Nick Petro, Chad Davis lead Sandy Valley football to stunning rout of unbeaten Malvern
MALVERN - The most important prize Sandy Valley won in beating Malvern Friday night was bragging rights.
Sometimes bragging rights are the most important thing.
Sandy Valley football head coach Brian Gamble summed up what these particular bragging rights meant with a smile and four words:
"For these seniors, everything."
Senior quarterback Nick Petro, senior running back Chad Davis and senior defensive ends Trenton Russell and Chapin Greer were the life of a Class of 2024 party that upended Senior Night at Malvern Stadium in a 40-7 victory.
Petro said his film-watching told him his Cardinals would out-hustle the Hornets.
"They try to rely on talent and athleticism," Petro said. "We have that here, too."
Petro passed for 227 yards and four touchdowns, including scoring plays of 25 and 81 yards to Lukas Gilliand. Davis racked up 150 rushing-receiving yards and three touchdowns.
Both teams left with 4-1 records. Was Gamble surprised by the score?
"Yes, a little," he said, adding a thought that suggested he was not in euphoric shock.
"I know what we can do," he said.
Malvern head coach Matt Chiurco didn't see this coming.
"Credit to Sandy Valley," he said, "but I told our guys, if we played them nine more times, it wouldn't be like this again."
A dropped would-be touchdown pass just before halftime prevented Malvern from pulling to within 21-14.When a Malvern drive to open the second half ended with an interception by another of Sandy Valley's seniors, Jason Morris, the Cardinals were on their way.
"We stayed in attack mode the entire night," Gamble said.
Beating next-door neighbor to the north Canton South two weeks ago would have meant a ton to the Cardinals — unbeaten South has one of its better teams in school history. Sandy Valley put up a tremendous fight, but there was no joy in a 35-27 loss.
Routing next-door neighbor to the east Malvern was more than a nice consolation prize.
As pregame announcer Dennis Tucci put it before introducing all of Malvern's fall sports seniors, "Welcome to an old rival game."
It was a beautiful night for football. Malvern fans in the east grandstand shielded their eyes from a blazing sun until it dropped behind a tree line during the first quarter. A breeze whispering toward the grandstand carried the smell of hamburgers being grilled near where the crowd filed in.
The grill chef couldn't flip the burgers, $3 per sandwich, fast enough to satisfy a stuffed stadium, in which standing-room people took chain-link perches from end zone to end zone on both sides.
It wasn't a league game per se, in that Sandy Valley now heads into Inter-Valley Conference South Division play, while Malvern pivots to its Inter-Valley Conference North Division slate. This one didn't count in the IVC for either team.
It was just a big game.
In the first 10 minutes, Sandy Valley endured two dropped passes and three fumbles to lead 14-7.
Petro kept delivering long completions from third- or fourth-and-long. One was a lob pass over the middle on fourth-and-11. Davis turned it into a 27-yard catch and run for a touchdown.
Malvern had just tied the game at 7-all after senior Dante Passio recovered one of the Sandy Valley fumbles.
But Sandy Valley went up 21-7 after an interception by Jack Murphy set up a 43-yard TD drive.
Chiurco bet that Sandy Valley wasn't through scoring when he went for it on fourth-and-1 from his own 37 early in the second quarter. Drake Hutchison charged over left tackle to keep the ball with Malvern, but the Hornets soon faced fourth-and-4 from midfield.
Again, Chiurco went for it, but this time a pass attempt failed.
The Hornets stayed in the hunt with their first defensive stop of the night. A Jared Witherow bomb seemed catchable, but hit the turf near the end zone. It stayed 21-7.
Sandy Valley's secondary limited Malvern's star receivers, Smith and Dylan Phillips.
Runs by Davis and a 28-yard TD pass from Petro to Lukas Gilland left Sandy Valley with a 27-7 lead.The Cardinals' defense kept giving Malvern all-around problems, including a pass rush, led by Russell and Greer, that kept disrupting Witherow's timing.
Sandy Valley's offense kept getting long gains after initial contact, including on an 81-yard TD by Gilland that was mostly run after catch. That made it 33-7 going into the fourth quarter.
A 21-yard Davis TD run and an "over-rated" chant from the Sandy Valley student section added to the sting as the Malvern crowd thinned out.
"We can't hear you."
Malvern still aims to make some noise. Sandy Valley did all the roaring in this one.
Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Sandy Valley beats Malvern in Ohio high school football game
