to teammate Jackson Gula for helping on the play.
“Jackson Gula called that out right before the play, one of the smartest players I ever played with,” Klimak said. “He’s just yelling out ‘fade stop, fade stop.’ I just kind of forced the pass and then dropped underneath, and then had to turn on the jets to get in the end zone.”
While the offense of Streetsboro picked up 257 yards in the first half, with 190 yards on the ground, the defense held Field to just 84 total yards in the first half.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, so we had to bring the intensity, like we played against Norton,” said junior defensive lineman Arthur Scott III, who had half a sack and a quarterback pressure on a fourth down in the half. “We had to come hard every play, every down, every drive, and that’s just what we did.”
The defense held Field running back Drexal McAmis to just 40 yards on six carries in the half and 37 yards for the game. In practice all week to prepare for the 6-foot-4, 250-pound back, Streetsboro used a special weapon on the scout team – starting offensive guard Tyler Kertis, who is about 240 pounds.
“He did a nice job, obviously he wasn’t perfect emulating Drexal, but our kids got a lot of work tackling a big body throughout the week,” Thompson said. “That says something about our team as well when you can get your starting guard to go up against the starting defense, and take some shots all week and embrace that.”
The Rockets continued their dominance in the second half, as Klimak scored on a 53-yard run on the first possession of the half and then after an interception by Gibson, he finished off the ensuing drive with a 7-yard touchdown run.
Streetsboro finished the game with 303 yards rushing, led by Klimak with with 13 carries for 122 yards and three scores, Cook with 70 yards on six carries, Marcus Council with 66 yards on eight carries and Gibson with 45 yards on five carries and a touchdown. Overall, the Rockets had 370 yards of offense.
Even though Thompson thought the team started a little slow on both sides of the ball, he felt like the intensity ratcheted up as the game went on.
“We scored on our first drive, but it was for us, quite frankly, it was a struggle,” Thompson said. “Their defense made us work. And then defensively, that first drive, they were able to move the ball and we made some plays there to get off the field deep in our own territory. But I thought after those first couple of drives, we were able to take control of the game and as we had more and more success, the intensity level did pick up.”
The win for Streetsboro was not only important for the conference championship, but for postseason seeding as well. The Rockets entered the game No. 4 in Division IV, Region 13 of the OHSAA’s playoff computer ratings, one spot ahead of two-time defending state champion Glenville. The top four teams in each region have the opportunity to host two playoff games.
Streetsboro finishes its regular season on the road at Cloverleaf on Friday, Oct. 25, while Field plays at Ravenna.
