CUYAHOGA FALLS: The Barberton football team will retain “The Bell” for another year thanks to impressive performances by a cast of players Friday night.
Junior quarterback Zane Ries orchestrated the Magics’ offense efficiently, and juniors Christian McCarroll and Keye Thompson each made a difference on offense and defense to lead the Magics to a 43-21 victory over host Cuyahoga Falls.
Ries completed 26-of-41 passes for 312 yards and four touchdowns.
“We played physical and came out strong tonight,” Ries said.
Ries spread the ball around with receptions going to seven different players — Thompson, McCarroll, seniors Tamarion Jennings, Kobie Booker and Khalil Dunem and juniors Luke Metsker and Garrett Turnbaugh.
“It feels good to be 3-0,” Barberton coach Tony Gotto said. “I didn’t think we executed as well on offense as we should have ... but our guys came out ready to go. I told our guys as long as we play physical football we will be OK.”
Thompson finished with 15 carries and 60 rushing yards behind an offensive line that consisted of senior Kalen Phillips, senior Trent Stefan, junior CJ Wiley, senior Dominic Massarelli and junior Malcolm Boyd.
“We were very physical and our O-line played very well,” said Thompson, who also had four receptions for 81 yards. “There were little mistakes, but those are fixable.”
McCarroll had a fumble recovery, interception, sack and touchdown reception in the first half. He then added a couple more sacks and a rushing touchdown in the second half.
“This is the biggest game of my high school career so far,” McCarroll said.
Barberton totaled 295 yards from scrimmage in the first half and limited Falls to 19 yards en route to a 14-0 lead after one quarter and a 28-0 advantage at halftime.
Thompson rushed for a 2-yard touchdown at 4:17 in the first quarter and then Ries tossed three touchdown passes. Ries connected with Turnbaugh on a 20-yard touchdown at 1:49 in the first quarter and a 26-yard touchdown at 11:11 in the second quarter, and found McCarroll for a 10-yard touchdown at 7:40 in the second quarter.
Falls cut its deficit to 28-7 when senior Nate Vassalotti threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to junior Tyler Gibson with 5:37 remaining in the third quarter.
Barberton made it 35-7 when Ries threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to senior Kobie Booker, a University of Akron recruit, on a fourth-and-6 play with 10:05 to go in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Griffin Brown kicked his fifth and final extra point.
Falls answered that score with a 53-yard kickoff return by sophomore Jordan Bosley and a 37-yard touchdown pass by Vassalotti to senior Nick Siegferth with 9:49 left.
McCarroll rushed for a 13-yard touchdown and Turnbaugh threw a two-point conversion to Booker with 4:47 to go for Barberton.
Falls’ Vassalotti completed a 21-yard touchdown to Siegferth with 43 seconds left and senior Greg McDevitt made his third and final extra point kick.
Barberton senior AJ Mitchell forced a fumble that senior Aryc Clayton recovered. Falls junior Ben Kinker and senior Damien Fleming each snagged an interception, and senior Patrick Horrigan recovered a fumble.
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the #ABJVarsity high school blog at www.ohio.com/preps. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBeavenABJ.