View pictures from the game – photos by Garvas: https://photos.garvas.org/wadsworth-2022/h2f830c58#h30196c9e
On Friday night, the Nordonia Knights traveled to Wadsworth and learned the hard way that all good things must come to an end. Nordonia’s offense was held to 172 yards of total offense and the defense surrendered 405 on the way to their first loss of the season 41-14. In a game that watched the Knights get penalized 7 times and saw them unable to generate much of a running game, the Grizzlies came out fast and strong and seemed set on feeding the Nordonia defense a steady diet of running the football.
After watching Wadsworth march 60 yards on 14 plays in their opening drive, the Knights responded with a 6-play drive of their own that ended in a fumble at their own 35-yard line. The defense held strong and forced the Grizzlies into a 4-and-out of their own. After a lackluster first quarter that saw the teams exchange short drives, the Grizzlies started the second quarter with a change in offensive strategy that featured a heavy dose of running back Kyle Figuray.
The first play of the second quarter was a 1-yard run by the Grizzlies QB followed by what was to become a theme for the Knights the rest of the night – short, unproductive drives that could not generate any kind of consistent offense. Unable to generate much push by the offensive line against the bigger sized Grizzlies, the Knights watched yet another drive end after not being able to establish any kind of consistency in either the passing game or running game. Every direction Knights running back Zach Zender tried to run, it seemed as though there were two Grizzlies waiting for him. QB Joey Palinkas struggled to find open receivers for most of the night, ending the game with only 114 yards through the air. The first half came to a close with a 21-0 Wadsworth lead, seeing the Knights continue to struggle to stop the rushing attack of the Grizzlies.
The Knights came out of the locker room to start the second half and seemed content into chewing into their deficit on the scoreboard. Their first drive was a 10-play drive that came to a close when they were unable to convert on a 4th and 1. Wadsworth took 2 plays to reestablish their dominance on the scoreboard, seeing Figuray run 46 yards for the Grizzlies 4thtouchdown of the evening. A respectable kickoff return by Israel Petite was negated by a holding penalty, forcing Nordonia to start from inside their own 15 yard line. After watching Palinkas lead the Knights out to their 35, the drive stalled and the Knights had to punt the ball back to the Grizzlies. Seven straight rushing plays saw Wadsworth stretch their lead to 34-0. The ensuing kickoff had Devin Tufts recovering his own fumble at the 18-yard-line, then 4 plays later having the Knights unable to execute out of punt formation, seeing Palinkas pounce on his own attempted punt at his own 4-yard-line.
The fourth quarter started with Grizzlies looking to score on a short field, but the Knight’s Nolan Cribbs had other plans as he picked up a fumble and scampered 91 yards to finally get Nordonia on the scoreboard. Connell Rafferty successfully kicked his first of 2 extra points.
Wadsworth finished off their last scoring drive of the night having been assisted by 30 yards of defensive penalties by Nordonia. The Knights closed out the game with their second team offense, with backups QB Ben Chesser and RB Rocco DeLorenzo providing most of the offense in a 52-yard 8-play drive ending with DeLorenzo punching the ball over the goal line, thereby ending an evening of frustrations and disappointment for Nordoina as they fall to 5-1.
Nordonia will travel to Hudson next week to face the Explorers, who will be coming off of a 45-0 thumping of Brecksville.
