Walsh Jesuit football overcomes slow start to rout Maple Heights

It was quite evident that 11th seed Maple Heights was willing to take chances early on against Walsh Jesuit in first round state playoff football action.

The Warriors ultimately were ready for the challenge - it just took a little while.

In the first 3.5 minutes of the Division II clash at Conway Memorial Stadium, Maple Heights scored on 95-yard kickoff return, attempted an onside kick off, converted a two-point conversion, and recovered a Walsh fumble.

While that sounds like a poor start as the Mustangs actually took a brief 8-7 lead at the 9:58 mark of the first quarter, sixth-seed Walsh rebounded quickly to capture a 56-20 victory.

For the second season in a row, Walsh (9-2), winners of eight of the last nine games, faces Hudson in the second-round state quarterfinals Friday.

The path in the Region 5 brackets this fall in the first two rounds are the same as Walsh defeated Maple Heights 49-24 in the first round last year to reach Hudson.

The similarities were not lost on Walsh head coach Nick Alexander.

It only took seven plays for Walsh’s offense to strike first in the playoff opener as Justin Bremner scored the first of a career high five touchdown runs on an 8-yard touchdown jaunt off an option pitch to the left.

In fact, Bremner posted career highs of 30 carries, 236 yards and those five rushing scores, which may be a new Warrior playoff record!

“Justin started last year against Maple as well, but he and Ryan (quarterback Ryan Kerscher) were fantastic running the ball,” said Alexander. “Maple Heights did a good job taking away the pass and we relied on our offensive line to win up front and they did.”

A huge factor was that offensive line which was dominant with Kodey Kish at right tackle, right guard Jimmy Brandhorst, center Rocco Grguric, left guard Dominic Bernard and Joey Passarello at left tackle.

“Up front we are led by seniors Rocco Grguric, Jimmy Brandhorst, Dom Bernard, and Joey Passarello, as well as sophomore Kodey Kish. They have grown each week and are really playing well. We will need them at Hudson,” said Alexander, prior to the game.

Speedy hybrid running back Ed Robinson answered on the ensuing kickoff as he exploded up the middle for a 95-yard touchdown return.

Maple stunned the hosts and made it 8-7 when quarterback Dawon King had a two-point conversion pass to Jai’Veon Baker.

Robinson, who had 218 all-purpose yards amplified by his returns, was limited to just 14 yards rushing on six carries as well as four catches for 71 yards.

The Walsh defense did their job against several Mustang weapons.

Of those receiving yards by Robinson, 40 came on a catch that came as the third quarter was winding down with a running clock.

“Robinson is a great player and the game plan was to stop him,” said Alexander.

Mustang wide out Ashton Pugh, a transfer from Cleveland Glenville, starred with seven receptions for 110 yards and two touchdowns, plus had an interception.

Forcing to go to the air, King was 17 of 42 passing for 228 yards and two scores.

After the early lead by the Mustangs, Walsh had some huge plays on offense and quickly moved inside the Maple 10-yard line, but fumbled the ball away and Jay’Mir Mason-Owens recovered to thwart another Warrior score.

A short punt by Maple led to a three-yard touchdown run by Bremner to make it 14-8 at the 6:32 mark of the opening period.

A few big plays by Brock Sherman – incredibly through all three facets of the game, led to the next Walsh tally.

Sherman first recovered a Robinson fumble near midfield.

On fourth-down, Sherman took a direct snap in punt formation and ran for 23 yards for the first down to spark the Warriors.

Bremner had a 4-yard touchdown run as he followed the blocks of Sherman and Passarello to push the lead to 21-8. The score was set up by a 6-yard run by Sherman.

Walsh’ special teams play once again redeemed itself after the kickoff return TD when an opportunistic John Keough grabbed the football on a high punt snap that King got his hands on, but could not secure, and ran in from six yards out.

That shocking touchdown by Keough suddenly made it 28-8 with 59 ticks left in the first quarter!

The Warrior defense then stopped Maple on downs, which led to an 8-yard touchdown run by Bremner for a 35-8 lead with 10:35 left in the first half.

Keough struck again as Maple reached the Walsh 8-yard line. The veteran safety wasn’t fooled as Pugh took a reverse and tossed a pass that Keough picked off in the end zone.

Following Keough’s interception, Walsh had a 15-play drive to inside the Maple 10, but came up empty on downs.

David Collins, a promising 6-foot-2 press corner for the Mustang defense, had some nice pass breakups to negate that particular Walsh scoring bid.

Pugh had a nice one-handed tip reception to himself for a 15-yard touchdown and his own interception led to Pugh’s second touchdown, an 8-yard catch to slice the Walsh lead to 35-20 with 8:55 left in the third period.

That second Pugh score put Maple Heights back into the game, but that’s when Kerscher broke an ankle tackle and went 59 yards for a touchdown run to make it 42-20 with 7:33 left in the third.

After the Mustangs failed on fourth down deep in their own territory, Walsh made the most of it on six-yard scoring run by Kerscher on a read option play to make it 49-20 at the 4:27 mark of the third.

Kerscher, who had two touchdowns rushing and 108 yards on seven carries as well as 107 yards passing, had a beautiful ball fake to Sherman up the middle.

Keyed by big blocks by Nick Herbele and Lucas Weaver, Bremner bounced outside and ran 32 yards for his final tally with 2:04 left in the third to create the running clock.

The Walsh ground attack amassed 448 yards on 50 carries as there were also contributions from Sherman (three carries for 34 yards), Weaver (two attempts for 40 yards), quarterback Keller Moten (27 yards), Denzel Roberts, and Jamir McCombs.

Besides losing All-Ohio linebacker Kasey Kish to graduation as well as several key linemen from 2021, Phil Bokovitz has seen his Warrior defense and his athletes in

the trenches play a big factor recently with ends David Hawersaat and Noah Brock, plus tackle Hunter Knauf and nose guard/tackle Tommy Perebzak. Colton Crosley, Bernard and others have also helped.

“The defense has continued to improve from week to week and I believe currently we are playing the best we have on that side of the ball,” emphasized Alexander.

“Our two captains on that side of the ball, Josh Grogan and Brock Sherman, have been leading us and we are flying to the football with all 11 guys,” added Alexander.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Walsh Jesuit football overpowers Maple Heights in playoff opener