Growing pains: Young Tygers succumb, but make it interesting in the end

MANSFIELD — One of these days, probably soon, the scoreboard will do a better job of reflecting how much fun coaching football in 2024 is for Mansfield Senior’s Chioke Bradley.

With an almost entirely new cast of starters, his Tygers came within inches – make that fingertips – of spoiling the head coaching debut of a former Ohio State star in Friday night’s season opener at Arlin Field.

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In the end, old nemesis Donald Johnson Jr. made sure Doran Grant – a captain on the Buckeyes’ 2014 national championship team – left town a winner with two huge interceptions in Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary’s 21-14 victory.

Johnson snuffed out one scoring threat by picking off a pass inside the 5 before adding a 40-yard pick-6 in the third quarter that made it 14-0 and gave the Irish a lead too big to overcome.

It’s the same Donald Johnson Jr. who ran for over 100 yards and three touchdowns in a 35-14 victory over the Tygers last season.

Even though he was Friday’s leading rusher with 75 yards on 18 carries, Johnson did most of his damage this time on the defensive side, with a couple of plays that were routine for Grant when he was roaming the secondary as a two-time All-Ohioan for the Irish.

“He’s the type of player he showed tonight,” Grant, 31, said. “He’s an outstanding athlete. The entire defense had a great performance. My defensive coordinator, Rob Brown, my defensive coordinator, Sian Cotton (who played on some of those great Irish basketball teams with LeBron James), along with coaches Isaac Williams and Ernest Johnson, it was a collaborative effort. They did a great job.”

Bradley, like his counterpart Grant, was a star defensive back in college, at Bowling Green. So getting to match Xs and…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/growing-pains-young-tygers-succumb-053430298.html

Author : Mansfield News Journal

Publish date : 2024-08-24 05:34:30

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