Correspondent photo / Dave Dermer
Brookfield’s Isaiah Jones, left, tries to avoid LaBrae’s Clayton Stout after catching a pass Friday night in their game at LaBrae in Week 2 of the 2020 season. The Warriors won 35-7 and are one of 13 area schools with 2-0 records.

Mineral Ridge senior Jalen Royal-Eiland displayed quite a bit of versatility Friday in the Rams’ 53-14 road win over Sebring.

Royal-Eiland scored touchdowns by way of a punt return (62 yards) and a kickoff return (75 yards). He also scored on a 50-yard rushing touchdown, and pulled in a 25-yard pass reception for a score.

For good measure, Royal-Eiland was credited with assisting on one of the two safeties recorded by the Rams’ defense.

Royal-Eiland did all of his damage before halftime.

“I was just really focused, I think our entire team was focused all night,” Royal-Eiland said. “We had a rough opening week against Springfield and I think we all came out feeling like we had something to prove to ourselves.

“Coach (Brian) Shaner’s offense is a lot of fun. It spreads things out and gives a lot of skilled players a lot of opportunities to make plays.”

Royal-Eiland said that the kick return was the most satisfying of his four touchdowns.

“Never had one of those before, and that’s a great feeling,” Royal-Eiland said.

RECORD-BREAKING BLUE JAY

It was a record-setting night for Jackson-Milton senior running back Sean Lengyel in the Blue Jays’ 50-16 win Friday at Waterloo. Lengyel rushed for 115 yards and three touchdowns to help lead his team to a 2-0 start. In the process, Lengyel became the first player in Jackson-Milton history to rush for over 3,000 yards.

Lengyel has now rushed for 3,032 yards. He gained over 1,700 yards as a junior.

“It was a great moment, what made it really special is seeing how excited everyone else was,” Lengyel said. “My linemen, the quarterback, the receivers, they were all excited for me. And honestly, I don’t get any of these yards if it wasn’t for them.”

Lengyel said he wasn’t aware how close he was to the record until a coach informed him that he was five yards short of 3,000. On the next play, Lengyel rushed for 20 yards.

“It was a quick pitch out to my left, and I made it to the 1-yard-line,” Lengyel said. “I was pretty ticked off that I couldn’t take it for a score.”

With the record intact, Lengyel said it is time to focus on winning games.

“I’m glad I got this out of the way early in the season, because my main focus is always on wins and losses,” Lengyel said. “We just want to take things one game at a time and improve as a team each week.”

ON THE ROAD AGAIN….AND AGAIN

Despite being the home to both the Youngstown East and Youngstown Chaney football programs, Rayen Stadium will sit idle this fall.

The Golden Bears and Cowboys are playing all of their games this year on the road. When the two crosstown rivals square off Oct. 3, the game will be played at Spartan Stadium in Boardman.

Youngstown City Schools public relations director Denise Dick said that poor field conditions at Rayen Stadium forced the two city schools to play an all-away schedule.

“Our field was just not in the best of shape, we felt like it wasn’t suitable for games,” Dick said. “With everything going on during the pandemic and the lockdown, we didn’t have people working as regularly as we would have in the past. Unfortunately, we just weren’t able to maintain the field on a regular basis during the offseason.”

Dick said that when then the Golden Bears and Cowboys meet in Boardman, every senior football player and cheerleader will be allotted four tickets. Other players and cheerleaders will have access to a pair of tickets. The game will include Senior Night festivities for both teams.

Fortunately, neither team will have to travel far for the remainder of the regular season. East will make back-to-back trips to Stambaugh Stadium to play Cardinal Mooney and Ursuline, then ventures to Howland. Chaney has games at Austintown, Stambaugh Stadium (Mooney) and Canfield before its game with East.