By Ryan Buck

sports@vindy.com

BARBERTON

The undefeated Austintown Fitch Falcons made big plays in all three phases of the football game in a resounding 45-0 victory over Barberton on Friday night at Sharkey Stadium.

The Falcons (4-0) drove down the field at will in the first half with a balanced attack en route to a 28-0 lead at the half without punting.

“That’s our game. That’s what we try to do,” Fitch coach Phil Annarella said. “When they start ganging up in the box the way they did, we’ve got a quarterback, Matt Futkos, who’s a pretty darn good quarterback with a good set of receivers and we were able to throw the ball effectively, too. I think you’ve got to be balanced and we tried to do that. Fortunately, it worked well, our line blocked half- decent and our defense, for the most part, played a very strong game too.”

Futkos found senior wide out Tyler Grover on a 15- yard slant pass to open the scoring. With the lead in hand, they turned to running back Billy Aaron. The quick, reliable senior rushed 11 times for 75 yards and a first-quarter touchdown.

“I think I’m a balanced running back,” Aaron said. “I’ve got some speed, some power.”

The Magics (1-3) responded with their best drive of the night. A 19-yard Joshua Williams run on a reverse gave Barberton a first down at the Fitch 6-yard line and a chance to cut their deficit in half.

The Falcons forced an incompletion from Corey Fox on second down and smothered another reverse for a loss on third down. On fourth down, the Fitch blitz forced a high, off-target heave from Fox and a turnover on downs with 9:46 left in the second quarter.

On the ensuing drive, sophomore running back Darrin Hall took his turn. Hall carried seven times on the drive. He broke free for runs of 25 and 23 yards, the latter a read-option cutback that broke the game open.

“That was real important,” Annarella said. “First of all the stop was very important, obviously. I think it was 14-0 at that time and a score there would’ve made it 14-7, so it was a 14-point swing with us going the 92 yards to score. Probably the most important back-to-back series of the game.”

The Falcons’ one-two punch at running back is working out very wel.

“Darrin’s stepping up,” Aaron said. “I’m very proud of him. He always comes to me for some advice and I’m always there for him: how to execute a play, time it up, read different keys and find holes.”

Futkos’ 1-yard sneak with 22 seconds left in the half padded the lead.

With 2:05 left in the third quarter and ahead 31-0, Kerrell Johnson fielded a punt at his own 40. He weaved untouched through the Magics’ punt team for the score.

Senior defensive lineman Billy Price recorded a sack for the Falcons.