METRO ATHLETIC CONFERENCE FOOTBALL Niles defeats Howland

The Red Dragons scored 28 unanswered points and went on to a 35-20 win.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HOWLAND -- Howland's junior tailback Lance Smith has been getting all the headlines this season, but Niles' Jared Sears stole the show, leading the Red Dragons to a 35-20 Metro Athletic Conference road win Thursday.
Sears scored three touchdowns and threw another to Anthony Pallante on a halfback pass to lead the Red Dragons.
Sears' 92-yard kickoff return for a score one minute before halftime seemed to turn around the game for Niles (3-4, 2-1), which posted its second straight win after starting the season 1-4.
"I don't know that [kickoff return] did the trick," Sears said of the score that followed Howland taking a 14-7 lead with 1:32 remaining in the half.
Went to work
"We felt like we could come in here and win this game," said Sears, who rushed for 121 yards on 27 carries. "We just went to work with power football in the second half and our line did a great job."
Niles turned a 14-14 first half stalemate into a 35-14 lead by scoring 21 unanswered points in the final two periods.
Sears has rushed for 550 yards this season, fewer than half of Howland's Smith.
But, he scored on a 4-yard run in the third quarter that was set up when Howland tried an onside kick at the beginning of the period.
The misfire gave the Red Dragons the ball on their own 49.
Niles' defense then went to work and began to shut down Smith, who had rushed for 132 yards in the first half to put him over the 1,100-yard mark for the season.
Punt blocked
Holding Smith on three running plays, Niles forced a punt that was blocked by James Cline and recovered by Pallante at the Howland 10-yard line. Four plays later, Sears ran left on a handoff and lofted the ball to a wide open Pallante in the end zone.
Niles scored again in the fourth period on an 11-yard run by Sears after the Red Dragon defense held Howland on downs inside its own 35.
Howland (5-2, 2-2) scored late in the game on a 19-yard scoring pass from quarterback Brad Lockney to Gary Trybus to make the score 35-20, but the ensuing onside kick was recovered by Niles.
The Red Dragons' win over Howland followed an equally big win over Canfield last week.
"I don't know," said Niles coach Phil Annarella, when asked if he would call these wins upsets. "They can call them whatever they want as long as we keep winning.
"We hit rock bottom after losing earlier this year to Steubenville and Poland," added Annarella. "We really needed that win last week. I think the kids started believing and it carried over to this week."
Tigers start strong
Howland started strong, taking a 14-7 lead on a 20-yard run by Smith and on a 4-yard pass play from Lockney to Bill Kalogeras.
But Niles' defense, led by nose tackle Robbie Porter, did a solid job of keeping Smith in check. The junior finished with 160 yards rushing, but had only 28 in the second half.
"I'm not taking anything away from Niles because they came to play," Howland coach Dick Angle said. "But our kids came to play also. I don't question our toughness or desire to win. We just had some bad breaks, physical and mental breakdowns, tonight.
"When you play good teams you have to play four quarters and we're not getting four quarters done."