By PETE MOLLICA

sports@vindy.com

NEWTON FALLS

Newton Falls quarterback Matt Brazin is only a junior but he’s already a veteran starter. And his coach says he’s only going to get better.

The 6-foot-2, 175-pounder ran for three touchdowns and passed for another to lead the Tigers to a 48-21 victory over Akron Kenmore Thursday night in the season opener for both teams.

“We accomplished the things that we wanted to do tonight,” said third-year head coach Greg Lazzari. “I wasn’t too happy with the fourth quarter, but we really played well in the first half and Kenmore is a much better team than the one we faced a year ago.”

Brazin rushed for 76 yards and passed for 94 more while spearheading an offense that totaled 285 yards rushing and 379 total yards. And he only played three quarters.

“Matt [Brazin] is a leader out there and when he does what he’s capable of doing he’s only going to make good things happen for this football team,” Lazzari said. “He’s got a lot of help to work with and he does a great job of spreading the football around to everyone.”

The Tigers scored off the game’s opening possession as Brazin led the team on a 68-yard march before scoring on a 7-yard run.

Kenmore came right back and marched 65 yards to deadlock the contest. But on the ensuing kickoff Brian Moser took the wind out of the Cardinals’ sails as he returned it 83 yards for a touchdown that put the Tigers in front for keeps.

“I was a little concerned about the defense after that first drive, but they came back and really shut down Kenmore after that,” Lazzari added.

Once the defense was settled, Brazin took over and raced for two second-quarter scores on runs of 17 and 13 yards. He closed out the half by hitting Anthony Kline with a 43-yard touchdown pass that gave the Tigers a commanding 35-7 halftime advantage.

“We had a great week of practice,” said Brazin. “But tonight we played better that we have all through our scrimmages and our practices.

“It helped that I played all of last year and the coaches are now letting me do more things and even calling some of the plays from the line.”

The Tigers slowed down some in the third quarter, only scoring once when Kline broke loose on a 23-yard touchdown run. They almost had another one after the Cardinals had a bad snap on a punt attempt and Newton Falls got the ball at the Kenmore 37.

On first down Chance Marsh rolled right up the middle to the Kenmore 12, but fumbled and the Cardinals recovered.

On the final drive of the third quarter, Lazzari put in the reserves and freshman Derek Walton scored on a 4-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter.

The final 12 minutes became a little sloppy and Kenmore scored two quick touchdowns, one on a 55-yard run by Chris Moore. After a successful onside kick, the Cardinals scored again on a 3-yard run by Kyrie Whitself.

But the Tigers quickly settled down and held off the Cardinals the rest of the way.