Lake County Sentinel
Beavers stop Hilltoppers 38-26
BY KEN KRIZNER
STAFF
(CHARDON, OH) - It isn’t too hard to see what defenses think the key is to stopping the Painesville Riverside offense – focus their attention on senior running back Kyndall McCaleb.
And Friday night at Chardon Memorial Field, the Harvard-bound McCaleb ran for some big plays, including three first-half touchdowns. But in the second half, the Hilltoppers defense did a very credible job in bottling up McCaleb.
But while the Hilltoppers had some success defending McCaleb, they had no answer for junior quarterback Bo Brandehoff. He passed for one touchdown, ran for another and hit big pass after big pass, leading the Beavers to a 38-26 victory over Chardon.
“Bo has become the leader this team needs right now,” said Riverside Head Coach Jeremy Ishmael. “He has grown leaps and bounds during the past 18 months and into the roll of starting quarterback.”
The matchup featured two teams that got off to 3-0 starts but were coming off two consecutive defeats. Both were hoping to right their respective ships entering the second half of the season, as well as looking to get off to a good start in Western Reserve Conference play and solidify their OHSAA state playoff positions.
After exchanging punts to start the game, Riverside (4-2, 1-0) took over on its own 34 yard line. Brandehoff hit McCaleb coming out of the backfield on a picture perfect over-the-shoulder catch. Later, Brandehoff kept the drive alive with two third-down pass conversions. McCaleb finished the drive with a four-yard run for the Beavers touchdown.
After successive runs by senior Drayton Allgood put the ball into Riverside territory, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty drove the Hilltoppers back. On fourth down from the Riverside 43, the Hilltoppers went for it, but a pass to tight end Ivan Chuha from sophomore quarterback Andrew Cole fell incomplete.
McCaleb went for 19 yards on the next drive. Another McCaleb run for a first down was negated by a blindside block. But a defensive holding penalty on the Hilltoppers got some of the yards back. Brandehoff hit wide receiver Spencer Short for a first down at the Chardon 20. But on third down Brandehoff was sacked for a 7-yard loss. He came back on fourth down, however, and delivered a 27-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver David Seibert to extend the Beavers’ lead.
On the other side of the ball, Riverside’s defense, while giving up some yards to the Chardon offense, prevented big plays for most of the first half.
On Riverside’s next possession, McCaleb took a handoff, went around the right end, shook off two would-be tacklers and went 65 yards for the touchdown.
To make matters worse for the Hilltoppers, a fumble on the ensuing kickoff was recovered by Riverside at the Chardon 24 yard line. Four plays later, it was McCaleb again, going in from 13 yards for a 28-0 lead.
As the clock was winding down in the first half, Allgood ran 58 yards to get the ball to the Riverside 9 yard line. After two plays picked up 0 yards, Chardon was going to attempt a field goal but decided to bring the offense back on the field after Riverside called a timeout. It turned out to be the right move as Cole hit junior wide receiver Braedan Schultz on the final play of the half for a Hilltoppers touchdown.
Brandehoff was outstanding in the first half. On the first Riverside touchdown drive, he completed three passes, including two on third down, then a perfect strike on fourth down for the Beavers’ second touchdown. On its next two possessions, Riverside turned to McCaleb, who did the brunt of the carrying and scoring two touchdowns.
Allgood picked up 100 yards rushing for Chardon in the first half, including his big run that set up the Hilltoppers touchdown at the end of the half.
The Hilltoppers’ defense came up big on Riverside’s first offensive possession of the third quarter. Needing only one yard for a first down, McCaleb was stopped on third and fourth downs for no gain by the Hilltoppers.
This became the pattern for most of the second half. Riverside turning to McCaleb to pound the ball and keep the clock moving, only for the Hilltoppers’ defense to come up big and keep Chardon in the game.
Cole hit Allgood on a 47-yard pass to move the ball into Riverside territory, then scrambled for 10 yards and a first down on a fourth-down play to keep the Chardon drive alive. Allgood struck on the first play of the fourth quarter on a 36-yard touchdown run. But the extra point by senior Austin Seese was no good, leaving the score 28-13, Riverside.
Following a Riverside punt, senior running back Max Hannen got behind the Beavers’ defense and Cole hit him in stride for a 77-yard touchdown pass. This time Seese’s extra point was good, pulling the Hilltoppers to within 8 at 28-20.
On Riverside’s next possession, both teams traded penalties that negated big plays. Brandehoff came up big, keeping the ball himself and running 57 yards to the Hilltoppers’ 6 yard line.
Another holding penalty wiped out a Brandehoff touchdown. And the Hilltoppers stuffed McCaleb on second and third down. Senior Leo D’Astolfo, who had a field goal blocked earlier in the second half, nailed a 30-yard field goal to extend the Beavers lead to 11 with about 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Ishmael praised the offense for getting the momentum back after the Hilltoppers made it a one-score game. “Our offense went down the field and at least got a field goal to get it back to a two-score game,” he said.
After a pass to Allgood was incomplete that saw Chardon arguing for a pass interference call, linebacker Short intercepted Cole’s next pass, and Brandehoff immediately took advantage, going 20 yards for a touchdown.
“The interception was huge,” Ismael said.
Mixing runs and passes, Chardon scored with slightly more than one minute left on an Allgood 6-yard run but could not convert the two-point conversion. From there, Riverside ran out the clock.
Both teams return to Western Reserve Conference play next week. Riverside will host Mayfield in a key Division II matchup, while Chardon (3-3, 0-1) will be home to Eastlake North.
After winning for the first time in three weeks, Ishmael says his team is in a good place and is looking forward to the Wildcats and the rest of the season.
“Every game will be key the rest of the way,” he said. “Mayfield is going to come in as a tough, gritty football team. Our team is in for a fight.”
POSTED 09/27/2025 00:06
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Photo by Ken Krizner
