Buckeye Bucks Football

From the GAZETTE by Albert Grindle, Staff Writer 

A new football season brings chills through veins across Medina County, and even though the game is the same, The Gazette’s coverage is not for 2008. Graphs (game notes) are gone and have made way for an exciting addition: school helmet graphics from www.ohiohelmetproject.com. The helmets add a great deal of flavor to our sec­tion, especially in color, and we appreciate the kindness of the aforemen­tioned website in allowing us to use them. Box scores have been trimmed down to scoring summaries, but don’t worry. Full boxes will run every Monday in The Gazette. All-in-all, these changes are just another way to bring you Medina County football coverage. If there is anything we can do to improve it, please let us know.   Believe me, it’s always a fine wine we’re trying to perfect. It’s baaack.

Fantasy freaks can rest easy. Gazette Prep Fantasy Football returns for a third season and will take on an expanded role this season in The Gazette’s already award-winning high school football coverage. Like usual, five teams will make up the league: Betty Szudlo’s reigning world champion Poe Ravens, my two-time run­ner- up Spencer Redbirds, Chad Grant’s Mallet Creek Maulers, Dan Brown’s Valley City Twisters and expansion squad Western Star Square Dancers, owned and operated by Ho Hoffman. (For the record, Western Star was a county village located between Wadsworth and Norton. In the early 1920s, it had a higher population than LeRoy, which is now Westfield Center).

Week 1 of the GPFF sea­son featured strength and balance, with Mallet Creek coming out on top with 80 points behind standout showings from Brunswick quarterback Ricky Manco (27 points), Highland’s defense (18 points) and Black River running back Jacob O’Connor (13). Poe, which pulled off a stunning cellar-dweller-to­first- place turnaround in ’07, was right behind with 75 — Medina signal caller Pat O’Boyle tallied 42 points by himself — while Valley City clocked in third with 67.   Western Star proved its worth with a steady 64 points and Spencer proved it has work to do with 61.

Throughout the season, GPFF results will appear every Thursday. Sometimes complementing this column, sometimes elsewhere. Why? Because the ath­letes love it and that’s all that matters in my book. Until that changes, the GPFF is here to stay. Now, let’s take the league by storm turn it around Redbirds.…

Gridiron Thoughts

Nothing out of the ordi­nary popped up on the opening Friday, but that doesn’t mean there are a lack of topics to cover. ? Cloverleaf 10, Buckeye 6: Here’s a coun­ty battle that should have a lifetime contract, but both teams left the field with issues to be worried about. My fear for Cloverleaf was realized when the offense failed to capitalize in the red zone on multiple opportunities, which was the same problem it had a year ago. Buckeye, meanwhile, had its heart ripped out struggled early with the loss of co-starting quarter­back Austin Friel to a potentially devastating shoulder injury, as well as a hobbled Cory Reisner, who experienced cramps. It was a contest both teams would probably like to forget, although Buckeye had to be happy with limiting the Colts, a preseason contender in the Suburban League, to just 10 points. The good news for Cloverleaf is it faces back­to- back cupcakes Fairview Park Fairview and Lorain Southview to work out the kinks before the meat of the schedule begins.

? Brunswick 51, Mansfield 35: This game is the perfect example of why final scores can mean absolutely positive­ly nothing. Zilch. Nada. Brunswick rolled over the Tygers so badly for the umpteenth consecutive season it took until the 23rd-string defense was in before Mansfield scored. Runaway freight train Brit Musal ripped off yardage with ease and quarterback Ricky Manco was dynamite in his first career start in the Blue Devils’ spread offense. And while the opponent was simply overmatched, all indications point to Brunswick being a poten­tial powerhouse yet again. Of course, that’s like saying Michael Phelps is a good swimmer, Zac Efron is popular with teenage girls and Kiera Knightly caused my mouth to drool looked good when I watched Pirates of the Caribbean. I’m just sayin’…

? Highland 40, Rocky River 15: Four words are all you need to describe this beat down: The Bugs looked fairly really good. Although the yellow hankies flying into the air matched the number of mug shots receptions Bengals receiver Chris Henry has in his NFL career, Highland had no problem marching the ball down the field against Division III’s reigning No. 2-ranked team. West Virginia recruit Chris Snook flashed more moves than he did a year ago, causing two defenders to eat turf on his 40-yard touchdown run, and Nick Knerem showed his savvy with outstanding presence in the pocket. The defense was where it was at, however, as Rocky River couldn’t find a single big-play opportunity against middle linebacker Tyler Houska and a lock­down secondary. Although it was clear the Pirates are nowhere near the team they have been in the past, especially defensively, it was also crystal clear Highland lived up to its immense preseason expectations.Well, at least for one week. SL powerhouse Tallmadge looms to open up the league season in just two weeks.

? Wadsworth 35, Wooster 19: Take away a pair of errant throws from Generals signal caller Nick Allen that went the other way for scores and this game is much, much closer. Further pointing out how Wooster shot itself in the foot, the Generals refused neglected to give the ball to running back Shawn Riley in the second half after watching him move the ball consistently early on. Good teams still have to take advantage of those brain farts, and Wadsworth made sure to make them count. It was the absolute difference. Another thing a good team does is adjust to tal­ent accordingly. Wadsworth cashed in on that as well. Caleb Busson (131 yards passing, 35 rushing) and Anthony Schrock (47 yards receiving, 93-yard kickoff return) were steady and the tailback tandem of Aarick Jones (43 yards, 2 TDs) and Dan Mueller (67) hit the 100-yard mark. If the Grizzlies can con­sistently get similar num­bers out of those four, it’s going to be hard to game plan against them. With that said, there will be games when Schrock is double-teamed on every play, so adjusting to that scheme is the next thing to prove. As for the 271 yards Wadsworth allowed, Wooster’s athleticism isn’t sub-par, so that doesn’t light up an alarm quite yet.

? Hudson 38, Medina 16: An educated guess is the Poe Ravens were happy with O’Boyle. Outside of five turnovers, Medina was just fine with O’Boyle tear­ing apart the Explorers’ defense en route to helping the Bees gain 400 yards. The problem was in bal­ance. Even if, for instance, Brunswick Perennial Playoff Team A throws for 300 yards and its quarter­back rushes for 50 more, it still finds a way to get a run­ning back involved — unless you’re Kenton, which throws 65 times a game and wins D-IV state titles. Just 17 tailback carries in a blowout can ultimate­ly lead to teams teeing off on O’Boyle, which could spell disaster for the Bees if their main man goes down. The defense, on the other hand, did a good job of keeping Hudson from sustaining drives, but two 50-plus yard bombs through the air were back­breakers. Overall, Medina wasn’t overmatched and is facing correctable mistakes, so it’s basically nit-picking at such an early juncture in the year anyways. Consequently, there’s reason to believe things won’t be the same Friday against Barberton. Speaking of which, that contest could easily turn into a 48-41 barnburner with O’Boyle and Magics counterpart Kyle Snyder slinging the pigskin all over.

? CollinsWestern Reserve 46, Black River 12: This was the only sur­prising result as the Pirates were crushed by a Roughriders team that bare­ly won this game a year ago. My guess is coach Al Young’s sophomores had a simple case of opening night jitters and Western Reserve had more experience. However, 172 yards of offense is a big problem. A 3.0 rush average can make a coach lose his mind, too.  Those exact issues were the main reason Black River finished 4-6 a year ago, so it might be going back to the drawing board. There’s still plenty of potential in this fairly young team, it’s just a mat­ter of building chemistry. Grindle may be reached at agrindle@ohio.net or 330.721.4043.