Eagles’ Valent throws two TDs

By Charles Grove

cgrove@vindy.com

Warren JFK wins big over Crestview

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Charles Grove gives a recap of the 34-0 JFK win. Warren JFK 34, Crestview 0

Blitz Live | September 16, 2016

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COLUMBIANA

Warren JFK junior Alec Burzynski said his team wanted to make a statement against Crestview. That statement came in the form of a 34-0 shutout over the Rebels to move the Eagles to 4-0 on the season.

Greg Valent completed 12 of 20 passes for 118 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Hyland Burton and Evan Boyd.

Valent said the team quickly discovered mismatches on the outside and exploited them.

We knew that we could attack the passing game outside,” Valent said. “A lot of our receivers were getting past their corners. We tried to throw the ball outside an it was working.

“That’s the case most of the time. We’re quick and we use that to our advantage. If we can get the outside we go for it.”

The scoring opened with Valent hitting Burton from 22 yards out on a third and 12. Burton faked out his defensive back so well the defender tripped.

The Eagles added on at the beginning of the second quarter when Dan McCartney ran it in from two yards out. After plenty of running between the hashmarks against Girard last week, JFK head coach Jeff Bayuk knew he had to do something to counteract Crestview’s size advantage.

“They’re pretty big so last week we ran a lot of off tackle and this week we weren’t going to do that because these guys are pretty big,” Bayuk said. “It was nice to see we could adjust to different gameplans and have the success that we had.”

The JFK defense was even more impressive than the offense. The Rebels only managed 66 yards of offense.

“We moved to the ball, we had good angles, we made good tackles and everyone wrapped up,” Burzynski said.

The one time the Rebels had momentum was after Crestview (2-2) blocked a 28-yard field goal attempt on the last play of the first half.

“We tried to make a couple of adjustments. At halftime and we knew they were very good defensively and we were going to have some issues there,” Crestview head coach Paul Cusick said.

JFK’s number one messsage at halftime? Don’t let the Rebels keep what momentum they had early in the third quarter.

“My old coach always told me that momentum before the half for a team can really be dangerous,” Bayuk said. “So we talked to our kids about making a statement on the first series and deal with any adjustments they made and get us the ball back.”

Crestview’s first series was a rerun of the majority of their drives before the punt team came on. But then a high snap gave the Eagles the ball inside the red zone. A few plays later, Valent hit Boyd on a screen pass for a touchdown after a couple of well executed blocks. It was a perfect microcosm of JFK’s speed and strength as the team fought to give Boyd a path to the end zone.

“We have strength and speed and if you use both of them it goes well,” Valent said.

The floodgates really opened after the teams exchanged punts. Crestview quarterback Caleb Hill threw an interception to Burzynski who returned it all the way back, erasing all doubt of a Rebel comeback.

“My defensive backs had good coverage and everyone did their assignments,” Burzynski said. “We had a good blitz, I read the ball and I picked it. I read it the entire way.”

The Eagles now sit high atop the region 25 standings with Mogadore and for Burzynski, this hopes to only be the beginning of a memorable season.

“We have one goal and that’s to make it all the way to state,” Burzynski said. “We feel the same [as we did in week one]. We feel confident in our ability to play football.”