After nine weeks of the high school football season only six of the 116 teams in Division I remained undefeated. One of those teams visited Lakewood Stadium on October 19 when the Brunswick Blue Devils came to town to take on the Lakewood Rangers.

Brunswick’s Sean Bedevelsky completed three first-half touchdown passes, including a school record 95-yarder to Ben Karaba, as the Blue Devils cruised to a 34-13 victory to clinch a share of the Northern Ohio Conference Valley Division title and a first-round home playoff game.

The Rangers struggled to move the football against the stingy Brunswick defense. Lakewood's four first-half drives resulted in three punts and just 75 yards of offense.

The Blue Devils scored the first three times they touched the football. Bedevelsky connected with Jordan Gribble on an 18-yard scoring strike to put Brunswick on the board with 9:26 remaining in the first quarter. On Brunswick’s second drive a false start penalty had them pinned back on their own 5-yard line facing third down and 19 yards to go when Bedvelsky connected with Karaba in a seam in the Rangers defense. Karaba caught the ball in full stride and ran untouched 95 yards into the end zone. Sophomore Jeff Kravetz's extra point made the score 14-0. Gribble’s second touchdown reception came from 3 yards out in the second quarter to give Brunswick a 20-0 halftime lead.

Despite his team’s impressive showing, Brunswick coach Rick Nowak saw room for improvement in his undefeated squad. “We didn’t have intensity tonight. We made too many mistakes, too many penalties. We can’t do this and continue to win games.”The Blue Devils were penalized 10 times for 94 yards.

Lakewood turned the ball over on the first two possessions of the second half before finding the end zone twice in the fourth quarter. Junior running back Devin Ross put the Rangers on the board with 7:38 to go in the game with a 2-yard touchdown run to make the score 34-6. Fullback Joe Young sprinted into the end zone from 21 yards out with 2:33 remaining in the contest. Ardjan Bako’s extra point made the final 34-13. Young, a sophomore, rushed for 23 yards on nine carries for the night.

Rangers coach Jim Slagle had nothing but praise for the Brunswick team. “They are a good football team. Our team played hard tonight but they have such good skill position guys, they just keep coming at you.”

If the Rangers (3-6) can beat Elyria (the game was to be played after our deadline) they will double their win total from the 2006 season. With Quarterback Dan Shannon and running back Ross and Young all returning for next season and a year of NOC conference play under their belt, the Lakewood Rangers will look to double their win total again in 2008.