High School Football Preview: Brecksville-Broadview Heights will have a “devil” of a time Friday as they prepare to face Brunswick

BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio

The following article is brought to by The Learned Owl Bookstore in Hudson, Ohio.

The Brecksville-Broadview Heights Bees (2-0) will look to go 3-0 this Friday night at 7pm at The Bee Hive against one of Northeast Ohio’s perennial high school football powers, in the The Brunswick Blue Devils (1-1). These two teams date back to their battles in the old Pioneer Conference, where Brunswick reigned supreme. Brecksville has since moved on to two different conferences since those days, first moving to The Southwestern Conference, and then, moving onto The Suburban League last year. Brunswick has been a member of The Greater Cleveland Conference since The Pioneer Conference disbanded after the 2006-2007 season. Brecksville renewed there rivalry with their Northwest Medina County foe last year, holding onto a 22-16 victory at Brunswick Auto Mart Stadium.

Brecksville enters the game 2-0 after defeating Garfield Heights 34-0 last Friday at The Bee Hive. The Bees were led by Senior Quarterback Luke Strnad’s 19 for 32 passing, for 192 yards and 2 touchdown passes. Senior Wideout Joey McGonegal was the leading receiver for Brecksville, as he had 5 catches for 75 yards, including a touchdown. Junior runningback Alec Buckley followed up an impressive opening night performance against Padua with 12 carries for 116 yards and 2 touchdowns. Brecksville was lead defensively by Junior defensive back Michael Rose’s 4 tackles for loss (minus 15 yards), while assisting on a two other tackles. The Bees also got two nterceptions on the evening, one from Junior corner back Sam Wiglusz and another from Junior middle linebacker Michael Graham.

Brunswick made a valiant effort to stage a second half rally last week but fell short on the road against an always tough Austintown-Fitch team. After trailing 21-6 at halftime, Brunswick scored on a blocked punt recovered by Senior defensive lineman Collin Sustercic in the end zone at the 7:06 mark of the third quarter. After allowing Fitch to kick a field goal to make it 24-13, the Blue Devils were able to  bring the score to within a touchdown at 27-20 with 6 minutes to go in the fourth quarter on a 2 yard touchdown run by Senior fullback Alex Gillespie. Brunswick would drive down to the Falcons 35 yard line with two minutes to go, ultimately turning the ball over on downs.

This Friday The Bee Hive will pit two teams that run two different styles of offenses, with Brecksville running a spread offense, and Brunswick running a ball control, run-oriented offense. Brunswick will need to try and contain Brecksville Senior QB Luke Strnad and keep his wide receivers in check, led by Senior wide receiver Joey McGonegal. The Blue Devils will also need to keep an eye on Junior running back Alex Buckley as well, or he can make them pay for not paying attention to him, rushing for nearly 300 yards through the first two games of the season. The Bees will need to pay attention to Brunswick’s 6-1, 185 pound Senior runningback Jake Martin, who through the first two games of the season, has run for 324 yards on 43 carries, including 2 touchdowns, one of which went for 75 yards.

Prediction: Brecksville 25, Brunswick 21