Highland’s Defense Swarms Brecksville in 31-7 Playoff Win Despite Wadle Injury

Highland’s defense spent three quarters bending and one quarter slamming the door. The top-seeded Hornets intercepted Brecksville three times in the fourth quarter, broke open a close game and beat the Bees 31-7 on Friday night in a Division II, Region 5 regional quarterfinal in Granger Township, according to the Akron Beacon Journal’s game recap. The final was confirmed by scoreboards published by The Columbus Dispatch, the Mansfield News Journal, the Zanesville Times Recorder and High School On SI.

Highland (10-1) led just 17-7 in the fourth quarter, Kee On Sports Media Group reported, before the takeaways turned a one-score game into a rout. Evan Foust, Levi Clark and Anthony DePompei each ran for a touchdown and Jake Weber returned an interception 26 yards for a score to lead the host Hornets, according to the Beacon Journal. Jonah Kowza made all four of his extra points and a 35-yard field goal.

The scoring started early and then stalled, the Beacon Journal reported: Foust opened it with a 1-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and Clark added a 30-yard touchdown run in the second. Brecksville’s only score came on Christopher Soeder’s 4-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, two plays after Tut Matchittom broke a 74-yard run, with Maycie Schreiber kicking the extra point, according to the Beacon Journal.

Highland’s front owned the rest of the night. Foust, Weber, Lukas Grillis and Jacob Arvenetes each recorded a sack, and Foust, Weber and Owen Zielinski each had an interception, the Beacon Journal reported. “Defensively, we played really well,” Highland coach Mike Gibbons told the Akron Beacon Journal. “We gave up the one big, long run that set up their touchdown. Other than that, really they didn’t do anything on offense.”

“Our philosophy [on defense], we’re 11 as 1,” Gibbons told the Beacon Journal. “They did a great job communicating, being on the same page. We knew they wanted to run the ball at us all night, so we were able to set edges and try to turn the ball back inside.” That defense gets its biggest test yet next week, and it may have to carry the Hornets there — because the win came at a cost on the other side of the ball.

Highland quarterback Colton Wadle left the game with a lower leg injury after taking a hard hit on a rushing play with 10:32 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Beacon Journal reported. DePompei stepped in at quarterback from his receiver position and later ran for a 25-yard touchdown, and Weber’s pick-six closed the scoring. Wadle completed 8 of 13 passes for 118 yards before leaving. “We are going to ice and heal him up,” Gibbons told the Beacon Journal.

Brecksville (7-5), the No. 9 seed, had reached Friday by winning 28-16 at Painesville Riverside in the first round, and for three quarters the Bees were one play from tying the region’s top seed. Instead, the loss closes their season. Highland’s reward is a semifinal the whole region has been pointing toward — unbeaten Mayfield, the No. 4 seed, which spent Friday beating Wadsworth on the other side of the bracket while Walsh Jesuit intercepted Hoban four times in the region’s neighboring bracket battle.

What we know — and what we’re still waiting on

Confirmed: the 31-7 final across four scoreboards; Highland’s 10-1 record and Brecksville’s 7-5 finish; the individual lines and the three fourth-quarter interceptions, from the Beacon Journal’s recap and Kee On Sports’ account. Still open: Wadle’s status. The Beacon Journal reported a lower leg injury and his coach’s hope to “ice and heal him up” — no diagnosis, timetable or practice update had been published as of Saturday morning, and his availability is the single biggest variable in next week’s semifinal.

What happens next: Highland hosts Mayfield (11-0) on Friday, Nov. 13, in a Division II, Region 5 semifinal, according to the Beacon Journal. Mayfield advanced with a 32-21 win over Wadsworth. The region’s other semifinal sends Nordonia to Walsh Jesuit, and the winners meet in the regional final on Nov. 20.

For Highland, the formula that worked Friday — a defense playing, in its coach’s words to the Beacon Journal, as “11 as 1” — will have to travel exactly nowhere: the Hornets are home again, against an unbeaten team, with a regional final on the line and a quarterback question the whole Suburban League will be watching all week.

Photo: SilentMatt Psychedelic, CC BY-SA 4.0 — the Highland Hornets’ main entrance in Granger Township, Medina County.