The Akron Firestone and Copley football teams met Friday night in a Week 2 game at the renovated Copley Stadium.
Copley scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to erase a one-point deficit and earn a 33-14 win. The victory is Copley's first in football in its renovated stadium.
Copley senior Tony Cox ran for two of his three touchdowns in the fourth quarter and senior Jason Baines Jr. added a touchdown in the final quarter.
Here is how the game unfolded:
Senior Tony Cox breaks loose for a 29-yard touchdown run with 4:12 to go in the fourth quarter and junior kicker Anderson Madden makes the extra points to give Copley a 33-14 lead.
Senior Jason Baines Jr. runs 2-yards for a touchdown with 7:03 to go in the fourth quarter and junior Anderson Madden kicks the extra point to give Copley a 26-14 lead. Drive included a 34-yard run by senior Tony Cox.
Senior Tony Cox runs for a 7-yard touchdown to give Copley a 19-13 lead with 11:55 to go in the fourth quarter. Pass attempt for two points is no good. The drive featured several running plays to Cox, a 4th-down-and-18 conversion when freshman quarterback Dane Wininger completed a 25-yard pass to junior Andrew McKnight and a Wininger to McKnight 33-yard pass play.
Copley junior Collin Witherspoon II grabs interception in the end zone to end a Firestone drive with 3:12 to go in the third quarter. Firestone leads 14-13.
Firestone junior Gucciano "Gucci" Stephens grabs an interception with 10:58 to go in the third quarter.
Firestone senior Daniel Peterson runs for a 2-yard touchdown and senior kicker Rachelle Athey makes the extra point to give Firestone a 14-13 lead with four seconds to go in the second quarter. The drive included a 14-yard run by Peterson, a 35-yard pass from senior Daylyn Taylor to senior Taron Bowden and a fourth-down conversion (Peterson 3-yard run).
Copley leads 13-7 with 6:24 to go in the second quarter via a 19-yard touchdown run by senior Tony Cox. The extra point resulted with no points after a rush following an errant/dropped snap. The drive included a 12-yard run by Cox and a fourth-down conversion (14-yard pass from junior Andrew McKnight to sophomore Jacob Kuczkowski).
Firestone ties the score at 7-7 with 9:42 remaining in the second quarter as senior Dionte Younger Jr. runs for a 16-yard touchdown and senior kicker Rachelle Athey makes the extra point. The drive included a 33-yard run by senior Daniel Peterson and a 10-yard run by Younger.
Copley takes a 7-0 lead. Junior quarterback Andrew McKnight ran for a 1-yard touchdown with 4:37 to go in the first quarter and junior kicker Anderson Madden made the extra point.
A promosing drive by Copley ended when Firestone senior Isaiah Ramer forced a fumble and junior Gucciano "Gucci" Stephens pounced on the ball at the Falcons 22-yard line.
Copley senior Tony Cox had runs of 15-yards and 22-yards before the turnover and junior quarterback Andrew McKnight completed an 11-yard pass to junior Caleb Wisniewski.
Copley senior quarterback Gabe Mansel is going to miss tonight's game because of an injury. Junior Andrew McKnight is lining up at quarterback for Copley tonight.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. Friday because of the storms that passed through Akron and surrounding communities earlier today. Check back here for updates throughout the game. Until then, here is some pregame information :
Firestone will meet host Copley at 7 p.m. This will be Copley's second football game in its renovated stadium.
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Firestone defeated Copley 53-28 in Week 2 last season . The Falcons scored all 53 of their points in the second half to erase a 14-0 halftime deficit.
Daniel Peterson, Dionte Younger Jr. and Daylyn Taylor , who are now seniors at Firestone, combined to rush for 322 yards and five touchdowns on 40 carries last season at Copley. Peterson ran for 168 yards and two TDs on 19 carries, Taylor ran for 116 yards and a TD on 13 carries and Younger ran for 38 yards and two TDs on eight carries and added a 90-yard kickoff return.
Copley also returns several players from last season's game against Firestone — seniors Julian Bearshak, Gabriel Mansel, Tony Cox and Dontiar "Scooby" Stanford, and junior Andrew McKnight to name a few.
Bearshak and Mansel each played a half at QB last season against Firestone. Bearshak completed 16 of 27 passes for 167 yards and ran 21 times for 64 yards and a TD. Mansel completed 8 of 19 passes for 68 yards and ran 12 times for 100 yards. Cox had five carries for 55 yards and a TD.
Before last year's game, Copley had won several matchups in a row against Firestone.
Firestone defeated host Cuyahoga Falls 34-0 last Friday. Senior Daylyn Taylor completed 8 of 10 passes for 165 yards and ran for 77 yards on 10 carries to lead the visiting Falcons to a win. Taylor ran for a touchdown, threw a TD pass to senior Isaiah Ramer and converted a two-point conversion pass to Taron Bowden.
Firestone senior Daniel Peterson ran for 192 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. Senior Mario Jones and junior Gucciano “Gucci” Stephens each contributed a punt return TD for the Falcons.
Senior Dionte Younger Jr. paced Firestone’s defense with 15 solo tackles, four assists, three sacks. Senior Micah Townsend contributed 12 solo tackles, five assists and three tackles for loss.
Amherst Steele played the role of spoiler last Friday and topped host Copley 34-18 as it played its first football game in its renovated stadium. Copley senior Gabriel Mansel threw two touchdown passes to junior Andrew McKnight and ran for a TD. Steele's Cole Norris ran for three TDs and threw a TD pass to Eli Solak, and J.R. Bires added a TD.
Eric Mitchell is in his 10th season as Firestone's coach and John Kromalic is in his second season as Copley's coach.
Mitchell is a 1984 graduate of Garfield High School where he played defensive back and running back under now retired coach Bill McGee. Garfield won City Series championships in 1982 and 1983, and was Division I state runner-up in 1983 following a semifinal win over Mentor Lake Catholic and a final loss to Cincinnati Princeton.
Mitchell's first season as Firestone's football coach was 2015. Before that he was the football coach at Lutheran East in 2013 and 2014, Warrensville Heights from 2006-2011 and Brush from 2000-2004. He was a football assistant coach at Barberton for nine years and at Brush, Kenmore and Willoughby South for one year apiece.
Mitchell is also currently Firestone's girls basketball coach after a successful run as a boys and girls track and field coach for the Falcons. He previously was the Shaker Heights girls basketball coach, served as a girls basketball assistant coach at Warrensville Heights and a boys basketball assistant coach at Barberton, Brush and Shaker Heights and coached boys and girls track and field teams at Barberton, East, Brush and Lutheran East.
Kromalic is a 2014 graduate of Copley High School where he played quarterback. He was Copley's offensive coordinator in 2021 and 2022 after being an assistant coach at Brecksville and Nordonia. He is also the Copley girls track and field coach.
Michael Beaven can be reached by email at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: OHSAA football scores | Copley vs Akron Firestone high school football recap
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