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Junior John Barton struck for six touchdowns and totaled 363 rushing and receiving yards in leading Twinsburg to a 42-21 win Thursday over visiting Brunswick.
TWINSBURG, Ohio – Twinsburg junior running back John Barton is a ferocious competitor.
After fumbling into the end zone on the Tigers’ first possession, the 5-foot-9, 175-pounder could not be stopped.
“I told myself I was going to get it back,” Barton said.
He got it back -- six times over -- and then some.
Barton ran wild for 297 yards and five touchdowns (27 carries) and caught six passes for 66 yards and one score in leading Twinsburg to 42-21 Northeast Ohio Conference Valley Division win Thursday night over visiting Brunswick (5-2, 0-2).
“He is so competitive that in practice he’ll even jump in on scout team because he wants to make everybody better,” first-year Twinsburg coach Joe Schiavone said. “So, when you see John run that hard, that’s what we get every day in practice from John.”
Barton narrowly missed an eight-touchdown night and settled for six. In addition to his one miscue, he had a 72-yard TD scamper wiped out by penalty. His effort highlighted a 508-yard performance by Twinsburg’s offensive unit. The Tigers churned out 24 first downs and punted once – with 2:00 left in the game.
“That was the hard thing in the first half,” Brunswick coach Luke Beal said. “We just could not stop their offense at all, really at any point during the game. Their offense was hitting on all cylinders.”
Barton had touchdown runs of 23, 72, 3, 92 and 5 yards and then capped off his worksheet with a 13-yard catch-and-run touchdown which left a Brunswick defender tackling air. His first four touchdowns he scored standing.
“It gave us a lot of confidence to do it every single drive,” Barton said. “It’s really easy when you are running behind the guys we’ve got blocking.”
Schiavone explained that Barton’s game-day output is a result of his work habits.
“He pays attention to detail like no other,” the Tigers coach said.
The Twinsburg back repeatedly got around the flanks against Brunswick’s defense and was able to turn it up field for big gains.
“They were just playing at a different speed than we were,” Beal said. “They weren’t doing anything that we hadn’t seen on film. They were just executing better than we were.”
The Tigers (5-2, 2-0) led 14-0 after one quarter, 21-7 at half and 35-7 after three.
Twinsburg’s defense bottled up Brunswick’s standout junior running back Nick Roberts, until a 76-yard scoring run with 4:22 left and the game well decided.
“Our defensive line played extremely well tonight,” Schiavone said.
Roberts finished with 112 rushing yards on 13 attempts. Brunswick junior quarterback Dan Yohman had a 1-yard scoring plunge and tossed a 42-yard touchdown strike to senior Anthony Bova.
But this night belonged to Barton and Twinsburg.
Tiger junior quarterback Jalen Washington managed the game well and completed 17 of 19 throws for 168 yards.
“He is so underrated, but he’s so good at what he does,” Barton said about Washington. “He’s what makes this offense go -- his decision making.”
The Tigers thumped Brunswick 42-7 last year when Barton rushed for 104 yards and scored three touchdowns.
Twinsburg is 4-0 in its series against Brunswick.
Last week, during a 35-9 win over Strongsville, Barton ran for 150 yards and tallied three touchdowns.