Middlefield OH- The Cardinal Huskies hosted the James A. Garfield G-Men to open up the season. Garfield looked to continue their winning streak over the Huskies that dates back to 2014.
Q1
Garfield would begin on defense but it wouldn't last long. Cardinal QB Logan Strever completed a pass to Troy Domen, but on the next play a fumble gave Garfield the ball at the Huskie 30. It took one play for Keegan Sell to hit pay dirt as he cruised to the end zone from 30 yards out. With the PAT up and through the uprights the G-Men would send the ball back to the Huskies. A promising start to the drive as Kyle Sinclair and Cal Ciminello both picked up first downs on the ground. Strever got dropped in the backfield on 3rd down, forcing a punt. A series of punts as both offenses had gone cold. Late in the opening quarter Garfield had the ball up by 7. After a couple of runs from Sell and Eric Geddes, Geddes dialed up the long ball hitting Deacon Sommer in stride for the touchdown.
With the PAT going through the uprights Cardinal would get the ball back with time winding down in the first.
Q2
A Huskie punt opened up the second quarter, pinning the G-Men deep in their own territory. A couple of penalties saw them backed up on 2nd & long. A botched snap to Sell nearly spelled trouble for Garfield but he recovered well and worked his way to make it third down with five yards to go. Nothing doing for the G-Men on the drive as they punt it back to Cardinal early on in the second. A pair of first downs were picked up by seniors Sinclair and Domen. Christian Cowle made a tough catch to give the Huskies a 4th & short. Cardinal turned it over on downs. It only took a couple of plays for Garfield to find the redzone.
From the Huskie 20 yard line Eric Geddes took it himself for the score, his 2nd of the game. With the ball back in their hands down by three scores the Huskies were in need of a good drive. A first down from Sinclair on the ground was followed up by an interception thrown by Logan Strever, putting Garfield at the Cardinal 28 yard line. Neil Lucariello came up with a big tackle for loss, dropping sell on 1st down for a loss of 4. A good defensive stand from Cardinal, forcing a turnover on downs. A pair of nice catches from Aidan Gallagher fired up the Huskie faithful. First a toe tap on the sideline before Strever called up his number again deep down the field putting the Huskies inside the G-Men 10 yard line. With Cardinal inside the 10, Logan Strever was looking for Gallagher again but the route was jumped and picked, sending us to half, Huskies trailing 21-0.
Q3
Landon Gallagher would send it away to kickoff the 2nd half. Leo Grandizio with a house call to open up the half for Garfield, taking the life out of the stadium.
With the score sitting at 28-0, the initial Huskie possession ends in a punt. Aidan Gallagher would give Cardinal the ball back with his first interception of the year. The drive would stall forcing another punt. Geddes uses his legs as he picked up a first down inside the redzone. A few play later Keegan Sell would trot into the endzone for his 2nd touchdown of the night.
The third quarter would come to a close with the G-Men up 35-0.
4Q
In the fourth quarter starters began to get pulled. It didn't stop Garfield for scoring one more time to put a button on this one. The streak will live on for one more year, the G-Men shutout the Huskies 42-0 to open up the 2023 regular season. The Cardinal Huskies will travel to take on the Pymatuning Valley Lakers next week. As for the Garfield G-Men they also hit the road again to face the Warren JFK Eagles
I spoke with Garfield's Eric Geddes, Keegan Sell, Deacon Sommer & coach Mike Moser.
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