Homecoming photos: http://bit.ly/2D0IdVc
In spite of weather suddenly turned from summer to fall Week 9 as the Cardinal Huskies celebrated their Homecoming weekend, the sun shown brightly on pregame festivities: King Isaiah Tucker was crowned, and Queen Faith Peters was chosen.
Then the football team, buoyed by the return of some key athletes from recent injuries, helped overcome a rough start in the second period of their game against Richmond Heights, and Cardinal improved to 3-6 on the season with a solid overall effort in winning this Chagrin Valley Conference contest, 36-14.
The Huskies lost a fumble and had a pass picked off in their only possessions of the first period. The lost fumble set up the Spartans, with limited numbers all season, who promptly drove the ball 54 yards in 11 plays to score for a quick lead.
The return of Trey Shirkey gave Cardinal a huge lift in this game.
Battling leg injury since early in the season opener, Shirkey is well mended and rested. He banged away at the Spartans from the get-go, and Heights had no response.
On the third play from scrimmage after taking over on downs, Shirkey broke right up the middle for a 40 yard gain on a quick hitter in which only an ankle tackle by the last man to be in his way stopped the touchdown run.
A first and goal rush from Shirkey from the two yard line capped the drive.
Dominic Dragolich recovered a fumble at the Huskies 20 yard line on the next possession for the Spartans, and on the second play, from the 23 yard line, Shirkey exploded through a hole up the middle and was off to the races. Near midfield, the last Spartan standing got in the way of Crossland Robinson, who sent him to the ground and allowed Shirkey to show a burst of speed that was highly unexpected.
Few people can outrun the speedy Spartan athletes, but Shirkey put ground between himself and the goal line easily to complete the 77 yard run.
With just 56 seconds before intermission, a plethora of dashing Huskies blocked a punt, with Jacob Gotham recovering at the Spartan 20 yard line. On the second play thereafter, Matt Carney found Brice Hogue with a perfect pass along the back line of the end zone from the 15 yard line, and Cardinal had some breathing room at last.
“I have felt really bad lately for some of our injured athletes, ” coach Eric Cardinal said. “We’ve had two broken legs and two broken arms this season that put the entire season in jeopardy for our guys. I’m really concerned now for that number 27 (Tyson Sinclair), who’s out now with a broken leg. He’s worked hard, but so have all our kids who have been hurt, and it sure was nice to have Trey Shirkey back tonight at full speed.
“His effort tonight showed how hard he has worked because we really weren’t sure if he’d make it back at all for his senior season. The fellow can play the game, and showed it tonight.”
In his biggest effort since injury, Shirkey pummeled the Heights defense for 195 yards on just 15 carries for four touchdowns on the night, and also was in the middle of 11 tackles on defense. His presence clearly bottled up a speed-fueled offense from the Spartans that grows with their inside game. Shirkey clogged up everything they tried for the most part, although they did get some offense from Jalen Johnson on the ground, with 123 yards on 22 carries, as well as some early help from Emanuel Sims, who ran for 37 and passed for another 25 in the first half. Sims was a total non-factor in the second half as the Huskies stuffed anything they saw, and broke the game open with two lightning strikes in the third period to finalize any doubt as to the outcome.
Shirkey recovered a fumble at the Spartan 32 with 7:08 left in the the quarter, and took the ball 29 yards to score on the second play. He started over right tackle, cut back sharply to the left and again outran the defense for the score.
The next Spartan possession drove for a couple first downs before stalling. Another punt was blocked with everybody but the legendary Huskies hero, Tom Peters, seemingly pouncing on the ball at the Spartan nine. And then Shirkey took it in from the two, again on the second play, and non-legendary Huskies lineman Robby Granny got to run home the conversion to finalize Cardinal scoring.
Shirkey was all smiles as his career winds down in preparation for this week’s contest with Berkshire.
“It’s really been a blessing for me to be able to come back this season,” Shirkey said. “I really didn’t think I could make it after that first game, but Coach and my teammates all kept my spirits up with positive comments. I just want to run with the ball as much as I can. I’m not used to running away from people, but a couple guys told me I really pulled away on those runs tonight. But at the time, I wasn’t paying attention to that. I just wanted to get as far as I could because I know how fast those guys are.”
Shirkey’s healing has come quickly, and it’s hoped the same comes for Sinclair, according to Coach Cardinal, but other factors play into the mix as well.
Stay tuned for the results of the rivalry between Cardinal and Berkshire. If the Huskies are healthy, they might have a small edge.