Akron East runs past Buchtel to take control of Akron City Series race
AKRON, Ohio - Akron East jumped on the back of running back Ziaire Stevens on Saturday afternoon and the running back helped carry the Dragons to a 14-11 road win over Buchtel.
The 5-foot-11, 195-pound back took the ball 32 times and ran for 251 yards and two touchdowns.
“I just (try to) do my job and then go above that,” Stevens said. “My O-line did a great job. They blocked fantastic and we had minimal mistakes.”
After Buchtel took a 3-0 lead on its first drive of the game on a 39-yard field goal by Demetrion Duvall, East answered with a nine-play, 80-yard drive that ended with Stevens punching it in from one yard out.
And then in the second quarter, it looked like the Buchtel defensive line had Stevens stopped, but he broke through and raced for a 69-yard score.
“You never give up on the play until you hear a whistle,” Stevens said. “We practice hard all week, and we finish out every drill we do, so it's just second nature to me.”
Buchtel tried to mount a comeback as quarterback Stevie Diamond scored on a 6-yard carry with 1:32 left that capped off an 11-play, 86-yard drive for the Griffins, who had just 100 yards of total offense in the game prior to that drive.
Diamond then found Jaeson Anderson for the two-point conversion, but East recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.
That’s when Stevens made what might have been his best play of the game.
With a heated recent history between the two schools, pushing and shoving started after the onside kick. Stevens, one of four captains for the Dragons, sprinted over and pushed one of his own teammates back to try to keep the peace.
“Everybody has to stay mentally strong,” Stevens said. “So just stepping into the leadership role was something that just came to me because our team picked me as a captain, four of us. So we just have to step into our role and be older and veteran players.”
It was exactly what East head coach Marques Hayes envisioned of his leaders when the captains were chosen prior to the season and Stevens was the only non-senior selected by his teammates.
“He was chosen as a captain by his peers because he goes about it the right way,” Hayes said. “His mindset, his focus, his character, his hard work in the offseason, the weight room, all of the above. I told them when you're choosing captains, I put a little asterisk at the top. This is not a popularity contest. This is about the people that you see that you feel can be leaders.”
When asked if he sees Stevens as an extension of himself on the field from the leadership perspective, Hayes chuckled.
“He calls me ‘Pops,’” Hayes said. “I love that kid.”
Photo of Akron East running back Ziaire Stevens by Jeff Harwell
Jeff Harwell, SBLive Sports
The win moves East to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in City Series play, while Buchtel is now 3-5 overall and 2-1 in the City Series.
The two teams had split the previous eight meetings in the series and Hayes knew coming in that nothing would be easy against Buchtel.
“It was a dogfight,” Hayes said. “But we expected it to be that because this is kind of the new rivalry in the city of East and Buchtel.”
And with it being a rivalry game, Hayes had a message for his team before the game, especially his seniors.
“I said ‘throw all the records out the window,’” Hayes said. “I said it doesn't matter what your record is, when you play this game, this is the game that counts. I said, ‘Look to you seniors, you really have to understand this is the last time you will ever play the Buchtel Griffins.’ So I said, 'How do you want that to be?'”
