It wasn't difficult to overlook Brian Fry on the field Friday night, particularly in the first half of a 36-7 win at Akron.
He began the game by leaping for touchdown passes for the Medina football team. He climbed a proverbial ladder to intercept Akron quarterback Adam Mietz, and swarmed the secondary for the Mustangs. He returned punts, too, and was Medina’s primary punter.
Fry, a senior and a University of Toledo commit for baseball, commandeered the Mustangs in the first half of a game that was delayed for half an hour because of thunderstorms and lightning that swept through Western New York early Friday evening.
Fry, who has played at several different positions in his time with the Mustangs, had 11 catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for 64 yards on 16 carries against Akron.
“Being versatile really helps our team’s space on the field really well, whether I’m in the backfield or at wide receiver,” Fry said. “Once I go to either or, other teams kind of key in on me and it opens up the field for more people.”
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The delay didn’t hold back the Mustangs (2-0), who continued their high-powered offense from the first week of the season, when quarterback Xander Payne threw for three touchdowns in a 50-0 rout of Newfane, his first varsity start for the Mustangs.
Payne’s chemistry with Fry was apparent, and in his second varsity start, Payne completed 18 of 21 passes for 247 yards and four touchdowns – two to Fry, and scoring passes of seven and 47 yards to Tyler Chinn – and was intercepted once.
“Me and Xander have played baseball for a really long time together, so that chemistry started there,” Fry said. “Last year he came up to varsity for the end of the season and came in at quarterback, and that started there, also.”
Medina opened with a drive that lasted nearly seven minutes, as Payne steered the Mustangs 52 yards on 13 plays, but were stopped on fourth down, when Fry landed on one foot in the end zone as he caught Payne’s pass, but was unable to hang onto the ball as he fell out of the end zone with 5:12 left in the first quarter.
But less than three minutes later, Fry helped the Mustangs to an 8-0 lead on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Payne, capping off a quick three-play drive that was followed by Payne’s two-point conversion pass to Chinn.
Then, Fry ended Medina’s second drive of at least 12 plays with an 8-yard touchdown catch with 5:23 left in the half, and Chinn’s 7-yard catch from Payne helped the Mustangs take a 20-0 lead at halftime.
“Everybody came out ready to play, especially our offensive linemen,” Fry said. “They came out ready, knowing it was going to be a big test for them, out front. Them getting their blocks opened everything else for us.”
By the half, Fry had an interception, ran the ball nine times for 49 yards and caught nine passes for 91 yards.
“He leads by example and his football IQ is so far through the roof, like no other kid I’ve had,” Medina coach Eric Valley said of Fry. “At the drop of a hat, you can put him at any position, and he will know what to do. It’s seamless when he does it.”
Akron (1-1) began to find a rhythm on offense in the third, but Chin's second touchdown and Payne’s 3-yard TD run 52 seconds into the fourth quarter — set up four plays earlier by Fry’s 38-yard catch on fourth-down and 5 — opened Medina’s lead to 36-0.
Aidan Smith scored Akron’s lone touchdown on a 2-yard run with 5:34 left. Mietz, Akron’s quarterback, was 9 for 22 passing for 113 yards and was intercepted twice by the Mustangs.