Jemarulin Suggs gave everyone a sneak peek Friday night of what the near future might hold for the University of Akron’s running game.
The 5-foot-11 senior running back, who recently committed to play for the Zips, sparked Akron East to a 28-12 win over Firestone at InfoCision Stadium in a City Series game.
“We played with discipline, as well as playing hard, and when you mix those two things together it makes for a deadly combination,” East coach Marques Hayes said.
Suggs went over 200 yards for the second consecutive week, finishing with 261 yards on 34 carries. He has now gained more than 1,200 yards through the season’s first six games.
Suggs, who had three touchdowns, got East (3-3, 2-2) on the board first with an 8-yard touchdown run with 8:45 left in the first quarter to make it 6-0 after the extra point kick was missed.
Firestone tied it at 6-6 when quarterback Jordon Jones found a wide open Josh Mitchell in the middle of the field for a 10-yard score. The extra-point kick was blocked.
The Dragons came right back, taking a 12-6 lead just a minute into the second quarter when Suggs ran 4 yards for a touchdown.
Firestone (2-4, 2-1) tied the game on the very next play when Jones found Darshun Williams on a 47-yard scoring pass, but those were the Falcons’ final points of the game.
East quarterback Ryan Collins ran for a 16-yard touchdown with four seconds left in the second quarter to give the Dragons the lead at halftime.
The first half was sloppy, with the teams combining for 13 penalties. East committed eight of them, including three holding calls, for 85 yards.
But getting over the mistakes is what the Dragons did all night.
“The effort was just tremendous tonight,” Hayes said about his team.
“Firestone is a really good team and we knew we had to bring our ‘A’ game.”
The second half was all East. The Dragons held Firestone to just five first downs while sacking Jones three times.
Suggs added his third and final touchdown with 9:29 left in the fourth quarter to put the game away for the Dragons.
“We had a really good week of practice, an inspiring week of practice, in fact, and it just led right into this game,” Hayes said.
“The guys were so hyped and ready to play this game.”
Read the high school blog at http://www.ohio.com/preps.