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GIRARD: Girard Indians defeat Liberty Leopards 36-22
Gallery
By Joe Scalzo
Fitzgerald Toussaint rushed for 219 yards in the Leopards’ second-straight loss.
GIRARD — It seemed a little unfair, really, to think this was the last high school football game of Kyle Stadelmyer’s career.
Yet as he stood alongside the Arrowhead Stadium sideline following Friday’s game, still shaking out the cobwebs from a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit, still celebrating an upset win over his biggest rival, all you could think was, was it enough?
“Obviously our team wants to make it to the postseason,” said Stadelmyer, following Girard’s 36-22 win over Liberty. “I feel we deserve to.”
The Indians (9-1) entered the game ranked 12th in the Division IV, Region 13 standings. They had two tasks in front of them Friday. Step 1, beat a more-talented Leopards team. Step 2, pray for help.
“It was a great win,” said Girard coach Bud McSuley. “Some strange things gotta happen.”
Unfortunately for McSuley, they didn’t. According to Joeeitel.com late Friday, the Indians were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.
Still, few people gave Girard a chance with Step 1. Liberty (8-2) already had clinched a playoff berth after starting the year with eight straight wins — its lone loss came against a powerful Howland team last week — and had the most explosive offensive player in the Valley, running back Fitzgerald Toussaint.
Girard, meanwhile, was coming off an ugly loss to LaBrae in which it turned the ball over nine times. But since losing its starting quarterback in the preseason, the Indians have embraced their underdog role.
“Everybody doubted us all year,” Stadelmyer said. “Throughout this entire week we had to hear how Liberty was gonna run all over us, how we can’t stop Toussaint.”
In response, Girard’s student section hung a sign that read “Fitz Who?” A better question would have been, “Fitz and Who Else?” Toussaint got his yards — he finished with 219 on 26 carries with two TDs — but the rest of the Leopards combined for 56 yards, and 47 of those came on a TD pass from Anthony Cleveland to Isaiah Bell in the first half.
“He took some punishment tonight,” McSuley said of Toussaint, a Michigan recruit who entered the game with 2,014 yards rushing. “He knows he was in a ballgame.”
Stadelmyer took even more — he was twice knocked out of the game — but played almost every snap, making big plays on defense and special teams.
But it was on offense that he played the biggest role, carrying 40 times for 241 yards and four TDs to pass the 1,000-yard mark for the season despite missing 21‚Ñ2 games with injury.
Amazingly, it wasn’t even his biggest game against Liberty — he rushed for 357 against the Leopards two years ago.
“Kyle Stadelmyer, what can you say about him?” McSuley said. “Whatever yards he had, he earned every one of them and he just kept going.”
He got better in the second half. After Toussaint exploded for a 52-yard TD run on the second play of the third quarter to make it 22-22, McSuley put the ball in Stadelmyer’s hands 11 straight times, driving 57 yards for the score. After holding Liberty on its next possession, Girard drove 97 yards in 10 plays, with Stadelmyer carrying on nine of them, to make it 36-22 with nine minutes left.
“Our offensive line did a tremendous job,” McSuley said. “We were beating them off the ball, we wanted it more up front and we were blocking people. When you block people, your skill kids are going to make plays down the field and that’s what they did.”
Freshman Dan Graziano again played like an upperclassman, completing 7-of-15 passes for 154 yards, a TD and an interception (to Toussaint, of course).
It was the second straight win in the “Battle of Belmont Avenue” for the Indians, who lead the series 27-12.
“Unbelievable,” said Stadelmyer. “I couldn’t ask for anything better my senior year.”
Well, one more game would have been nice.
scalzo@vindy.com