Darryl Richards leads Kenston football team past Brush, now gets ready for conference play
The evolution of Darryl Richards continued at the expense of Brush. The first-year Kenston quarterback scored four rushing touchdowns to lead the Bombers over the Arcs, 30-16, Friday night at Bomber Stadium.
Richards had 17 rushes for 141 yards while completing 15 of 26 passes for another 113 yards. Nick Lombardy also had a big game on the ground as he rushed for 170 yards on 35 attempts.
Richards and Lombardy are proving to be a lethal duo on the ground for Kenston as Lombardy has 303 yards on 4.3 yards per carry while Richards has 292 yards rushing on 6.3 yards per attempt.
For Kenston (1-2), it was the Bombers' first victory under new coach Jeff Grubich. The Arcs dropped to 1-2.
"It's good to get your first win," Grubich said. "I'm happy for the seniors."
Grubich was happy with Richards.
"He got better and that's a good thing," Grubich said. "To be honest, running and throwing the football, he's doing very well for where he's at. It's just his third game. He made big, clutch throws in the fourth quarter. He's going to make mistakes. He's a first-year quarterback."
First-year Brush coach Josh Wells was also impressed.
"He's a very good football player," Wells said. "Once we got into the fourth quarter, he wore us down."
Kenston went up 7-0 as Richards scored on a 3-yard run. Brush answered with a 30-yard field goal by Brendan Burkholder to pull within 7-3.
But Richards came back with a 64-yard scoring run before hitting Jack Quigley with a two-point conversion pass for a 15-3 lead. Quigley had eight catches for 85 yards.
Brush fought back as Jermaine Drake returned a blocked field goal attempt 82 yards for a touchdown. The point-after failed as the Bombers led, 15-9, at halftime.
The Arcs took the lead in the third quarter as Ugochukwu Onunwor caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Stephen Shorts for a 16-15 advantage, but Richards took over with scoring runs of 11 and 16 yards. Shorts struggled as he completed just 6 of 15 passes for 134 yards with the one touchdown and two interceptions. Shorts led Brush in rushing with 48 yards on 17 attempts. Onunwor was his favorite target as he caught three passes for 110 yards. Harry Durrah was held to 39 yards on 13 attempts.
"I think we had opportunities to make big plays, but they did a good job of containing us," Wells said. "We were one block away. We dropped a couple of passes."
Grubich liked what he saw from his defense.
"Overall, the defense played well the whole game," Grubich said. "They did an excellent job. They pretty much shut Brush down."
Ransford Bailey led the Arcs with eight tackles while Maurice Williams had an interception.
Kenston will face Wickliffe (2-1) at 7 p.m. Friday in Wickliffe. The Blue Devils just beat Brooklyn, 43-28. They run the wing-t, which the Bombers have experience against since they played Chardon already, which also runs the wing-t.
"That's a huge advantage for our kids," Grubich said. "They've been hearing it since the Chardon game that they can't defend the wing-t. They're hungry to shut the wing-t down."
It's also the Bombers' first Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division game of the season.
Brush will take on Valley Forge (1-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at Byers Field. The Patriots won, 10-7, over Holy Name last week. Wells said it's a big game for many reasons.
"It's huge," Wells said. "Not only do we need the win for the conference (Northeast Ohio Conference Lake Division), we need a win for the program. We're a good football team. We need a win to boost our own confidence. This is big. Valley Forge is an improved football team. It will be a good game for us."
Photos by David Turben Sun News
