MIDDLEFIELD—Cardinal opened its renovated stadium on Friday and the Huskies also inducted a new group of former athletes into its Hall of Fame but the night belonged to visiting Berkshire and standout running back Ryan Pennypacker.
The 5-foot-10, 210-pounder carried 35 times for 222 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Badgers to a 47-33. Berkshire reclaimed the Kinsman Cup—the trophy presented to the winning team in this annual rivalry—for the first time since 2016.
“It’s huge, just to come out here off of a tough loss last week when we felt we could have been in the ball game,” Berkshire coach Josh DeWeese said. “We shot ourselves in the foot (in a loss to Garfield), so to come out here and take care of practice all week and take care of each other and then to come out and dedicate this field with a Badger victory, it’s a great feeling.”
It didn’t start out well for the Badgers as Cardinal’s Zack Czako ran for a 63-yard touchdown on the Huskies’ third play from scrimmage. A penalty erased that long scoring run but Czako later broke a 42-yard run to set up Joey Soltis’ one-yard plunge that gave the Huskies an early 6-0 lead.
Pennypacker ran for a 30-yard touchdown to give Berkshire a 7-6 lead with 10:24 left in the first half.
After trading turnovers, Berkshire’s defense forced a Cardinal punt and Jake Brown threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Matthew Politzer on fourth-and-15 to push the Berkshire lead to 14-6.
Pennypacker then added a five-yard touchdown run with 2:36 left in the half to push the Badger lead to 21-6.
“He’s a beast,” DeWeese said of Pennypacker. “Four years in the weight room basically produced him. He’s a great leader on the team, a captain. He’s a finisher. We go to him and he’ll finish ball games for us.”
The Huskies responded to Berkshire’s 21-point run with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Soltis to Cardale Sheppard to cut the Badger lead to 21-14 with 27 seconds left in the half. A Berkshire penalty on a Cardinal punt kept alive the Husky drive.
Berkshire needed just one play in the second half to regain the momentum as Brown ran for a 63-yard touchdown to open the third quarter.
That didn’t break Cardinal’s will as Czako run for touchdowns of 12 and 15 yards to pull to within 28-26 with 4:44 left in the third.
Berkshire gambled on fourth-and-four near midfield and it paid off as Brown completed a pass to Evan McDermott for 35 yards. Pennypacker capitalized on DeWeese’s roll of the dice with a five-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter that pushed Berkshire’s lead to 35-26.
Once again the Huskies responded.
Soltis connected with Casey Horner on a 24-yard touchdown pass that cut Cardinal’s deficit to 41-33 with 9:39 left in the contest.
That’s when McDermott hurt the Huskies for the second time. He took a handoff from Brown and raced around the left end for a 63-yard touchdown.
“It was third and long and he ran a jet on the outside, which he normally doesn’t do, and earlier in the game he caught a fourth-and-four for 35 yards down the middle of the field,” DeWeese said. “He had a great game tonight.”
Cardinal frantically worked to down the field but its drive ended when Josh Tribuzzo stepped in front of a Soltis pass and Pennypacker’s 32-yard touchdown run with 1:58 left to play closed out the scoring.
“The line played phenomenal tonight,” DeWeese said. “They shut down our inside run but as the game wore on we were able to get the edge and the perimeter. The receivers had a great night blocking and some good catches out there. We dropped a few picks but we had a big pick to finish at the end there with Tribuzzo getting one. It was a good team win.”
Cardinal’s Michael Lucarelli picked off a pair of passes for the Huskies.
Berkshire improved to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division. The Badgers host Grand Valley on Friday. Cardinal dropped to 1-3, 0-1. The Huskies travel to Hawken in Week 5.
