High school football: Midview bounces back strong, doesn't let injuries ruin season

Midview easily could have let injuries derail its season. Instead, it decided to rewrite the script. The Middies have had some tough breaks, but after opening the season with four straight losses they find themselves on a two-game winning streak after last week's 24-21 upset of Avon Lake in Week 6. They can thank some new faces stepping into expanded roles for the turnaround. "We had to keep our head up and remember that we have a really good team," senior wide receiver Connor Awad said. "Our coach told us that we were probably the best 1-4 he's ever seen going into Avon Lake. We proved that we were a really good team. We just had to show it." One of the biggest injuries came in Week 1 when senior quarterback Ethan Surdock — entering his third season as the starter — suffered a broken arm in a 56-24 loss to Rocky River. That thrust junior Marc Reed into the starter's job, and all he's done is complete 67 percent of his passes for 1,274 yards and eight touchdowns to four interceptions. Reed made it a priority to develop chemistry with his receivers, especially Awad. And that work has paid off in a big way the last two weeks after senior wide receiver Bryce Newton suffered an injury in Week 4 against Olmsted Falls. Awad, at 6-foot-3, seized the opportunity that was presented to him. He leads the team with 43 catches for 613 yards and three touchdowns, most of his production coming in the past two weeks. He caught seven passes for 91 yards and a touchdown in Week 5 against Amherst, the team's first win, and then grabbed 10 passes for 185 yards and touchdown against Avon Lake. "After I got named the starter, Connor and I stood after practice every single day because I actually had never thrown to him so we had to get our timing down," Reed said. "Ever since then we've been able to trust each other every single week. It took a couple of days because I wasn't used to throwing to someone that big and fast at the same time. It was a little different to get used to, but after a couple of days we got used to it." Surdock wasn't just the leader of the team's passing attack, he led the Middies in rushing last season with 311 yards and accounted for 72 percent of the team's offense. Midview initially leaned on junior running back Mason Kucera more, but quickly discovered that Reed — at 6-1, 195 pounds — is a punishing runner in his own right. Reed and Kucera combined for 172 yards and four touchdowns — with Kucera scoring three times on 11 carries for 123 yards — against Amherst. "The big thing is that these kids have hung in there and really have stuck together," Midview coach Luke Beal said. "We have a tight-knit group, and certainly there are things that haven't gone our way and it would have been easy for things to have fallen apart. But these guys have really stuck together. We've had younger players who have had to step up. "It's a situation where the next man in has had to do their job and these guys have bought into that. Even in tough times, their attitudes have been really good and their work ethic has always been there. We saw that pay off (against Avon Lake). It really was a team win. A lot of people made plays and contributions." In addition to running for 40 yards on 10 carries and making six tackles on defense, Kucera also had to kick. Senior kicker Kaiden Koch suffered an injury away from practice, making him unavailable against Avon Lake. Kucera also plays soccer and served as the team's backup kicker in 2020, but this year focused more on his primary positions of running back and defensive back. He said he had a day to prepare for the game, and didn't disappoint. He converted all three extra points and a 24-yard field goal late in the third quarter that broke a tie and ultimately proved to be the deciding score. "Its funny because we got stopped on third down and I just remember me and coach Beal were looking at each other," Kucera said. "He just said, 'Kick the field goal,' and I knew I couldn't let my team down, I had to put it through. I stepped through it, did what I had to do and let it rip. As soon as I saw it go between, I was like 'let's go.' I didn't really think that it was going to end up being the game-winning field goal, so at the end of the game I thought back like, 'Wow, I really did that.'" Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com and follow him @CSweeneyCT on Twitter.