Buckeye Bucks Football

Coach Pinzone 2015 Browns HS 'Coach of the Year'

December 13, 2015 - BEREA, OHIO – The Browns named today Buckeye High School football Head Coach Mark Pinzone the 2015 High School Coach of the Year, the team announced during Sundays 24-10 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at FirstEnergy Stadium. Throughout the season, nearly 1 million votes were submitted by Northeast Ohio youth and high school football supporters through the Browns 2015 High School Game of the Week, presented by PNC Bank. Pinzone, who was recognized during halftime of yesterday’s game, guided the Bucks to their first undefeated regular season in 10 years and an outright Patriot Athletic Conference Stars Division championship.

It marked the school’s third division championship in as many years en route to the team’s third OHSAA State Playoff appearance. According to Buckeye High School Athletic Director Glen Reisner, Pinzone has helped grow participation in the school’s football program from 49 kids to nearly 80 since his arrival in 2013. He has built the program up,” said Resiner. “The kids have completely bought in. He is a great asset to Buckeye.

The Browns will make an additional $4,000 donation to Pinzone’s high school football program, while all finalists initially received $2,000 contributions (Buckeye Got That After the Brookside Game) from the franchise to benefit their teams. All 10 finalists participated in Sunday’s in-game recognition for their commitment to developing the sport in Northeast Ohio. The Browns High School Coach of the Year award is based on a coach’s overall body of work during the regular season after being featured in the Cleveland Browns High School Game of the Week, presented by PNC Bank.

Trevor Thome’s record-smashing statistics, Hunter Gray’s ability to do the dirty work and Nathan Polidori’s dual-threat skills have officially garnered statewide attention. The Buckeye standout football players were named to the second, third and special mention teams, respectively, when the Division III All-Ohio squads were announced by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

A 5-foot-8, 180-pound slotback, Thome was the heart and soul of a Bucks team that went 10-0 in the regular season for just the second time in school history (2005). The four-year starter posted the seventh-highest point total in Medina County history (176) while compiling 978 yards rushing and 444 receiving despite sitting most of eight fourth quarters because of blowouts. Also a hard-hitting free safety and punt returner, Thome was special mention as a junior.

Gray picked up the most significant accolade in his two-year career after holding down left tackle on one of the highest scoring teams in Ohio (41.7 ppg). The 6-1, 228-pound junior also played defensive end and is a nationally ranked long-snapper by Kohl’s Professional Camps.

Polidori (5-11, 175) was a flashy home-run threat at quarterback, throwing for 1,168 yards, running for 663 more and accounting for 27 touchdowns. He also returned punts and played cornerback in a part-time role. The senior, who broke a school record with 35 career TD passes, was best known for a tremendous performance against playoff qualifier Rocky River, when he had 281 yards total offense (219 rushing, 62 passing), three rushing TDs, one passing TD and a 90-yard kickoff return in the 42-28 win.

Players in The Gazette’s 43-school coverage area to earn first-team accolades Tuesday were Firelands quarterback Brad Thrasher and lineman Aaron Miller in D-IV. The Falcons lost to Buckeye 42-7.

That was the number of first-team selections when the All-Northeast Inland District teams were released by The Associated Press on Monday as, despite no playoff wins for the third time in four years, the area again had its share of standouts.

All first-team all-district players are guaranteed All-Ohio status. Leading the way was Buckeye, which went 10-0 in the regular season and finished as one of highest-scoring teams in the state (41.7 ppg). Senior Trevor Thome (5-foot-8, 180 pounds) was a first-team running back in Division III and joined by senior cornerback Nathan Polidori (5-11, 175) and junior left tackle Hunter Gray (6-1, 228).

 YORK TWP. — Guard Jalin Brock flipped off his helmet and buried his head into the cold, damp grass at Edwin Steingass Field. Quarterback Nathan Polidori did the same just feet away with helmet still attached.

The Buckeye players, along with their teammates, had nothing left to give. They were battered, bruised and exhausted after playing for their football lives for 48 minutes and three overtimes against physical West Geauga in the first round of the Division III, Region 7 playoffs. Ultimately, the Bucks’ playoff curse claimed its seventh victim, as the sixth-seeded Wolverines escaped with a 35-28 triple-OT classic that, even in defeat, will live on in Buckeye lore for decades to come. West Geauga (10-1) advanced to play No. 2 St. Vincent-St. Mary (10-1) next week, while the third-seeded Bucks finished 10-1 for the third time in school history after the see-saw affair ended when Wolverines linebacker Dominic Pavich intercepted Polidori.

“It was a great season and we fought hard,” Buckeye star slotback/safety Trevor Thome said. “We just came out on the short end.” With Thome (hip) and Polidori (ankle) playing hurt in the second half and Nathan Scott (hamstring) leaving for good in the first quarter, Buckeye trudged on despite their gutsy stars struggling to keep themselves on the field.

