Sam Retton, Aurora special teams deliver special performance

KENT — The Kent Roosevelt football team is in the midst of a brutal portion of its league schedule.

After sustaining a 69-0 home loss to Highland a week ago — its worst loss in over two decades — the Rough Riders were tasked Friday night with trying to take down an Aurora team that made the short trek south on Route 43 fresh off a dramatic 31-30 win over Tallmadge, which will visit Roosevelt Stadium next Friday.

A side note to Friday's contest was the fact that prior to the Homecoming game, Roosevelt honored past coaches Tom Campana and John Nemec, both of whom are enshrined in the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Campana, who passed away in 2017, compiled a record of 158-57 with six league titles during his tenure at Roosevelt, which spanned from 1959 to 1970. He was inducted into the HOF in 1982.

Nemec had two stints at the school (1976-1998, 2008-2013) and eclipsed 200 victories in his career (231-113-3), which also included a four-year stint at Wapakoneta. He was inducted into the HOF in 2005.

Once the pregame festivities concluded and the game began, however, the night belonged to Aurora seniors Sam Retton, Zach Anzells and the Greenmen special teams, which ignited the visitors to an impressive 56-13 Suburban American Division win over the Rough Riders.

Retton had a night for the ages, taking two kickoffs back for scores after nearly taking the opening kick back to the end zone. The elusive wide receiver also hauled in a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Matt Geier to help Aurora build a 42-6 lead at the half.

"The momentum was crazy after that win [against Tallmadge]," said Retton. "That was a huge win for us and put us in a good place. We just brought the energy all game today."

Retton got his evening started by returning Roosevelt kicker Alex Horak's opening boot along the the near sideline 76 yards before Horak was able to get a hand on Retton's heel and bring him down at the 11-yard line. Two plays later, Retton was rewarded for his effort as Geier found him for a 9-yard scoring strike to get the Greenmen rolling.

Less than two minutes later, Aurora's special teams struck again, as this time it was Anzells taking a Jon Jon Smith punt 47 yards the other way for a TD to make it 14-0.

"Our kids work hard at special teams," said Greenmen coach Bob Mihalik. "And everyone I'm sure does. But we really work on the fundamentals and details of it. I thought that showed tonight. Zach Anzells with the punt return, and Sam had two kick returns for touchdowns and almost had a third. It was a good night again in all three phases of the game — offense, defense and special teams. All three things are clicking, you will have nights like this. It was a nice solid victory for everybody."

After the Aurora defense forced a turnover-on-downs on the Rough Riders' ensuing possession, Retton took a swing pass from Geier in the left flat and rambled 45 yards to the Rough Riders' 13. Two plays later, his No. 15 was called again, and again Geier connected with Retton for a 7-yard strike to make it 21-0.

An Alex Tenorio 1-yard run pushed the score to 28-0 in the early moments of the second quarter, before Roosevelt got on the board on a Matt McCann short pass to Tyrel Ellington.

The good news was that the home team sliced into the huge deficit; the bad was they would have to kick to the lethal Greenmen special teams. And despite their best efforts to kick away from Retton, he still found a way to get his hands on the ball and make them pay.

A squib kick down the center of the field deflected off a defender and right in the vicinity of Retton, who bolted up the field for another big-play TD, this one 88 yards to make it 35-6.

Tenorio closed out the opening half with an 8-yard run to expand the margin to 42-6.

Michael Bonanno scored on a short run early in the final quarter for the Rough Riders' second TD of the night.

But once again, Retton made them pay.

This time a squib kick finally rolled to a stop inside the 5, not far from the pylon. Retton picked up the ball and started wide before squaring his shoulders and heading along his own sideline. He then managed to elude two or three defenders unable to tackle or push him out of bounds, despite having the angle. Retton tip-toed the final 20 yards to complete a 98-yard return and cap a remarkable game with his fourth TD.

On a degree of difficulty, Retton didn't have to think long about which one.

"The second one," he said. "When I came running through I had a little gap and I saw the kicker, too. I was like, 'Oh, he might get me.' I stopped, put the breaks on, stiff-armed, and just kept going, didn't stop."

Echoing Mihalik's earlier statement, Retton said the team and coaching staff put an emphasis on special teams.

"We practice it, it is all week," he said. "It is something Aurora is big on and it changes the game every week."

With special teams taking care of business, the Aurora offense did not have to do much. Geier threw only nine times, completing seven for 103 yards. On the ground, the Greenmen rushed for 106 yards in only 19 attempts.

The win kept Aurora (6-1 overall) atop the American standings with a perfect 4-0 mark, tied with Highland. The Greenmen host Barberton next Friday and then will welcome the Hornets to Veterans Stadium the following week in a game that could decide the division winner.

Roosevelt slipped to 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the American. For the second straight week, the Rough Riders played without starting quarterback Donovan Daetwyler, still nursing a bad ankle. The senior did come in for one play on the team's second offensive series but was still bothered by the injury and watched the remainder of the game from the sideline. He is week-to-week, according to Roosevelt coach Alan Vanderink.

McCann took all the other snaps and completed 8-of-17 passes for 122 yards with one TD and two interceptions.

Vanderink is not using the schedule as an excuse as his team looks to improve.

"It's a great league and we love it," he said. "It's great competition and great coaching. I don't feel sorry for us, we have to keep going and keep getting better."

On the play of Roosevelt's special teams unit, Vanderink said, "It wasn't good. We just have to do a better job coaching it and execute better."

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Sam Retton, Aurora special teams deliver special performance