Cleveland Heights Crushes Warren G. Harding, Nears Playoff Berth

When the head coach receives the traditional Gatorade bath at the end of the game, it’s usually better to dump the drink on him rather than crush him with the bucket.

“They nearly KO’d me,” Cleveland Heights head football coach Jeff Rotsky said.

Although senior quarterback Bryce Jones and his gang had a little explaining to do with the postgame celebration, there was certainly no doubt about the game itself. In front of a boisterous homecoming crowd, the Tigers lived up to expectations making the fumbled Gatorade shower easy to forgive.

Cleveland Heights scored four first-half touchdowns to crush Warren G. Harding, 28-0, to remain undefeated at 8-0 and 5-0 in the Lake Erie League on Friday night.

Jones threw two touchdown passes and Braxton Gamble and Marcus Bagley ran in one each for a Cleveland Heights team that’s on the verge of making the playoffs for the first time in the school’s history.

“I’m just proud of our kids. They’ve worked. They’ve earned it. They’ve talked with their shoulder pads, and they’ve let the scoreboard talk,” Rotsky said.

Although the Tigers aren’t officially in the playoffs, Cleveland Heights is currently fourth in the OHSAA State Computer Rankings in Division I, Region 1. The top eight teams qualify for the playoffs.

Cleveland Heights, ranked 14th in the latest Associated Press’ Division I state poll, can assure itself a place in the playoffs if it can defeat defending Division II state champion Maple Heights on the road in both teams’ regular season finale.

Maple Heights (8-0 overall, 5-0 LEL) posted a 22-0 shutout of its own against Bedford, making Friday’s game a title matchup for the league’s crown. Game time is 7 p.m.

All the playoff talk has the Tigers giddy with excitement, and taking down Maple Heights would certainly add to the fervor.

“It feels great to do something that’s never been done at this school,” Jones said. “First, we’ve got to get past Maple. Everybody knows we’ve got a job to do next week … beat Maple and show them they’re not better than us. We’re the best team in the LEL, and we’ve got to show it next week.”

Maple Heights is second in the Division II state poll behind only Avon despite having 15 first-place votes to the Eagles’ seven, but Avon has 302 overall votes to Maple Heights’ 285.

On the Gatorade bath, Jones said the guys simply got a little too excited. The football mantra is to act like you’ve been there before, but Cleveland Heights hasn’t been here before.

“We kind of messed it up a little. We kind of threw the thing at him instead of dumping it on him. We got a little bit of his back, but that was just a little one in comparison to what we’re going to do next week and from here on out the rest of the year,” Jones said.

Harding (1-8, 0-5) won its only game against Youngstown East, 9-2, on Sept. 2, and no one at Crawford Field thought a second was coming Friday night.

Cleveland Heights made quick work of the Raiders as they scored on the game’s opening drive in five plays as Bagley ran it in from 6 yards out for a 7-0 lead at 9:58. Bagley finished with 58 yards on 11 carries.

In the second quarter, Jones, off a play-action fake, hit Dorien Hudson for a 46-yard TD pass behind the Raiders’ defense to go up, 14-0, and followed that up with a 10-yard slant pass to Shelton Gibson for a 21-0 lead at 6:24. Jones finished 6-of-12 passing for 121 yards and had four rushes for 48 yards.

On the Tigers’ next possession, Gamble broke free for a 36-yard TD run at 2:06 of the second quarter to close the Tigers’ scoring. Gamble finished 117 yards on 16 carries.

: Cleveland Heights Athletic Director Kristin Hughes said special team coach Mario Houston, on Sept. 23, is currently in rehab and is able to talk some and understand parts of conversations. Rotsky said he’s got a long way to go but is improving.

Warren G. Harding      0   0    0    0    0

Cleveland Heights       7   21   0    0  28

1st Quarter

Cleveland Heights – Bagley 6 run (Brown kick)

2nd Quarter

Cleveland Heights – Hudson 46 pass from Jones (Brown kick)

Cleveland Heights – Gibson 10 pass from Jones (Brown kick)

Cleveland Heights – Gamble 36 run (Brown kick)