The Wolverines began the third overtime with the ball and pounded undersized yet tough-as-nails halfback Joe Daddario (36 carries, 190 yards, 2 TDs) until Bucks linebacker Dustin McCullough (3 tackles for loss) stuffed Daddario 2 yards behind the line. That set up third-and-goal on the 4-yard line, but Daddario sliced into the end zone untouched to make it 35-28. Buckeye remained confident because its long-dormat offense had come back to life.

Bucks coach Mark Pinzone didn’t have a decision etched in stone, but said a go-for-the-win two-point conversion was being discussed among his staff. Unfortunately for a lively, jam-packed home crowd, Polidori underthrew Thome (15 carries, 58 yards, TD; 6 catches, 87 yards) on an out route and Pavich was there for a bread-basket interception. It was only Polidori’s second pick of the year and first that didn’t go through a receiver’s hands. Game over.

The celebrating Wolverines didn’t catch a sprinting Pavich until he reached the opposite 30-yard line. “We knew that we had to stop them and we had to score to win,” Thome said. “They scored one more time than they did.” The first two overtimes went quickly and evenly, as Buckeye matched 1-yard TD sneak by Cam Searight (13-for-25, 218 yards, 2 TDs, int.; 12 carries, 15 yards) when Polidori nailed Justin Lowry on a post pattern for a 21-yard score. Richard Gatt’s extra point was true and the game headed to double overtime. 

Whether you live in Valley City, Litchfield or Mallet Creek — or anywhere in Medina County, for that matter — if you run across a Buckeye High football player in the next few days, pat him on the back. Tell him thanks for an incredible season. Tell him you’re proud of him. Tell him, maybe, something as simple as, “Thank you” or “Great job.” After all, even when heartbroken beyond description, these classy kids said all that to you Friday night after suffering an incredibly devastating 35-28 triple-overtime loss to West Geauga in a Division III, Region 7 first-round playoff game. “I just love these guys, this community, this school, these fans,” tearful quarterback Nathan Polidori said moments after throwing an interception that ended an epic game that lasted almost three hours. “Thanks to everyone for all the support. I’m happy this season happened. I’m not going to say I regret anything.” Except, of course, that the 2015 season is over. But it won’t be forgotten.

Never, ever, ever will it be forgotten. All year, this Buckeye team talked about going 10-0 in the regular season and becoming the first squad in school history to win a playoff game. The Bucks did the former and came about as close as you can come to doing the latter. There is absolutely no shame in that. “This is just devastating for us,” receiver Justin Canedy said after catching two touchdowns. “We played our hardest but we didn’t come out on top. But we take pride in leaving it all out there.”

A team that had a number of key performers play both ways all season, the Bucks lost talented slotback/defensive back Nathan Scott early against West Geauga. Even bigger star slotback Trevor Thome played most of the night with a bad hip and Polidori was limping around on a bum ankle, and still the Bucks almost made history. They were close.

So close.

So, so close.

“We left everything on the field,” coach Mark Pinzone said. “There’s no regrets. They made one more play than us. That’s what it came down to.” It ended, quickly and in heartbreaking fashion, when Polidori threw an interception on Buckeye’s first play after the Wolverines had scored in the third overtime. “Can we not talk about that?” the classy senior asked politely. We won’t. We’ll talk about linebacker Dustin McCullough, all 5-foot-7 of him, making an incredible 13 tackles, three of them behind the line of scrimmage. We’ll talk about Bruce Barnby causing a fumble and Brad Calta, who skipped prom as a junior so he could work out, recovering it.

We’ll talk about 10 tackles for Jaret Yohman and nine for Kyle Svagerko, who added a few pancakes as a blocking fullback. We’ll talk, too, about the pain these kids felt as they walked off Edwin Steingass Field, which had about 4,000 fans packed around all parts of it, many of them standing, four-deep, throughout. “It feels like I’m stung inside,” McCullough said. “I’m shocked. It hurts. We worked hard. We wanted it. We were right there.”

That the Bucks came so close ultimately made their pain worse Friday night, but that will be replaced in a few days by justifiable pride and satisfaction. “We played hard and we played well,” Thome said. “They just made one more play than we did. We had a great year, but if you lose, you lose. There’s nothing good about losing, especially in the playoffs. You have to survive or you go home.”

The Bucks went home Friday, the seniors for the final time as high school football players, but they did not exit as losers. They went home, quite simply, as the team on the wrong end of the final score in an amazing high school football game.

“We didn’t get the job done, but we came so close,” Polidori said. “We worked so hard. We couldn’t have done anything more. It just didn’t go our way at the end.”

That it did not, but not for lack of trying, not for lack of talent, not for lack of heart. And, most of all, not for lack of class.

So thank you, all members of the Buckeye football team, for a great season.