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Playoff Preview: Bellaire set to visit Garaway in D-V, Region 17

T-L File Photo/SETH STASKEY BELLAIRE’S Ray Ray Pettigrew is congratulated by teammates after scoring last week against Lutheran East. The Big Reds visit Garaway Saturday in D-V.

SUGARCREEK – Coming off its first home playoff victory in 14 years, fifth-seeded Bellaire hits the road Saturday night for an Ohio Division V, Region 17 quarterfinal battle with fourth-seeded Garaway, with a spot in the regional semifinals on the line.

Coach Mark Spigarelli’s 5-2 record Big Reds rolled past Cleveland Heights Lutheran East by a 35-6 margin last Saturday afternoon at Nelson Field with Bellaire doing what it has done best all season long on offense, getting a lot of players involved.

“It’s always great to get a win this time of the season, especially against a big-time school like that,” Spigarelli admitted. “And yeah, we got banged up a little bit, but hopefully those kids will all be ready to go come Saturday night.

“We had seven different kids catch passes last week and that’s great because all of those kids work hard all week long. We usually rotate three to six kids in at receiver and try to get everyone involved there. It really makes the coach’s jobs a lot easier when the kids aren’t worried about who is getting the ball, the yards and the accolades.”

Meanwhile, Jason Wallick’s Pirates (6-1) eliminated Mantua Crestwood, 48-14 later that same night at Garaway Stadium with Wallick getting key performances from his three main standouts and a daunting defense.

Garaway is led on offense by quarterback Garrett Newsome, who had a huge game a week ago while accounting for five touchdowns. Newsome was 23 of 33 for 341 yards through the air with four touchdown passes while also rushing for a score. Wide receiver J.D. Young had one of those scoring grabs.

Running back Jaydon Miller continues to be a force in both the running and passing attack scoring a pair of touchdowns on the ground and a pair through the air against Crestwood.

On defense the Pirates, who have held three opponents to six points or less, collected seven turnovers a week ago to put the offense in good position. Garaway has scored at least 33 points in all six of its victories with the only loss being a 36-0 setback to powerful, and unbeaten, Ridgewood.

“They have a lot of guys back from a team that made a deep playoff run last year and this is going to be a tall task,” Spigarelli added. “There is plenty of experience on both sides of the football and they basically do the same things they did last year. They are very fast and aggressive on offense and defense.

“Their quarterback is also a lot better than he was last year and the wide receivers are too. The coaching staff does a great job with those kids and they make you defend everyone on the field.”

Bellaire, which started the season 4-0 before dropping its last two regular season games on the road against Cambridge and Beaver Local, got back in the win column after a bye last week.

Sophomore quarterback Jake Heatherington threw for 132 yards and three scores last week and for the season is 63 of 149 for 900 yards, 10 touchdowns and a very important no interceptions for the season. In getting everyone involved Heatherington completed passes to seven different receivers in last week’s win and had three different players haul in touchdown passes.

The Big Reds have three different running backs that can carry the ball at any given point in juniors Colt Sechrest (52-393-5td) and Brandon Mamie (70-314-4) and sophomore Brayden Roth (54-281-3). A big concern is the fact that both Sechrest and Mamie left last week’s victory with first half injuries.

Senior Jayce Gallaher is the team’s leading receiver with 10 catches for 230 yards and three scores with sophomore Ray’shad Pettigrew next with 11 grabs for 199 and five touchdowns and Sechrest right behind with a team leading 14 catches for 175 yards and a touchdown. Both Gallaher and Pettigrew found the end zone against Lutheran East.

Bellaire’s defense, like Garaway’s, did its part with three interceptions last Saturday.

Spigarelli’s six regular season opponents were all still playing last week in the second round of the 2020 playoff tournament and Bellaire did not play a team in the first six weeks that finished with less than three victories.

“Our four wins were all over schools our size or a little smaller, but what most people don’t realize is that while we are a Division V school we are also just two boys away from dropping to Division VI,” Spigarelli mentioned. “But no matter where you are, great teams keep winning this time of year and we are in the final eight now. We know we are going on the road this week to play a great team in a very nice facility with a huge atmosphere and we are excited and will be ready to go Saturday night.”

Garaway picked up a hard-fought 14-13 win over the Redmen last year in week two at Nelson Field in an early-season battle of 2019 Region 17 playoff squads. Heading into the 2020 campaign the two teams were scheduled to meet again before the current pandemic cut the regular season to just six games and threw everything up in the air.

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