Captains Rose, Graham Lead Brecksville-Broadview Heights Football

Seniors Jack Rose and Kyle Graham take being captains of the Brecksville-Broadview Heights football team very seriously.

Good thing for the Bees they do.

The Bees came into this season with big hopes. Yet after three weeks, two losses and injuries to key players, the good ship Beehive was taking on water. And when the Bees fumbled the opening kickoff and yielded a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage at Berea on Friday night, the entire season seemed about to go under.

That's when captains Rose and Graham took control and steered the team through rough waters and to an exciting 13-12 win.

"Those two guys are captains for a reason," coach Jason Black said. "They're leaders. They are composed under pressure. Throughout all the stuff that has gone on the past few weeks, they stepped up. More than the win, and this was an important win, but I'm even more proud of the entire team and specifically guys like Jack, Kyle, Timmy Tupa -- the entire squad."

Black admitted the Bees' season hopes could have been over with a third consecutive loss. With four of their six remaining games at home, however, is right back on track with its preseason aspirations of a Southwestern Conference championship.

The Bees (2-2, 1-0) will play host to conference rival Olmsted Falls (2-2, 1-0) this Friday.

"It will be nice to be at home against them," Black said. "They are always well-coached and will be a big test. I feel a lot better going back home against them with a win. Things look a little brighter than they did."

The turning point

That's because Rose and Graham turned around the Berea game -- and maybe the Bees' entire season. Tupa stepped in for injured older brother Tom at quarterback and the sophomore passed for the winning touchdown late in his first career start. Rose and Graham gave him the opportunity with big plays on defense. Rose stopped Berea from scoring with an interception and Graham stalled another drive by the Braves by recovering a fumble -- then scored the winning touchdown.

"I always like to say that athletics builds character," Black said. "And you will never see more character than what was on display here tonight. That's what I'm proud of with these guys. It seemed that everything that could wrong did, but these guys didn't panic."

Trailing, 6-0, the Bees turned the ball over deep in their own territory in the first quarter when a center snap flew over Tupa's head in the shotgun formation. Berea (2-2, 0-1) recovered and was poised to score again -- until Rose intercepted a pass by the Braves' senior quarterback C.J. Snider in the end zone.

"We scouted them and I knew they liked to run that play in the red zone," Rose said. "I just jumped the play and got there. It felt pretty good.

"For the last few weeks, I knew it was kind of up to me and the seniors to try and show some leadership. Things were not going well, but coach has always told us that football is more than just wins and losses. You think you know what he means, but a game like this I think really does show it. Even if we had lost, we overcame a lot of adversity. To win is even better, though."

Graham agreed. The senior fullback-linebacker said his recovery of the fumble was just part of a team effort.

"We've been through it all the past few weeks but we didn't panic and just went and played football," Graham said. "This is what it is about, going out and winning as a team."

It was a team that went to Berea with a quarterback who had never taken a snap from center in a varsity game. Junior Tom Tupa sustained an injury to his left shoulder in a 50-21 loss at Fremont Ross in which the Bees gave up a whopping 30 points in the first quarter. Junior Matt Csuhran, ordinarily a wide receiver, played quarterback the next week in a 41-14 loss at Hudson. All that happened after an exciting 31-26 over neighborhood rival North Royalton in the season opener.

"I think we played three playoff teams right off the bat," Black said. "We had to regroup and try to win the conference."

A look at Friday's game

The Bees got a huge contribution from junior halfback Jay Schott, who rushed for 190 yards on 33 carries in the conference opener. He ran on eight of nine plays during a second-quarter drive, scoring from 2 yards out as the Bees went ahead 7-6.

Berea scored again, however, and led 12-7 until Graham scooped up the fumble with 6:29 left. Tim Tupa drove the Bees 35 yards in eight plays, starting with a 9-yard pass to Schott. After Black called a timeout with the Bees facing a third-and-goal situation at the Berea 4-yard-line, Tupa rolled right and found Graham in the end zone for a 13-12 lead.

"I wasn't nervous because that was a play I was pretty comfortable with, one that we call a lot in that situation," Tupa said.

Still, the Bees had to sweat out a Berea drive that gave the team a chance at a game-winning field goal from 26 yards with 1:11 to play. When it flew wide right of the mark, the battered and bruised Bees were 1-0 in the SWC.

"Wow," Black said. "Nights like this are pretty special. A heck of a night."