High school football: Midview grounded once Berea-Midpark passing attack takes off

EATON TWP. — The Midview defense had Berea-Midpark's passing attack figured out early Friday night. Defensive lineman RJ Lambert grabbed an interception off a deflected pass on the game's opening drive and two more Titans passes were nearly picked off during their second possession. But senior quarterback Troy Shick and his bevy of speedy receivers finally got rolling and Berea-Midpark exploded during the middle quarters en route to a 38-21 victory in the Southwestern Conference matchup. "We gave up some deep passes and they were just able to find guys that were open," Midview coach Luke Beal said. "They have really good athletes and we weren't able to defend some of the deep balls. "Against a team like this, I thought early in the game things were really going well, defensively, but you just can't let them score quickly." Midview (2-5, 1-3 SWC) used the momentum from its early defensive stops to grab a 7-0 lead, running the ball on all 11 plays of a 69-yard drive that was capped by quarterback Marc Reed's 1-yard dive into the end zone. The Titans (4-3, 3-1) roared back to tie the game when Shick hit Josh Medina over the middle for an 18-yard touchdown, then the pair gave Berea-Midpark the lead on a 5-yard touchdown pass with just four minutes left in the first half. The Middies answered one play later when Reed threw a deep strike to Mason Kucera, who caught the ball in stride for a 62-yard touchdown that made it 14-all. Midview's offense stalled after the big play as Reed was removed from the game early in the third quarter with what Beal called "concussion type symptoms." "Any time you lose your starting quarterback, it's going to have an impact," Beal said. "But I thought (backup) Ethan Beitel, he's a senior and he's played that position some before, so we have confidence in him. So it's next man up and he had to go in there and play." Shick meanwhile began putting on a passing clinic. He connected with junior Austin Clay for a 48-yard score late in the second quarter, completed the hat trick with Medina — a 23-yard touchdown — early in the third and let loose for an 80-yard bomb to Clay late in the third. Shick completed 15 of 26 passes for 324 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. Midview showed a spark in the fourth when Beitel, junior Hunter Anderson and senior James Ansel took turns pounding the ball through the middle of the line, with Anderson finally bursting into the end zone from 3 yards out. The Middies suffered their second straight lopsided league loss after opening their SWC schedule with a win against Amherst. With an expanded playoff field — Midview was just three spots from a playoff berth heading into Friday night's game — Beal knows his team is still in the hunt. "We just have to stick to the plan," he said. "Our guys are really resilient, so we just have to keep working. They come to practice with a great attitude, a great work ethic and we'll continue to get better." Contact Shaun Bennett at (440) 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on Twitter.