High school football: Four interceptions lead Black River over Northwestern in rivalry game

SULLIVAN TWP. — Complete with a visor and No. 2 jersey, Northwestern sophomore quarterback Leonardo Guidetti played like the high school version of former Texas A&M star Johnny Manziel during his first two drives against Black River on Friday night. Once Pirates freshman Dom Bell ran back an interception 92 yards, that stretch of greatness ended emphatically. Bell's pick-six — one of the longest in school history — ignited an incredible run of four interceptions in less than a quarter of game time as the Pirates overcame a sloppy start to hammer the Huskies 37-7 in non-league action and get revenge for an embarrassing one-score loss in Wayne County a year ago. The series between the backyard rivals has been known for wild and sometimes bizarre games. This wasn't one of them because Bell, Zane Bungard, Bryce Murray, Mason Koberna, Kayden Hendershot and Co. shut down the airwaves and flipped field position on its head. "I'm happy I got to do it with the guys I did," Bell said. "We rallied together, especially after the Week 1 loss to Hillsdale (42-14). We had a great week of practice with great prep. We were ready this week. It was a great game. "Their first drive, they went right down and scored. As soon as we started getting turnovers and got pressure to (Guidetti), he panicked. The defense rallied and we got momentum, pretty much." The key stats were quite simple.Guidetti, an athletic sophomore with a bright future, completed seven of his first 10 passes for 110 yards that included a 31-yard TD to Rylie Ramsier a mere 2:37 in. Beginning with Bell's INT, Guidetti completed only five of his final 15 attempts for 43 yards and other interceptions to Murray, Koberna and Hendershot. Black River responded by blitzing more of its 3-4 front, moving safeties Murray and Austin Pamer toward the middle of the field and using a linebacker to spy Guidetti, who looked to scramble and create playground-style plays at every opportunity. Couple locking down the airwaves with six sacks and a stout run defense — Northwestern had minus-14 yards on the ground — and it was crystal clear that the adjustments worked. "(The adjustments) were putting us in the perfect windows of where their routes were going," Murray said. "It was crazy. We'd been on a long run since we'd gotten a pick, and that's what the coaches were preaching to us in practice. We needed to get picks because (Guidetti) was scrambling all over the place. We needed to go get the ball." Less than two minutes after Bell's pick-six cut the score to 7-6 Huskies, Koberna's interception set up a 14-yard run-pass option slant from Bell to Murray that gave Black River the lead for good. Running back Hunter Varney then scored rushing touchdowns fewer than four minutes apart, the first from 6 yards and the second from 59 after he caught an arrant snap on the fly and burst through the middle. The 31-0 first-half run that took just 16:07 to complete was capped when Bell rolled right and floated a beauty of a 28-yard score to Bungard at the halftime buzzer. The running clock began just 1:05 into the third quarter when Bell zipped a rocket to Murray on another RPO slant, this time from 50 yards. Bell finished 12-of-20 for 195 yards and also punted three times for a 45.0 average. Bungard caught six passes for 100 yards, Murray hauled in four for 80 while also rushing three times for 32 yards and Varney ended up with 88 yards on the ground. "Our line allows us to be able to sell any (play-fake)," Bell said. "Our wide receivers are also a big part of it — knowing when to settle, what route to run." Black River got the momentum it was looking for after the loss to defending Division VII state runner-up Hillsdale in the opener. A tougher matchup with undefeated Smithville awaits next week before Lorain County League play begins. "This is a big win for us, to be honest," Murray said. "We got to practice and our coaches kept telling us, 'We've got to have a better week. We've got to have a better week.' They stayed on us, and we really did have a better week. We stuck to our game plan and responded." Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com.