The big question Oct. 4 at Great Lakes Cheese Stadium was how different would the Kirtland football team be after losing quarterback Jake LaVerde to a broken arm in a Week 6 win over Fairview? Everyone had their answer about 10 minutes after kickoff. Not much different at all. Senior Max Paul was 4-for-4 passing for 138 yards and a touchdown, and the Kirtland defense continuously got stops, leading the LaVerde-less Hornets to a 46-11 thrashing of host Berkshire in a CVC Valley Division showdown. With LaVerde in street clothes with his surgically repaired left arm in a sling, the Hornets scored early and often, leading, 46-0, at the half and spending the entire second half with a running clock and the junior varsity players finishing off the game. “It’s just a confidence-builder,” Paul said. “We still come to practice and work hard every day, no matter what guys we have. It’s nice to show it and have some fun.” The game got ugly pretty quickly. Kirtland bulled the ball down the field on its opening drive, with Danny Alfieri getting the final yard for an 8-0 lead after a two-point conversion run. Berkshire (5-2) was looking to get some momentum going on its first drive, going for it on fourth-and-1 at its own 29. But a high snap resulted in a sack, and Kirtland took over. A few plays later, Xavier Lasecki’s 25-yard field goal made it 11-0. Things didn’t get any better for the Badgers. Tyler Turk’s strip-sack of Berkshire quarterback Sam Barcicoski was returned to the Badgers’ 5 by Ty Bledsoe. A pitch-sweep to Niko Samac on the next play made it 18-0 and the game was — for all intents and purposes — over. “You can’t come out of the gates against a team like Kirtland and not execute,” Berkshire coach Josh DeWeese said. “Not executing at the beginning of the game really put us behind. Kirtland is a good team, and Tiger (LaVerde) got the guys ready to attack on every play. That’s what we saw tonight.” Berkshire’s Sam Barcikoski looks for room Oct. 4 against visiting Kirtland. (Paul DiCicco – for The News-Herald) Berkshire continued to give Kirtland a short field on its next drive, after a seven-yard punt gave the Hornets the ball on the Badgers’ 25. Three plays later, Alfieri scored again for a 25-0 lead. After another defensive stop, Kirtland needed only one play to score, with Paul hitting Casey Carkhuff on a 61-yard scoring strike. If the rout wasn’t already on, it was when Jack Lessick capped another short drive with a sweep and a 39-0 lead. A 43-yard scoring jaunt by Alfieri made it 46-0 at the break, thus allowing the Kirtland starters to retire for the rest of the evening. Lessick credited the Kirtland defense for giving the Hornets repeated short fields to work with. “Berkshire came out and showed out,” he said. “They had a great crowd. Last week with a couple of guys going down, this game gives us more confidence going into the postseason. We want to clean up some mistakes and do great.” Because of the multiple short fields, Kirtland only had 267 yards of offense. Aside from Paul’s perfect passing night, the Hornets got 87 rushing yards from Alfieri along with his touchdown hat trick. Lessick ran for 25 yards. Justin Phillips ran for 81 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown to lead Berkshire. Sam Barcicoski completed 6 of 17 passes for 84 yards. Phillips’ touchdown and Roman Percic’s 38-yard field goal accounted for the Badgers’ scoring. “Passing was in the game plan,” DeWeese said. “We got away from the run a little bit. That usually steadies our offense. “We feel we have some weapons on the outside. We just couldn’t get the ball to them cleanly tonight.” Kirtland hosts Chagrin Falls in Week 8, while Berkshire hosts Crestwood. THE SCORE Kirtland 46, Berkshire 11