Kirtland vs. Sugarcreek Garaway football: Hornets shut out Pirates, 17-0, to reach state championship game
Nov. 24—LOUISVILLE — Defense doesn't just win championships. Turns out it's pretty good in semifinal games, too.
Powered by a smothering defensive performance that piled up eight sacks, Kirtland shut down high-powered Sugarcreek Garaway for a 17-0 win in a Division VI state semifinal Nov. 24 in Louisville. The win puts Kirtland (13-1) in its 12th state championship game on Friday, Dec. 1 at 10:30 a.m. against Versailles.
"Man, those kids played their tails off," Coach Tiger LaVerde said of his defensive unit that dominated all night. "They did exactly was Coach (Ryan) Beeler coached them to do. They got after the quarterback and made his life a little miserable."
Make that a LOT miserable.
The Pirates (14-1) entered the game averaging 39.5 points and more than 400 yards of offense per game. They finished with zero points and 55 total yards. After accumulating 58 yards in the scoreless first half, Garaway finished with negative-three yards in the second half and settled for 55 yards for the entire game.
Garaway quarterback Brady Geibel completed 10 of 16 passes for 75 yards (7.5 yards per reception), but he was in constant pressure from Kirtland defensive ends Will Bates and Anthony Fortuna, as well as intermittent blitzes from linebackers Rocco Alfieri and Macguire Boyd. The Pirates only ventured into the red zone once against Kirtland, and that drive ended with a missed field goal in the first half.
"That team averages 40 points per game," LaVerde said. "To put a zero on the board is special."
"We knew we were undersized, but we gave it our all," said Bates, who had three sacks in the game. "We were talking all week in practice that if we got pressure, we were going to win this game. ... We played our butts off."
After a scoreless first half, in which Kirtland missed two field goals and Garaway missed one, the Hornets' defense came up with a big stop early in the third when Ty Bledsoe pounced on a fumble to give Kirtland a short field to work with. Rocco Alfieri cashed in with a three-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead.
"You give them 20-yards to drive ... you can't do that against a championship-caliber team," Garaway coach Jason Wallick said of the turnover.
Kirtland, which held a gargantuan 30:36-to-15:58 advantage in time of possession, got deep into Garaway territory in the fourth when Nick Barisic booted a 20-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead.
Facing a two-score deficit midway through the fourth, Garaway absorbed back-to-back sacks to face a fourth-and-24 situation. An incomplete pass gave Kirtland prime field position, and Hornets' QB Jake LaVerde converted with a 15-yard touchdown run for a 17-0 lead.
LaVerde's touchdown run was part of Kirtland's 50-carry, 244-yard rushing night.
"We got the run going right before halftime," Coach LaVerde said. "We found something that was working. In the second half, it kept working."
Alfieri hammered away for 108 yards on 19 carries to put him over 1,000 yards for the season. Willie Beers had 62 and LaVerde 50.
"We ran power and kept moving the ball on them," Alfieri said. "(On defense) we got home to the quarterback. He had nowhere to go. We were surrounding him."
In all, Kirtland outgained Garaway, 290-55. Aside from the big rushing total, the Hornets got 46 yards passing, with Gino Blasini catching three passes for 30 yards.
But this one was all about defense and Kirtland's ability to limit Garaway's high scoring offense. The 17 points is the most Garaway has given up in a game all season while the shutout was the first of the season for a Pirates' offense whose previous low was 28 in a Week 3 win over West Muskingum.
"They're just a really good defensive team," Wallick said of the Hornets. "They've got nine starters back from last year's team. We knew it would be a challenge to score. ... That's a very good team."
Kirtland now sets its sights on Versailles, a 30-13 winner over Columbus Grove in the other Division VI state semifinal and a rematch of the 2021 Division V state title game won by Versailles, 20-16.
"To get there is amazing," LaVerde said of his program's 12th trip to a state championship game. "I know people thing it's easy. It's not easy. These kids put in a lot of work. I hope next week we have a great week of practice and that we play well next week."
THE SCORE
Kirtland 17, Sugarcreek Garaway 0
