Sports

Brush Stuns Lakewood Football Squad

Don't be fooled by the Arcs' 3-5 record; Lakewood shutout, 20-0.

Friday night’s football match-up between the visiting Arcs and the host Rangers could be summed up in a few ways: Some three-and-outs and five interceptions for offense and a Brush High School defense that wouldn’t quit.

One may not have guessed that the Arcs were only 2-5 coming into the contest, with how well their defense performed.

The Rangers could only muster 124 total yards on offense — after handling other defenses the past few weeks.

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So which was it: the Arcs had a great defense or the Rangers’ offense struggled?

“We will have to go back and look at the tape to see how the offensive line played, but we couldn’t create holes for our guys to run through,” said Lakewood head coach Ron Lewis. “We didn’t throw the ball well either.” 

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“We didn’t play very well.”

Lakewood threw five interceptions — two in the first half and three in the second. The squad struggled the entire game to find a rhythm. 

“That’s partly because Brush is pretty good,” Lewis said. “They’ve got a good football team. They’re big and physical — we just couldn’t get it going offensively.”

By the end of the fourth quarter, the stands — packed only an hour before — were nearly empty.

“It was a letdown,” said Lewis. “To have our fans and students here and to have them so excited — it was a letdown.”

The loss took Lakewood’s record to 5-3, which makes the Rangers’ chance of making the playoffs statistically out of the question. 

“We can’t think of winning a championship — we’ve got one more home game and one more away game. We need to focus on those.”

The Rangers are on the road next week as they travel to Garfield Heights for a 7 p.m. kickoff.


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