When the marching band had its horns blaring and its drums rumbling at the end of third quarter, light-footed Tigers tackle Kyle Dodson didn’t miss the beat on Shaw Stadium’s turf Friday night.
The dancing Dodson’s confident steps foreshadowed what was coming next. Up three points and driving against a team that has defeated them the last three years, the determined Tigers finished off the drive, got the winning margin they needed and eventually took it home, 35-24, over Shaw in a Lake Erie League tilt.
After Shaw scored once more to draw within 28-24 with 6:08 remaining in the game, Terrence Bailey made extra sure Dodson’s mini-celebration wasn’t in vain. The senior receiver caught a 28-yard TD pass over the middle from Bryce Jones on fourth-and-8 for the final margin at 1:02.
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Bailey, who is playing on the varsity squad for his second season, witnessed many of those losses both on the field and from the sidelines. Gathering in the catch that finally ended Shaw’s threat was a sweet reward for all of his hard work.
“It feels great. I’m just glad coach (Jeff) Rotsky called my number. I knew I could do it. I’m glad we could beat Shaw. We’re on to bigger and better things now,” Bailey said.
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Opening the season with three wins isn’t something the Tigers have seen much recently, and Bailey feels something special just might be taking place if the team sticks to the fundamentals.
“We’ve got a lot of potential. We’ve got to get better every week in practice. We’re not there yet, but we’re going to get there once we get it together in practice,” Bailey said.
Head coach Jeff Rotsky finally beat Shaw in his fourth year with the Tigers. After Cleveland Heights (3-0, 1-0 LEL) won its first two games with a combined 110-12 margin over Walnut Ridge and John Adams, Rotsky said last week he wanted to see how his team would perform against Shaw (1-1, 0-1).
Friday night, he got his answer.
“(Shaw's) a very good football team. Our kids persevered in the second half. We needed to play big in the second half and we did,” Rotsky said. “It was a hard-fought game. I was not happy with how we played defensively in the first half. We played great in the second half. Our defensive staff made some great adjustments. And it helped us out a ton.”
Dodson’s dance came in the middle of a drive that Dionte Saffo completed with a 5-yard push into the end zone. It put Cleveland Heights up, 28-18, with 7:45 left in the fourth quarter.
Shaw quickly retaliated with quarterback William Woods’ 1-yard run as the Cardinals tried desperately to get the ball back. Tigers' quarterback Bryce Jones led Cleveland Heights on a clock-killing drive that eventually ended with Bailey’s TD catch.
Six-year Shaw coach Rodney Brown was quite impressed with Cleveland Heights’ efforts.
“My hat goes off to coach Rotsky. I beat him three times; he’s got me once. I’m hoping this is not the start of him catching up. He did a good job. The kids showed a lot of class after the game. They didn’t boast. It speaks well for the job coach Rotsky is doing over there,” Brown said.
Cleveland Heights took the opening kickoff, and Jones finished off a 10-play drive with a 1-yard plunge that put the Tigers up, 7-0. Shaw responded with a drive from its 3-yard line that Keon Jacobs completed with an 11-yard run at 11:25 of the second quarter to draw to 7-6.
After the Tigers’ Dorien Hudson gathered in a 22-yard screen pass from Jones to go up, 14-6, at 7:40 of the second quarter, Shaw’s Woods found Deondre Westfield for 29-yard TD pass that drew the Cardinals within 14-12 at 4:36.
The Cardinals took the lead just before the half as Woods scampered for runs of 18 and 38 yards to help lead Shaw from its 25 all the way to Cleveland Heights’ 1. On fourth-and-goal with 10 seconds left in the quarter, Woods ran around the left end and popped in for the go-ahead 18-14 score.
In the third quarter, Shelton Gibson ran a punt from Shaw’s 40 down to the 23. Two plays later, Gibson ran an end-around to give Cleveland Heights a 21-18 lead it would not surrender.
“Coming around the corner, I couldn’t see anything. I slowed down and turned it in,” Gibson said. “I was out of the end zone when I got tackled, but I just stretched my arm to get in.”
Cleveland Heights 7 7 7 14 35
Shaw 0 18 0 6 24
1st Quarter
Cleveland Heights - Jones 1 run (J. Jones kick)
2nd Quarter
Shaw - Jacobs 11 run (pass failed)
Cleveland Heights - Hudson 22 pass from Jones (J. Jones kick)
Shaw - Westfield 29 pass from Woods (kick failed)
Shaw - Woods 2 run (kick failed)
3rd Quarter
Cleveland Heights - Gibson 16 run (J. Jones kick)
4th Quarter
Cleveland Heights - Saffo 6 run (J. Jones kick)
Shaw - Woods 1 run (pass failed)
Cleveland Heights - Bailey 28 pass from Jones (J. Jones)