Tiger LaVerde has won 130 football games and three state titles in his first 11 seasons at Kirtland, but he’ll never take a victory for granted.
He also realizes how fortunate the Hornets were to leave C.S. Harris Stadium with a 14-13 win over host Chagrin Falls on Friday.
“We shot ourselves in the foot a little bit,” LaVerde said. “Any time can go on the road and play a really well-coached team and battle for four quarters and not play your best game and get out with a win against a quality opponent, that’s really good to see.”
Dylan Fulco’s 1-yard touchdown run with 1:35 left in the first quarter gave the Hornets an early 7-0 lead.
The Hornets were in position to cash in on a Chagrin Falls turnover when Ryan Lipps recovered a fumble at the Tiger 20 but the Hornets gave it right back three plays later.
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Chagrin Falls took momentum into the locker room when Cade Salyers returned an interception for a score as time expired in the first half, leaving the score deadlocked at 7-7.
Brett Diemer capped Kirtland’s first drive of the second half with a 1-yard touchdown run that gave the Hornets a 14-7 lead with 8:11 left to play in the third.
After trading punts the Tigers pulled to within 14-13 when Christoph Sontich scored from four yards out but Ethan Jernejcic blocked the extra point try to preserve Kirtland’s advantage.
Kirtland’s defense stiffened to keep the Tigers out of the end zone the rest of the way.
“The defensive stops today were huge,” Fulco said. “Ethan Jernejcic blocked an extra point, which was huge. We just made some plays and got some big stops late in the game.”
The Hornets held Chagrin Falls to just 195 yards of offense.
“They did a nice job pretty much all night and won the battle at the line of scrimmage and our secondary kept everything in front of them,” LaVerde said. “The one drive they did score on was kind of a short field.”
Joey Torok rushed for 147 yards on 26 carries while Fulco added 142 on 20 for Hornets, who picked up 423 of their 460 yards on the ground.
“Chagrin had a big and physical defense,” Fulco said. “We made mistakes on the offensive side of the ball down in scoring position that cost us some points. Our line did a great job late in the game opening up holes for the backs to help us secure the win.”
Jake Neibecker carried 12 times for 85 yards and Diemer ran 17 times for 49 yards in the win.
“Overall, we’ve got a long way to go,” LaVerde said. “We can certainly make a lot of improvements. We’ll look at the film and learn from it and become a better team down the road.”
Kirtland host Columbia on Sept. 1.
