Green Rout Painesville Riverside 35-14 in OHSAA Playoffs Round 1: Everything You Missed
Bulldogs Secure Victory Over Riverside in High-Stakes Playoff Battle
For their fourth playoff appearance in six years, the Bulldogs of Green High School pulled out everything in their arsenal to take down the Beavers of Riverside (Painesville) 35-14. Green and Riverside already met in the 2024 football season, where Green defeated the Beavers 17-10.
This time, it was win or go home.
“I thought our enthusiasm, you could feel it in pregame, you could feel it yesterday in practice, Monday and practice would be two good days between there. That's where you win a football game, I thought I really liked their attitudes and how they came out and executed in that first half. I thought that was really good.” Green head coach Mark Geis said after the game.
Quarterback Tyson Hunka had a keeper touchdown for himself, too. The two-year starter tacked on 82 yards for Green’s 242 total rushing yards on the night. Two touchdowns from Hunka enabled the Bulldogs to take an early lead over Riverside, which ultimately harbored the nail in the coffin for the Beavers.
“It’s nice because [if] I didn’t see anyone open, the pocket collapsed and I just saw a bunch of Green grass and took off.” Hunka said.
Hunka had—practically—a 50/50 split for rushing and receiving yards. He flung 88 yards in the air for 170 total yards of offense.
Senior AJ Fortunato had a team-leading 11 solo tackles in the win.
“Senior year. We lose we go home. None of us want to lose. We got a chip on our shoulder [from] the last two weeks, and we wanna keep winning; we wanna keep playing football.” Fortunato said.
Notable players for Green included junior Evan Georgiou and and senior Antonio Martin. Martin had the first points on the board with a 35-yard receiving touchdown, he also nabbed an interception. Georgiou had an interception for himself, too; his third of the season.
The real MVP for Green, however, was junior Evan Reed. Reed rushed for two touchdowns, adding a third on a kickoff return in the second half.
“We worked on it all week. I’ve got to give props to my blockers.” Reed said.
Reed had 67 yards rushing, averaging 6.1 yards per carry. His elusiveness carried primarily on jet sweeps, but he scored both of his touchdowns on runs up the middle.
“It all starts with the middle man. It’s just make one cut and go. You see a hole, you make it, and bury your legs forward. The line do a good job of giving me that vision.” Reed said.
Green will travel to Nordonia (9-2) next week for round two of the Division II Region V playoff bracket. Nordonia beat Solon (3-8) 38-6 in round one.
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