By Marty Gitlin

sports@vindy.com

Blitz Live | October 21, 2016

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Week 9 from start to finish with Blitz Live hosts Corey Crisan, Greg Gulas, and Sean Ferguson.

Boardman vs Fitch

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Photos by Dustin Livesay

AUSTINTOWN

Those who ventured out to Falcon Stadium on a dreary, drizzly Friday night received plenty of drama for their entertainment dollar. The nail-biting came courtesy of traditional football rivals Austintown Fitch and Boardman.

But in the end, only fans of the Falcons left with a smile. Their team emerged with a 12-7 victory that was not clinched until a few seconds remained on the clock.

The sweating began in earnest after a 30-yard field goal by Fitch junior Dylan Correia concluded the scoring. Boardman, which had yet to garner a first down in the second half, began its best drive of the game behind running back Koby Adu-Poku and sophomore quarterback Mike O’Horo.

A 20-yard pass from O’Horo to 6-foot-5 tight end Travis Koontz with 1:30 left placed the Spartans on the Fitch 13. The quarterback continued to fire the ball to Koontz, but to no avail. The march ended and so did the game when one last pass to Koontz was knocked away by the significantly smaller Falcon defenders.

“A couple of our minions jumped up and distracted him enough and tipped it away,” said Fitch coach Phil Annarella.

Boardman had gone three-and-out in each of its first three possessions after intermission. Fitch dominated the ball, but could not put its foe away. In fact, its defense provided the go-ahead score early in the third quarter when junior lineman Mike Ferree blocked a punt and the ball bounded out of the end zone for a safety to make it 9-7.

The key for the Falcons offensively in the second half was not the arm of quarterback Joe Zielinski, but his feet. He began to get rolling on the ground in the second quarter, but really found his groove in the third with a 17-yard run. He rushed for 35 yards in the fourth to finish with a team-high 82.

His ability to keep the chains moving proved critical because the Boardman defense kept featured back Randy Smith in check. His longest run of the night was 10 yards as he was held to just 56 in 20 carries.

The Falcons also dominated time of possession in the first half, but not the scoreboard. Both teams failed to take advantage of breaks early — Fitch fumbled away its opportunity after a blocked punt and the Spartans went three-and-out on its ensuing possession.

Fitch made up for it after diminutive J.C. Mikovich bolted 24 yards on a punt return to the Boardman 28. Smith soon sliced in for a 2-yard touchdown run, his 10th of the season, to give his team a 7-0 lead.

The Spartans answered three minutes into the second quarter, thanks greatly to a 37-yard heave from O’Horo to Koontz, who outbattled two defenders and fell one yard from paydirt. Adu-Poku took it in from there to knot the score.

The Falcons embarked on a painstaking, 17-play drive late in the half, moving from their 5-yard line to the Boardman 29, but time ran out on them.

In the end, however, it was the Fitch defense that won the game. After allowing a 40-yard run by Adu-Poku on the first play from scrimmage, they shut down the ground game. The Boardman back was held to three yards or less on 16 of his other 21 attempts and finished with 112 yards on 22 carries.

“The thing is we had a blown assignment on the 40-yard run,” Annarella said. “Our defensive coordinator did a great job making sure we eliminated those types of mistakes. But that’s what we do. We’re not big, so we have to move and still maintain gap integrity. I’m proud of what we were able to do defensively.”

That was especially true when his “minions” prevented Koontz from snagging a game-winner for the Spartans in one dramatic finish.