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From The MANSFIELD JOURNAL: By Curt Conrad and Gary Ogle
WILLARD -- When the Crimson Flashes scored, they scored in bunches.
After spotting Medina Buckeye a 7-0 lead, Willard scored three touchdowns in a three-minute first quarter span and cruised to a 42-21 win in a Division III, Region 10 quarterfinal Saturday.
Just 10 seconds after Nick Strance's 64-yard touchdown pass to Nick Dials knotted the score, defensive end Gabe Sanders scooped up the first of three Buckeye fumbles at the Medina 13-yard line and rumbled into the end zone untouched.
Strance and Dials hooked up three minutes later on a 36-yard scoring strike and the Flashes were never seriously challenged again.
"That is a very good football team. They have a lot of great athletes," rookie Buckeye coach Chris Medaglia said. "You watch them on film and they look very good and then when you see them in person, they're even better."
The Bucks, who were making their first postseason appearance, had no answer to Strance and Willard's high-octane passing game. Strance completed 13-of-24 passes for 198 and three touchdowns, all to Dials. J.J. Ditz had five receptions for 67 yards while Dials hauled in four passes for 115 yards.
"Everybody stepped up tonight," said Dials, who also picked off a pass and forced a fumble in the first half. "If I got behind the (Buckeye) defense, I thought I could break open. That set some other things up. I just did what I could to help the team."
Willard's defense helped out, too. The Flashes recovered three Buckeye fumbles and picked off four passes.
"It was nice to get a defensive score," Sanders said. "Even if we didn't score directly off the turnovers, we set the offense up with a short field. I think we scored four touchdowns after turnovers."
Leading 20-7 after the first quarter, Willard pushed its lead to 28-7 on Strance's 1-yard plunge midway through the second quarter. That score came two plays after defensive tackle Brandon Viock pounced on a loose ball at the Buckeye 1-yard line.
The Bucks cut the Willard advantage to 28-14 at the half and stuffed the Flashes on their first offensive possession of the second half, but again were their own worst enemy on the ensuing drive. This time, cornerback Branden Luna stepped in front of a Dan Cereshko pass and, six plays later, Brian Montoney bulled his way in from 1 yard out for a 35-14 Willard lead.
Despite the rash of turnovers, the Bucks refused to go quietly. Cereshko hooked up with twin brother Darren on a 14-yard pass to pull Buckeye within two touchdowns with 1:38 to play in the third quarter.
The Flashes were not safely out of the woods until Strance found Dials for a 4-yard score with 3:20 to play in the fourth quarter.
"We had a chance to bury them, but we let them hang around," Willard coach Chris Hawkins said.
"We can't afford to do that. We've got to have that killer instinct to put teams away when we've got them on the ropes."
The loss couldn't dampen Medaglia's spirits. In addition to advancing to the playoffs for the first time in school history, the Bucks won a share of the Mohican Area Conference championship this fall.
"We made a lot of mistakes, but I'm not going to leave the field teary-eyed," Medaglia said. "Our kids have a lot to be proud of and I'm proud of the way they played."
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