CHAGRIN FALLS—Orange entered Friday’s game at Chagrin Falls hoping to improve to 6-0 for the first time since 1998 while the host Lions had their sights set on win No. 1.
Mick Lawrence ran for 213 yards and two touchdowns for the Tigers as they upset the Lions, 29-21.
“It started on the weekend in preparation for them,” said Chagrin Falls coach Mike Iammarino. “They’re a good football team, a really good football team. They were 5-0 and they were scoring a lot of points while we had not put things together. I felt like we had a good game in us but we just hadn’t put things together.”
The Tigers’ schedule certainly didn’t help matters.
Entering the weekend, Chagrin Falls’ first five opponents had won 21 of 25 games.
“We’ve really played against some really tough teams,” Iammarino said. “I felt like that would help us as we can come down the stretch and it did tonight.”
Orange opened the game with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Sean Borgman to Armon Frey with 5:01 left in the first quarter. The Tigers responded with a 49-yard touchdown pass from Sean Cusack to Xavier Perez less than a minute later to tie the game at 6-6.
The Tigers then recorded a safety with 1:33 left in the first half and Lawrence broke a 53-yard touchdown run 19 seconds later to give Chagrin Falls a 15-6 lead at the break.
Orange cut its deficit to 15-13 when Borgman scored on a three-yard run with 8:00 left in the third but again Lawrence responded. This time he scored on a three-yard run to push the Tiger lead to 22-13 with 4:50 left in the third quarter.
Dawson Pierce’s one-yard touchdown run gave the Tigers a 29-13 lead with 11:07 left in the game.
Borgman threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Hill and the two connected on the two-point conversion to close out the scoring.
“We ran the ball well and I felt that we defended well,” Iammarino said. “Our inside defensive linemen and linebackers did a really good job against a good offense. We kept them out of the end zone when we had to. I’m really proud of our boys.”
Chagrin Falls ran for 312 yards to just 89 for Orange. The Lions recorded 137 passing yards to just 57 for the Tigers.
Borgman completed 8-of-18 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns while Frey finished with six catches for 86 yards.
Orange looks to rebound on Friday against visiting Geneva while the Tigers travel to Harvey seeking their second straight win.
“I told the guys before the game, last year we were in the same situation and we won our last four games,” Iammarino said. “This is momentum, and I told them this is like life, sometimes things don’t go your way but you can’t quit. You’ve got to buckle down and work a little bit harder and good things will happen. I’m really proud of them for sticking to that.”
