Ziaire Stevens runs for two touchdowns to power East to football win over Buchtel

East relies on the running of Ziaire Stevens to succeed, and the junior running back didn't disappoint Saturday afternoon at Buchtel.

Stevens ran for 251 yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries to lead the Dragons to a 14-11 win over the Griffins.

East (7-1, 3-0) is in the driver's seat to win a City Series football championship and host a Division III playoff game in late October. The Dragons conclude the regular season with games against Garfield and Ellet.

"It was a great feeling to come out here and play ball, like backyard football," Stevens said. "It was what we were doing all week at practice. Like coach said to us, this is like our fifth game [this week] because we have been going hard all week in practice for this. To come out victorious feels great.

"... The job is not done. We still have got business to take care of with two more weeks and then we are done with the regular season and then we have the playoffs."

Buchtel (3-5, 2-1) is tied with Firestone (4-4, 2-1) and Ellet (2-6, 2-1) for second place in the City Series. The Griffins are in contention for a playoff appearance in Division IV, and the Falcons and Orangemen are in contention in Division II.

Buchtel took a 3-0 lead on the opening possession when senior kicker Demetrion Duvall converted a 39-yard field goal.

East had one possession in the first quarter and it ended on a 1-yard touchdown run by Stevens, who had eight carries for 62 yards on the drive. The Dragons then took a 14-3 halftime lead after Stevens broke several tackles en route to a 69-yard touchdown and senior Ibraheem Kamara made his second extra point.

"You never give up on the play until you hear the whistle," Stevens said. "We practice hard all week, and we finish out every drill we do, so it's just second nature to me.

“... I just do my job and then go above that," Stevens said. "My O-line did a great job out there. We blocked fantastic and we had minimal mistakes."

East's starters up front offensively were senior left tackle Taveon Ellis, sophomore left guard Darshawn Spragling, senior center Cochise Griffin, senior right guard Nicholas Hopfe and junior right tackle Denico Knight Jr.

"He was chosen as a captain by his peers," East coach Marques Hayes said of Stevens.

"He is the only underclassmen that was chosen as a captain and it is because he goes about it the right way. His mindset, his focus, his character, his hard work in the offseason, the weight room, all of the above. People see that. I told them 'When you're choosing captains, I put a little asterisk at the top, this is not a popularity contest. This is about the people that you see that you feel can be leaders.'

"... He calls me pops. I love that kid. I love what he brings to the table. He ran hard today."

Both defenses flexed their muscles in the second half until Buchtel scored with 1:32 remaining in the fourth quarter on an 11-yard touchdown run by junior Stevie Diamond and a two-point conversion pass by Diamond to senior JaeSon Anderson.

East ran out the clock with a couple of runs by junior Jamere Garrett and a several penalties on Buchtel.

"It was a dogfight, but we expected it to be that because this is kind of like that new rivalry in the city of East and Buchtel," Hayes said.

"I told the guys before the game, 'Hey in the past eight years we have split this game four and four.' I said 'throw all the records out the window.' I told them 'It doesn't matter what your record is when you play this game, this is the game that counts.' ... I told our guys in the locker room, ‘Look to you seniors, you really have to understand this is the last time you will ever play the Buchtel Griffins. The last time.’ So I said, 'How do you want that to be?' This is a super important game."

The Griffins had a tough day with penalties, with two second-quarter touchdowns called back for holding. Senior Damien Johnson returned a kickoff 95 yards and Diamond connected with senior Artrell Wallace on a 78-yard pass, but both plays were wiped away.

Buchtel also had a funky third quarter, when it blocked a punt and lost a fumble on the East 1-yard line.

Senior Justin Hill blocked the punt, but a Griffin touched the ball past the line of scrimmage and East senior Antonio Rosser grabbed the loose ball to maintain possession.

The Buchtel fumble occurred one yard shy of a touchdown as East junior ZiVelle Thomas popped the ball loose and Rosser recovered it in the end zone for a touchback.

"It was a hard fought game with two teams that are geographically close to each other," Buchtel coach Bryan Williams said. "... Fourteen points that were taken away from us, that is huge on any level. You see what it came down to with the final outcome, 14-11. This is a tough one, but you have to go back to the drawing board because the sun does come up the next day and you have to figure out what you want to do as far as moving forward with how you handle things and prepare for Week 9."

Garrett finished with 67 yards on 11 carries.

Diamond ran for 32 yards on five carries and completed 8 of 17 passes for 98 yards.

Buchtel junior Demetrice Coates had four catches for 58 yards, senior Wylie Cheairs ran for 43 yards on 11 carries and senior Travante Salaam-Fletcher had 31 yards on five carries.

Griffins senior Justin McLane and junior Arman Gable each had an interception.

"I told the guys the key to victory and they already know, having the most penalties does not win games," Williams said. "Like I said, we go back to the drawing board, we fix it and we get ready for Week 9."

Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Ziaire Stevens, East take control of City Series with win over Buchtel