Tigers Look to Bounce Back After Tough Loss

Joe Schiavone knew his Twinsburg football team would have its hands full in the season opener at Aurora. The Tigers fell behind early before playing their way back into the game against a quality opponent.

"We had one too many mistakes and when you play great teams you have to minimize your mistakes," said Schiavone of his team's 19-7 setback to the Greenmen. "Every time we play Aurora it's a great game – we do a good job of breaking them down and they do a good job of breaking us down."

The Tigers trailed 5-0 after the opening period of play on an Aurora safety and field goal. Trailing 12-0 at the half, Twinsburg got right back in the game thanks to an 82-yard scoring pass from quarterback Jalen Washington to John Barton.

"I was OK with the safety and the field goal because our defense held them out of the end zone," said Schiavone. "We fought through some adversity early on."  

The play of the game came in the second half when the Tigers' London Carter reached out to break the plane of the goal line but lost the ball out of bounds for a touchback, denying Twinsburg a chance to take the lead.

"It was just one of those things," said Schiavone of the touchback. "He thought he was closer to the pylon than he was."

Washington finished with 11 completions in 24 attempts for 203 yards but the Tiger ground game was held in check. Barton managed just 27 yards rushing on 20 attempts. Zack Buckeye had a solid night with four receptions for 47 yards while teammate Jordan Bray added 42 yards on three catches.

On special teams, Tre Jones had a big play with a 46-yard punt return. Aurora was able to run for 212 yards despite the efforts of Twinsburg's Michael Baker and Ben Bisesi, both of whom finished with 12 tackles.

Minimizing mental errors will be the key Friday night when the Tigers travel down the road to play at Nordonia. The Knights dropped their season opener 41-7 against a strong Maple Heights team, Ohio's defending Division II state champs.

"We've got to regroup and correct our mistakes," said Schiavone. "We're going to play another crosstown rival and a lot of these kids know each other very well. You throw the records out when you play Nordonia because it's going to be a brawl."

Twinsburg would face an uphill battle for the remainder of the season should it start out 0-2, but Schiavone and his team will take each game as it comes.

"I always expect our kids to play at a high level and I've always been proud of how hard they compete," he said. "We are approaching this game the same as we always approach a game."

Friday's game will be the second of three straight road contests to open the season. Next week, the Tigers take a three-hour bus trip to play at Lancaster.