Lake County Sentinel
Blue Devils get back on track taming the Tigers 28-6
BY TIM SHIRER
SPORTS EDITOR
(CHAGRIN FALLS, OH) - One of the big questions heading into Friday Night’s matchup at Chagrin Fall’s C.S. Harris Stadium between the host Chagrin Falls Tigers (2-5) and the visiting Wickliffe Blue Devils (6-1) was if the Blue Devils would recover from their first loss of the season last week to the Kirtland Hornets. The game was scoreless through the first quarter but in the end the Blue Devils did what they do best using multiple offensive weapons and strong defense to defeat the Tigers 28-6.
The game was scoreless for the first 23 minutes until the Blue Devils got on the board with just :56 left in the first half after the Wickliffe defense stopped the Tigers on a fourth and goal the two to take possession and mark 98 yards on 14 plays capped off by a six yard touchdown run by freshman Eli Fitch. After senior Drew Rossman kicked the extra point the Blue Devils ed 7-0. It was the start of a big night for Fitch.
Wickliffe took the 7-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The third quarter was much like the second quarter a defensive battle featuring a Blue Devils interception by senior Jimmie Feaste and one score which came at the 2:44 mark when Fitch capped off the Blue Devils 7 play 57-yard drive with an eight-yard run giving Wickliffe a 14-0 lead.
When the fourth quarter clock started the game was still a two-possession game and for most of the final quarter it looked like it would remain that way. Until the Blue Devils put together an 11 play 71-yard drive capped off on a two-yard run by senior captain Frankie Bucar giving Wickliffe a 21-0 lead with just 6:52 remaining in the game.
The Tigers offense finally got on track and responded with a seven play 63-yard drive capped by a 10-yard TD pass from sophomore quarterback Max Frankel to junior wideout Brady Kass to cut the Blue Devils lead to 21-6. The Blue Devils blocked the extra point attempt by Tigers kicker senior Harrison Horvath.
Wickliffe finished off the game’s scoring with 2:06 left on the clock and sophomore QB Dom Porcello kept the ball and scored from two yards out giving the Blue Devils a 28-6 advantage.
The game was a marred by 19 penalties combined for both teams (10 Wickliffe, 9 Chagrin Falls) for a total of 160 yards (70 Wickliffe, 90 Chagrin Falls). All in attendance would agree that it was a rough night for the officials.
The offensive is stats were lobsided in favor of Wickliffe as they racked up 408 yards of offensive, including 356 yards on the ground carrying the ball 53 times. Meanwhile the Blue Devils offense limited the Tigers offense to just 168 yards on 36 plays.
Individually Fitch stole the show again as he carried the ball 32 times for 213 yards and two TDs. Porcello also had a big night for the Blue Devils as he combined for 164 yards, 10 carries for 109 yards and five completions for 55 yards.
Blue Devils head coach Marce Porcello was happy with how his team rebound after the adversity of a loss to Kirtland the week before and commented, “Yeah, we’ve been talking about it all week. Just, this was a bounce back game. This was a prove to ourselves who we are. He went on to say, “Our guys were down about last week. We expected to play better than we did last week, and we just kept talking about this is a bounce back comeback win and the got it tonight, I thought we played pretty well.”
Porcello also commented on the lay of his defense, “We try to get heat. When we think a team going to pass, we try to get heat, and we play a lot of man coverage.” Porcello went on to praise his defensive coordinator Kevin Sharp and the bend don’t break style they play, “We got the big stop at the end of the half.” He continued with, “The came up huge tonight, they hit a screen pass at one point as well, but overall our defense played lights out tonight, but I credit coach Sharp, he had such a great game plan going in and we took a lot of their stuff away I thought and our kids played really physical and fast.”
The Blue Devils will host the Rootstown Rovers next Friday at 7 pm at Wickliffe Memorial Stadium on the Campus of Wickliffe. The Tigers will host the 7-0 Kirtland Hornets also at 7 pm on Friday.
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com follow Tim on Twitter @TBBucsTim or follow us on Twitter @LCSentinelcom
POSTED 10/04/2025 00:13
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. Photo by Tim Shirer
