Harding passes another test

Harding v. East football

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By BRIAN DZENIS

bdzenis@vindy.com

WARREN

Warren Harding stayed calm and trusted Kay’Ron Adams.

The Raiders needed no major adjustments Friday night. They just had to keep feeding the ball to their Division I college football prospect. He started slow, but his legs helped churn out a 21-14 win against East.

Adams had just 29 rushing yards in the first half before finishing the game with 182.

“It was about being patient. [East] has a very good d-line,” Adams said. “You have to wait for the gap and hit it very hard. Something had to happen.”

Harding (7-2, 3-0 All-American Conference Gold Tier) clinched a playoff spot with the victory. Its only two losses are to Canton McKinley and Massillon, who are a combined 17-1. The Golden Bears defense proved to be as tough as any team they’ve seen this season.

“I want to commend [East coach Brian Marrow] on the vast improvement from last year to this year,” Harding coach Steve Arnold said. “They played hard. This was a tough, physical game and we’ve had some physical games with Boardman, Mooney and East, but we came away with the win.”

The Raiders’ preparation for the Golden Bears centered around managing the mental and emotional side of the game rather than tactics. East (6-3, 4-0 AAC Red) came to Warren riding high coming off wins against Poland and Canfield.

“We didn’t let the hype take over,” Harding quarterback Elijah Taylor said.

Adding to the potential drama was East’s roster having Harding transfers like running back Gei’Vonni Washington and lineman Terrance Yeboah. While there was some back and forth, there were no serious skirmishes.

“We’re out there to play football. After the game we paid our respects to each other,” Adams said. “We played clean and had a good ball game.

“There was a little talking, but that’s all in the game.”

Taylor threw two touchdown passes in the first quarter, a 7-yarder to Jakari Salter and screen pass that Adams turned into an 84-yard touchdown. Taylor finished the game with 179 passing yards.

East suffered a setback in the second quarter when quarterback Zane Cylar went down with a foot injury and had to be taken to a hospital, Marrow said. His replacement, sophomore DelShawn Petrosky, proved up to the task.

His first rush went for 51 yards and a couple plays later, he showed some nice moves evading two would-be tacklers before throwing a 24-yard TD pass to Machai Cheatum as the first half ended.

Petrosky woud up leading East with 64 rushing yards and 102 passing.

“He did an amazing job. He’s a playmaker offensively and defensively. He’s our tight end, receiver, holder. I think he’s an all-state safety with two pick-sixes,” Marrow said. “He’s a gamer for us. I’m proud of him.”

Harding scored what became the decisive touchdown in the fourth quarter with Elijah Smith’s 1-yard run.

Roughly a minute after the Smith TD, Petrosky threw his second touchdown pass to Marquan Herron from 27 yards out with 6:15 to play.

But Golden Bears never got the ball pack as the Raiders kept the ball the rest of the way.

East remains in control of its destiny in the Division IV, Region 13 playoff race.