toledoblade.com --

St. Francis de Sales did just enough to gain a 14-0 halftime lead Friday night and that wasn't good enough for veteran coach Dick Cromwell.

After hearing a spirited halftime speech from their leader, the fifth-ranked Knights rolled to a 35-7 victory over North Ridgeville in a first-round Division II football playoff game at Whitmer.

The Knights (10-1) ultimately held a 341-156 edge in offensive yardage, including 196-56 on the ground after halftime. They forced three first-half Ranger turnovers in their first playoff appearance since 2004 and first postseason win since 2002.

"It feels good to win since we haven't been to the playoffs for five years," Cromwell said.

"It's great to win that first one and see what we can do next week."

St. Francis will meet Avon Lake (8-3) in a regional semifinal Friday night at a site to be
determined. The Shoremen advanced by winning 56-35 at Maumee.

After a scoreless first quarter St. Francis capitalized on the final two North Ridgeville turnovers.

Pat Dyer's 37-yard punt had just pinned the Rangers back to their five-yard line and, on the next play, Knight safety Danny Yodzis intercepted quarterback Michael Mees for the second time and returned it 11 yards to the North Ridgeville two-yard line.

Those two picks gave Yodzis seven on the season.

"I just did what coach Cromwell told us all week," Yodzis said. "I read the quarterback, and I was there at the right place at the right time."

St. Francis quarterback Tyler Johnston sneaked it in from the one-yard line for a 7-0 lead 7:51 before halftime.

The Knights later moved to a fourth-and-5 at the Ranger 15, but Dyer's 33-yard field-goal attempt was blocked.

That failure was forgotten quickly, however, as Mees' only first-half completion, for negative-5 yards to Domonique Qualls, was fumbled. Johnston, who doubles at strong safety, recovered at the Ranger 24.

Four plays later, Johnston rolled left and found receiver Scott Loy (four catches, 80 yards) in the back of the end zone for a 10-yard TD with just 19.5 seconds left in the half.

"I was just supposed to run off a route, but my guy was just standing there so I ran across the back of the end zone and yelled," Loy said. "Tyler saw me."

"That was huge to score before halftime," Yodzis said.

"It gave us momentum going into the half. It's all about
momentum in high school football, and that really helped us out."

What adjustment did the Knights make at the break?

"Screaming at halftime," Cromwell said. "It helped. We didn't play very well offensively in the first half, and we're not going to be able to play like that against Avon Lake and win."

The speech lit a fire in the run game, as the Knight line cleared the way to a 21-point third quarter that broke things open.

"In the first half we were
playing hard, but coach knew that we could have been playing harder, so he just got us fired up during halftime and really got us motivated," Loy said. "We came out and really showed it on the field."

The first spark came from 5-9, 242-pound sophomore fullback Nate Beauch (five carries, 58 yards), who took a third-and-12 handoff on the first drive and bolted 43 yards to the Ranger 28.

After Johnston (68 rushing yards, 5-of-13 passing, 88 yards) broke keepers for 15 and 14 yards, tailback Lee Lukasik (16 carries, 29 yards) eventually scored from the one-yard line for a 21-0 lead 3:53 into the third quarter.

A blocked punt from Knight junior Justin Chandler put the Knights at the North Ridgeville 35, and a 24-yard Johnston-to-Loy completion to the 11 set up Lukasik's four-yard TD run with
3:19 left in the third.

St. Francis got the ball back just 40 yards from the end zone on its next possession, and backup tailback Jake Wawrzyniak (eight carries, 61 yards) covered that distance in two plays, a 39-yard burst and a one-yard TD plunge just
1:12 after Lukasik's second score of the period.

North Ridgeville (8-3) drove 71 yards on 16 plays to spoil the Knights' shutout bid on Taylor Abraham's two-yard TD run with 6:39 left in the game.

Contact Steve Junga at:
sjunga@theblade.com
or 419-724-6461.

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