The Bedford Bearcats lost in their first contest of the season to the Nordonia Knights at Nordonia’s Boliantz stadium on Friday night, and despite the lop-sided final score, the first half was a competitive affair with a number of thrilling plays.
In fact, the Bearcats were only down three points, 21-18, with just over a minute left in the half after having been down at one point, 14-0. They arrived at that three- point margin after Bedford’s senior running back Dan Lymon darted up the left sideline for a score. The run capped off an impressive 80-yard drive that included two gorgeous passes from senior Raymell Hester to senior Jaylon Clark and sophomore Kamryn Bibee, respectively.
The celebration for the touchdown was short-lived, however, after it became sadly apparent that Lymon had injured his leg on the play. Bedford’s trainer and coaches rushed to the back of the end zone to treat him as he lay on the ground. Fortunately, he was able to limp off the field on his own strength after a delay of a few minutes. He was later seen on the sideline with a large ice bag on his knee.
Just as their offense seemed to get humming, the Bearcats were facing a major setback with the loss of their featured back. Still, if the team could lock down the Nordonia offense for a little more than a minute at the end of the half, they would be down only a few going into halftime.
The Bearcats kicked off, and Nordonia started their drive on their own 41. After a short gain on first down, and with the clock running, the Knights ran a pass play on second down. The quarterback had great protection, and a breakdown in coverage in the Bearcat defensive backfield left a receiver wide open way down the field by the goal line. The quarterback heaved the ball for a 57-yard completion and a touchdown.
The Bearcats were now down 10 points instead of 3, and while there was still much more of the game left, it seemed like the momentum had swung back to the Knights as the teams headed into the locker rooms with the score 28-18.
Bedford received the ball at the start of the second half, and with a third-and-10 from his own 20-yard line, Hester took off down the field for 37-yard sprint. After a defensive pass interference call on Nordonia, and a great fake on a pass play by Hester on a second-and-13, the Bearcats found themselves back in the red zone. An ensuing pass play was called back because of a holding call against Bedford, and on second-and-24 from the 32-yard line, a Hester pass was tipped and intercepted with 8:42 left in the third quarter. A promising drive was snuffed out. After this series, Bedford would not reach the red zone again during the game.
To Bedford’s credit, though, after the interception, their defense held Nordonia to only one first down before the Knights had to punt the ball. Sophomore Marion Spraggins had a beautiful open-field tackle during the series, and Bedford was given the ball back at their own 20-yard-line. Still, as the game moved on, Bedford had more and more difficulty moving the ball as the Nordonia defense was able bear down more on Hester in the pocket. He was sacked on a third-and-8 play during that series, and the team went four-and out.
Nordonia got the ball in excellent field position after the punt, starting at Bedford’s 40-yard-line. Even then, the Bedford defense made another stand, and forced a fumble as Nordonia was driving down by the goal. Bedford took over with the ball on their own 2-yard-line, and ended up giving up safety to Nordonia with 1:06 left in the third quarter, and the score, 30-18.
Bedford kicked off after the safety, and the Knights got great field position again, with a first-and-10 from Bedford’s 36-yard-line. This time the Knights capitalized on their opportunity, and with 11:09 left in the game, they took a 37-18 lead. Nordonia would tack on 10 more points before the game finally ended, including a 48-yard field goal by their highly-skilled kicker Andrew Lastovka. It was Lastovka who made Bedford start most of their drives on their own 20-yard line during the game, since he routinely kicked the ball through the end zone on kickoffs.
Bedford’s two other touchdowns in the game came on 20-yard pass play from Hester to senior receiver Sean Conway off a deflection, and a pick 6 by defensive back Jaylon Clark. Both scores occurred in the second quarter.
Bedford will play Friday at 7:00 p.m. at Elyria, who won their first game 28-15 against Elyria Catholic according to MaxPreps.
Of interesting note, Bedford was the first team to play against Nordonia on their newly redone field. According to an Akron Beacon-Journal report, the $425,000 turf was installed and ready for play on July 15.
Lake Conference Scores (MaxPreps):
Maple Heights 53, John F. Kennedy 0
Cleveland Hts. 48, Hoover 28
East (Youngstown) 12, Shaw 8
Eastlake North 22, Garfield Hts. 15
GlenOak 31, Shaker Hts. 22
Olmsted Falls 50, Lorain 0
