Arcs Quick Start Key to Success
By: Tyler Johnson
On the back of another big game from Christian Wright, who had 212 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 21 attempts, the Brush Arcs were able to take down the Willoughby South Rebels by a score of 41-20.
The Arcs improves to 2-3, and 2-0 in the conference, while South drops to 2-3, and 1-1 in the conference.
On his huge game, Christian Wright said, “It felt great. This was a big game, and we got this huge conference win.”
Quarterback Godwin Joe also had an impressive game running the football, rushing the ball 14 times for 91 yards and a touchdown. In the air, Joe went 16-33 for 181 yards and a touchdown. On his game, Joe said, “I felt good, but I have to give props to my teammates… it’s not up to me, it’s up to my teammates, and I just want to thank them for working hard each and every time.”
In terms of receiving, Tommy Loya, Markel Toney, and Aaron Murphy each had five catches in the game, with Murphy also coming away with a touchdown.
The Arcs got started quickly on offense, driving down the field on their first possession thanks to a big run from Godwin Joe. Eventually, the drive ended with a 20-yard Christian Wright touchdown to give Brush a 7-0.
Brush would then come out defense and stuff the Rebels’ offensive momentum. South would go for it on fourth down, but, thanks to a sack from Tyrone Chambers and Brad Eason, it would end up being a turnover on downs. However, the Arcs couldn’t capitalize with any points and South had possession again.
Before South could get any points, Eason came up big again, this time in the form of a forced fumble that led to a 34 yard Bradley Heiss field goal to make it 10-0. After getting pinned in their own two-yard line, South would punt to Khailil Mitchell, who would return it 48 yards for a touchdown. On the return, Mitchell said, “It felt great… I knew once I got outside no one could catch me.”
In the middle of the second quarter, the Arcs would score again and make the game 24-0, this time a 26-yard Joe rushing touchdown that came after a couple huge receptions by Markel Toney. South would finally get on the board thanks to a five-yard rushing touchdown, but would be unable to get the two-point conversion, leaving the score 24-6. In the final two minutes of the half, South would score another touchdown, this time an eight yard passing touchdown. However, Brush would respond with a 37-yard pass from Joe to Aaron Murphy with two seconds left on the clock to make it a 31-13 game going into the half.
The Rebels weren’t ready to give up, as they came out in the third quarter, quickly drove down the field and scored a touchdown to make it a 31-20 game. Brush would get into scoring range, and that set up a 28 yard Heiss field goal. The defenses would then exchange big plays, as South would tip Joe’s pass and intercept it. However, Brush would respond with a pick of their own, made by Lloyd McFarquhar. On his game, Lloyd said “I know helped out my team, my offense, and my defense get this win… I just stayed in my zone and played smart.”
Deep into fourth quarter, neither team had scored in a while, but the Rebels were primed to score, as they were deep in Arc territory. However, another forced fumble by Brad Eason would give Brush the ball with a little over three minutes to go. On his big game, Eason said, “It starts with practice… we’re going hard, putting that hard work in and it translates during the game.” Brush was able to put away South thanks to an 88-yard touchdown run by Christian Wright. On that play, Wright said, “In the fourth quarter, I want a championship run, like a dagger every game, and I made sure I got that one to put them in the coffin.”
Following the win, Brush plays perhaps the biggest game of the season when they take on the 2-3 Mayfield Wildcats at home. On what he’s doing to prepare the team for this huge rivalry game, Coach Fink said, “Mayfield’s a very similar team to Willoughby South…athletes on the perimeter and aggressive defensively… a mirror image of what saw from the Rebels and we just have another game like this one.” Hopefully Brush will be able to extend their winning streak to three games and beat Mayfield for the first time since 2005.