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Boardman’s back: Spartans top Hoover
Gallery
By Greg Gulas
BOARDMAN — If the Boardman Spartans expected to state their case for a postseason berth, then flexing their muscles and making a move in Federal League play needed to be top priority.
A win over one of the league’s top two teams would certainly go a long way come season end and North Canton Hoover, one of those two teams currently atop the league standings, was the team standing in the way of that statement Friday for the Spartans.
Nick Buonavolonta rushed for 167 yards and a touchdown and then added a game-ending 60-yard interception return for a score to help propel the Spartans to a 16-7 victory over the Vikings at Spartan Stadium.
Senior defensive end Kevin Johnson, who had two interceptions and a fumble recovery, helped spearhead a Boardman defense that caused five turnovers — including four interceptions — as they held reigning Ohio Mr. Football Erick Howard to just 78 yards on 20 carries and just 55 yards rushing as a team.
“It was just a great overall effort by everyone tonight,” Johnson said. “All week long the coaches preached to us play hard with all 11 guys going to the football on every single play. That’s exactly what we did.
“They run five different screens and all week long we worked on those routes. We went over them and over them and with the balanced passing attack that they have, were more than prepared to make the plays tonight when we needed to.”
Heading into Friday’s contest, the Spartans were winless in eight previous tries against the Vikings and head coach D.J. Ogilvie noted that there’s a big difference in his squad since their opening league loss to Uniontown Lake, 34-27 just two weeks ago at home.
“We lost to Lake and that might just have been the sourest taste that I have ever had in my mouth after a game; either as a player or a coach,” he said. “Tonight makes up for that, though. Our number one thing is to sprint to the football, all 11 guys and we start every defensive day like that. It was like that when I was a player here continues to be like that now.”
Ogilvie said his defense its game to another level and, offensively, lauded the play of running back Nick Buonavolonta.
“He [Buonavolonta] runs the ball tough and exemplifies the heart and toughness of this team,” Ogilvie said. “We didn’t get off to a good start in league play, but this team has fought through that adversity and is now poised to make its run.”
With both teams averaging over 30 points a game through their first five contests, the fact that neither team could score in the first 12 minutes of play was stunning in and of itself.
In fact, a Trevor Ragan 25-yard field goal for the Spartans with just 2:11 remaining before intermission was all the offense either team could muster in the first half of play and through the entire third quarter as well.
Buonavolonta, however, changed all of that with his 11-yard scoring dash just eight seconds into the final stanza to help Boardman forge a 10-0 advantage.
“Give all the credit tonight to our offensive line because they were flat out awesome the entire game,” Buonavolonta said.
“They did a great job blocking, our defense shut down Mr. Football and at 4-2 overall and 2-1 in league play, it opens up a few doors for us that otherwise might have remained shut the rest of the season.”
Howard, who needed just 228 rushing yards coming into the game to become the all-time rushing leader in Stark County history, scored on a 24-yard run with 4:04 remaining to cut the Spartan lead to 10-7, but on the last play of the game, Buonavolonta intercepted quarterback Brett Tulodziewski’s pass and returned it 60 yards for the score to seal the victory for the Spartans.
Boardman racked up 263 yards of total offense, all but 83 coming through the air while the Vikings (4-2, 2-1) could manage just 155 total offensive yards, showing four interceptions and a fumble as drive-stoppers on the night.