Leetonia’s running back shook off illness to help his team beat Lowellville.

By ERIC HAMILTON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

LEETONIA — Whether it was excitement or sickness, Leetonia High’s Jake Kruegel wasn’t feeling very well most of Friday. As game time against Lowellville approached, he couldn’t shake the queasy feeling.

As his team ran on the field and to the sideline, Kruegel wasn’t with his teammates. He was too busy throwing up.

“I was feeling like I was going to puke all day,” said Kruegel. “The more I thought about it, the more sick I felt. The coaches told me you play your best when you’re sick and I guess I bought into that.”

The senior running back scored three times, including once on an 87-yard kickoff return, as Leetonia survived Lowellville’s gadget playbook and second-half comeback to earn a thrilling 34-31 victory.

The win assured the Bears (4-2, 3-0) a share of first place in the ITCL lower tier and was the team’s third straight victory.

“We’ve had teams run kickoffs back on us before and it totally changes the momentum,” said Kruegel of his return that put Leetonia ahead to stay at 7-3. “I used to be a juke runner and stopped too much, but I’ve learned that you beat teams with speed. So, I just made one cut and took off.

“Having [Josh] Selway back at QB makes the opponent totally change their game plan. With the two of us and [Jamie] Milsom, they can’t stop all three of us.”

Stepping up

Selway, who did not play on offense or defense last week due to illness, returned against the Rockets and gave them fits on both sides of the ball. The senior returned an interception 80 yards, going sideline to sideline, and scored two rushing TDs.

“We’ve asked our captains to step up and we got some big plays from Jake and Josh tonight,” said Leetonia coach Matt Altomare. “It was a crazy game and it went down to the wire. We got a lead on them, but Lowellville never quit and they played hard.

“I know it’s a cliché, but we preach special teams and turnovers. You usually don’t lose if you win in those areas. We’re happy to be 3-0 in the league, but it doesn’t get easier and we have to stay focused.”

After Lowellville took a 3-0 lead with a field goal to start the second quarter, Leetonia responded quickly with big plays.

Kruegel returned the ensuing kickoff 87 yards for the score to give the Bears a 7-3 lead. On Lowellville’s next possession, Selway picked off a pass on the left sideline, cut back across the center of the field and raced down the right sideline for the score to give Leetonia a 13-3 advantage.

After building a 20-10 lead at halftime, the Bears tacked on another touchdown on a 10-yard run by Selway to increase the lead to 27-10 with 6:56 left in the third.

Big comeback

But Lowellville, which ran about every gadget imaginable, roared back with 14 straight points to close within 27-24 with 4:29 left in the fourth quarter.

During the comeback, five different quarterbacks completed passes and the Rockets used double passes, a halfback pass and a hook-and-ladder.

But the trickery wasn’t enough. Selway put the game out of reach with a 56-yard TD run with 3:57 left, giving Leetonia a 34-24 lead.

Lowellville did cut the deficit to 34-31 with 1:44 left, but Leetonia ran out the clock after recovering the on-side kick.

“Turnovers and big plays were the difference,” said Lowellville coach Mike Palumbo, whose squad lost three fumbles and threw one interception. “Leetonia is a big-play team. We didn’t want to resort to all those plays, but they got a lead on us and got us out of our game.

“We wanted to run the ball, which is what got us here. Joey [DePasquale] is our running quarterback, so we brought him in. But we couldn’t come all the way back.”