Garaway football cruises past Tusky Valley in conference opener

ZOARVILLE — One week after falling to Girard, Garaway's football team bounced back Friday, Sept. 25 to open conference play with a 49-16 victory over Tuscarawas Valley.

>Despite the win, Pirates head coach Jason Wallick had hoped Friday night's performance would have been a continuation of what he saw from his team a week ago.

>"Anytime you can play the way we played and still get a win, it's pretty important," Wallick said. "It was a big letdown from last week through the way we played last week.

>"A win's a win. We'll take it, but we've got a long way to go if we're going to reach our goals."

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>The biggest difference for Wallick's Pirates was execution.

>"Last week was a completely different level," he said. "We had a step back tonight in that area."

>Garaway improved to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the Inter-Valley Conference, while Tusky Valley fell to 3-3 and 0-1 in conference play.

>For Wallick, the focus now turns to making sure his team brings the same level of preparation each week, regardless of the opponent.

>"We now have self-motivation," Wallick said. "Every week we approach our opponents as nameless and faceless, and this week our preparation wasn't up to the standard it usually is. That could've been a little bit of a hangover from last Friday night."

>Even with some of the mistakes, Garaway's offense continued its strong start to the season.

>The Pirates have now scored 35 or more points in five consecutive games, including 40 or more in four of those contests.

>"We've had some big plays, which is key," Wallick said. "We want to do some tempo stuff, and I thought our guys handled that really well tonight.

>"But misassignments, missing signals and keys are things that will come back and bite you in big games, and that's stuff we have to clean up."

>Moving forward, Wallick wants his players focused on doing their jobs throughout the game rather than trying to make up for players who are missing because of injuries.

>"We have to eliminate mental mistakes," he said. "We might have some guys that are trying to do too much instead of being them. When you're missing people to injuries, people want to fill those spots, but we just have to continue being us, and we will get better."

>Jshondel@usatodayco.com; X: @JacoBShondeL

>This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Garaway football cruises past Tusky Valley in conference opener