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Announcement
From the GAZETTE, By Brad Bournival, Staff Writer.
FRANKLIN TWP. — After a hiccup the week before, Buckeye's football team didn't mind living on the edge for a second straight week.
Dominating a non-conference tilt with Akron Manchester for three quarters Friday, the Bucks let the Panthers back in it before holding on for a 14-7 win.
"We don't bury teams. We let them hang around and then let our defense step up," Buckeye coach Chris Medaglia said.
"I told the boys before we came out we were going to have to win games 14-7 and 10-9, and to do that we're going to have to rely on our defense."
The Bucks (6-1), who beat a Manchester team that has made it the playoffs 12 straight years, needed a huge stop by linebacker Tyler Van Drei before
breathing a sigh of relief against the Panthers (4-3).
Down seven and facing fourth-and-11 from the Manchester 46 with 1:41 remaining, Panthers quarterback Tim Syx appeared headed for a first down when Van Drei rushed to the right sideline and blasted him out of bounds a yard shy of the first.
Dan Cereshko (106 yards passing, 1 rushing TD) took a knee after that to salt away the win.
"I was back in pass coverage when he got around Brad (Bauman)," Van Drei said. "I saw the first down marker and hit him before he got there and then went crazy."
So did the rest of the Buckeye defense, which erased the memory of a 24-21 Mohican Area Conference loss to Triway the week before.
In a very hostile environment, the Bucks only allowed Manchester across the 50 four times and didn't give up a touchdown until seven minutes remained.
"We've been trying to find the character of this unit all year," 2002 Division III Defensive Player of the Year Darren Cereshko said. "We needed our defense to come out and hold a good team like this to seven points.
"For us to hold them to only four times past the 50 is huge."
As has been the case for most of the season, the Bucks relied heavily on the play of Dan and Darren Cereshko.
The tandem didn't have a great performance — Darren finished with just 5 yards total offense — but when called upon the brothers responded.
Darren took the opening kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown and Dan gave the Bucks what would be the deciding touchdown on a 33-yard scamper with 51 ticks remaining in the third.
"They're everything," Medaglia said. "There isn't anything they can't do."
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