MACEDONIA: Every week of the playoffs presents a new challenge for a football team.
The competition generally gets tougher, the crowds get larger and the weather gets colder. Friday night at Nordonia High School, the teams on the field were certainly of high quality and the temperatures were quite crisp.
Hudson and Aurora both brought stout defenses to their Division II, Region 5 semifinal game, and the Explorers mustered just enough offense to earn a 14-7 victory.
Junior quarterback Colt Pallay led the Explorers (10-2) by completing 13-of-21 passes for 201 yards and two touchdowns.
“We took another step forward tonight,” Pallay said. “Aurora is a great offensive team with a lot of firepower. They have great running backs, a great quarterback and great receivers. Our defense really stepped up tonight.”
Senior quarterback Mac Austin led the Greenmen (10-2) offense by completing 16-of-28 passes for 147 yards.
“This was a defensive battle tonight,” Aurora coach Bob Mihalik said. “Both defenses played well enough to win, but they made a couple more plays than we did on offense, obviously. I told our seniors it is always sad to say goodbye, especially after 10 straight wins after opening with a loss. I am proud how we bounced back.”
Hudson will play Warren Harding, a 49-31 winner against Chardon on Friday, at a site to be determined next week.
“This was a complete game by our team,” Hudson coach Jeff Gough said. “I think the MVP of the game was [senior] Jonah Wieland, our punter, offensive lineman and kicker.”
Hudson took a 7-0 lead into halftime on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Pallay to junior Colin Paltani and an extra point kick by Wieland with 3:07 to go in the second quarter. The Explorers covered 49 yards on four plays.
Aurora knotted the score at 7-7 with six seconds remaining in the third quarter when senior Bubba Arslanian rushed for a 4-yard touchdown and junior Robby Albrecht kicked the extra point. The Greenmen covered 90 yards on eight plays.
Aurora appeared to have recovered a Hudson fumble on the ensuing kickoff, but referees blew their whistles and ruled the Explorers player was down. Hudson then needed just three plays to travel 73 yards and retake the lead with 11:20 left in the fourth quarter. Pallay connected with junior Greg Mailey for a 58-yard touchdown and Wieland converted the extra point to make it 14-7.
That was all the scoring in the game as each defense flexed its muscles and flashed its speed.
Gough praised Paltani, Joe Sweet, Alex Beck, Will Orazen, Evan Westerbeck, Danny Saxon and Brady Ludewig for their efforts defensively.
Kevin Callahan rushed for 52 yards on 16 carries for Hudson.
Arslanian was a key cog defensively for Aurora along with Nate Smierciak, Gavin Blunt, Holden Semancik, Mason Copley and Jonathan Blue.
Arslanian finished with 84 yards rushing on 12 carries and Chris Vanzo had five receptions for 67 yards and six carries for 27 yards for Aurora.
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the #ABJVarsity high school blog at www.ohio.com/preps. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBeavenABJ.