Falcons overcome injuries to shut down Boardman

By Kevin Connelly

kconnelly@vindy.com

AUSTINTOWN

No Darrin Hall, no Joey Harrington ... no problem for Austintown Fitch High School — at least on Friday night.

The Falcons (4-1) lost their top running back to a knee injury in the first quarter and were without their top wideout all evening, but that didn’t stop them from flexing their muscles against Boardman in a 31-5 win at Fitch Falcon Stadium.

Falcons head coach Phil Annarella is fond of the phrase, ‘Next man up,’ and when his team was without two of its stars, his younger players found out why.

“You restructure, that’s all,” Annarella said. “You got to find other playmakers and be creative with what you do on offense.

“It is what it is. This is football.”

The running duties fell on senior Tyler Hewlett, who found the end zone three times and gained 64 yards against a tough Spartans defense.

In the passing game, junior Earl Scott received most of the targets, while sophomore J.C. Mikovich became the playmaker his coach was seeking.

Scott had five catches for 47 yards and Mikovich delivered the dagger late in the third quarter on a 84-yard touchdown catch, outrunning the Spartan defense the final 60 yards.

“We had run that play previously and I missed him,” said Falcons quarterback Antwan Harris. “We came in the locker room, regrouped, and I was able to hit him and he took it to the house.”

Mikovich’s touchdown came two plays after Boardman (0-5) had finished its best drive of the game with a 32-yard field goal to cut the Fitch lead to 17-5.

Once the Falcons were ahead by three possession, they leaned on the legs of Hewlett and Harris.

“Tyler, pound-for-pound, is as tough as they come,” Annarella said of his back. “I haven’t coached many better true football players than him.”

Annarella went in with a game plan that heavily involved the pass. After Hall’s injury, that only magnified its importance.

“Teams like to load the box on us, so we like to spread them out with the pass,” Harris said. “[Boardman’s] probably the best defense we’ve faced, but we got the job done.”

For Spartans head coach Joe Ignazio, it must have felt like Groundhog Day with another strong effort from his defense and nothing on offense.

Boardman gained just 55 rushing yards on 33 carries and was able to complete five passes for 58 yards. But for the second straight week the Spartans were unable to find the end zone.

“I feel like I’m doing the same interview every week,” Ignazio said. “We have got to find a way to move the ball and score some points on offense.

“Our players have got to want it more and take more pride in that part of the game or else we’re going to continue to fail.”

Youngstown State commit Evan Croutch led all Spartans with 41 yards.

Fitch travels to Massillon Washington next week and will be without Hall, whose left knee was heavily taped. He needed crutches to move around after the game. The senior tailback and Pittsburgh commit said he feared it was a torn meniscus, but will get an MRI over the weekend to confirm.

The Falcons hope to get Harrington back next week, but that’s not going to change Annarella’s preparation.

“It’s gonna be a test, no question about it,” he said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us, but high school football — that’s the fun of it.”