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From The PLAIN DEALER: By Tim Rogers, Plain Dealer Reporter
Is there such a thing as an overnight sensation in high school football?
Heading into the first week of November, Buckeye's Darren Cereshko was just another talented high school football player on a team headed to the playoffs.
A little more than a month later, Cereshko, a cornerback on defense and a slotback on offense, was regarded as one of the state's best after he was chosen as the Division III defensive player of the year in Ohio by the Associated Press.
"I was shocked," said Cereshko, a 5-11, 170-pound junior, whose twin, Daniel, was the team's quarterback. "A couple of times I wondered if it had really happened or if I was going to wake up from a dream."
It is no dream. Cereshko also has been chosen as The Plain Dealer's Defensive Player of the Year on the Medina County All-Star team.
Pass defense obviously swayed the voters in Cereshko's favor. In 10 regular-season games, he intercepted 12 passes. He returned four of them for touchdowns to help spark Buckeye to a share of the Mohican Area Conference championship and a spot in the playoffs. Both accomplishments were firsts for the school under first-year coach Chris Medaglia.
Cereshko's nose for the ball was not limited to balls in the air, as he also recovered three fumbles. Additionally, he finished with 31 solo tackles and 20 assists and caught 25 passes for 405 yards and six touchdowns.
Only a midseason loss to Triway prevented the Bucks from winning the title outright, but Cereshko said the loss helped everyone regain his focus. The team went on to close the season with four victories to reach the playoffs, where they lost to Willard in a first-round game.
"It was a great feeling to earn a share of the championship and make the playoffs," Cereshko said. "It's always fun to be a part of something that is done for the first time. Hopefully, we'll use this season as a stepping stone for next year. We have a lot of players coming back."
And that includes the state's defensive player of the year.
From the GAZETTE By Jason P. Skoda, Staff Writer
Buckeye's Darren Cereshko and Brunswick's Matt Wisniewski are the epitome of what an All-Gazette player is all about.
No one is a better poster boy for the Bucks' resurgence than Cereshko, The Gazette's MVP after catching 20 passes and intercepting 12 more for a total of 10 touchdowns.
Buckeye was the surprise of the county as the Bucks won a share of the Mohican Area Conference and played in a postseason game for the first time in school history.
"The success of the team didn't start in August," first-year coach Chris Medaglia said. "We had a group of players showing up in January for the weight room. They put in their time and it paid off throughout the season."
Other Bucks leading the way to a 9-2 season were senior offensive lineman Chad Collins, senior defensive lineman Travs Travers and junior linebacker Tyler Van Drei.
Meanwhile, Wisniewski, a second-team All-Ohio pick, was the heart and soul of the Blue Devils.
Brunswick's undefeated regular season was the fifth in school history, so making the playoffs was nothing new to the Devils, but the way they went about it was.
The Devils dealt with injury after injury and just filled in the holes, while Wisniewski spackled the biggest void.
"What he meant to this team can't be explained by a stat," Brunswick coach Rich Nowak said. "He made sacrifices and put the team ahead of himself."
Wisniewski, who converted from wide receiver to quarterback, still found time to return punts for the Blue Devils as he picked up more of the offense each week.
Other Brunswick stalwarts were senior Jamison Hultine, an All-Ohio second team pick, and senior Brad Wolf. They kept a young Brunswick offensive line together long enough to win its first 11 games.
The Devils, however, were known more for their defense as senior lineman Jesse Swedberg (9 sacks), senior linebacker Josh Clark (131 tackles, second-team All-Ohio) and senior defensive back Tim Botson (5 sacks, int. for TD) earned first-team selections.
The talk around Wadsworth at the beginning of the year was how the junior class was going to be great in a year.
That class didn't want to wait, as it drove the Grizzlies to a second-place finish in the Suburban League and to their first playoff appearance since 1999.
Quarterback Clint Cochran, a 6-3, 192-pound junior, threw for 2,119 yards, second in school history, and 13 touchdowns. One of his main targets was junior Mike Marshall, who finished with 45 catches for 681 yards and eight TDs.
Junior linebacker Luke Busson, an All-Northeast Inland first-team selection, had his second straight 100-plus tackle season, while junior defensive back Paul Macko (4 int., 1 TD) covered the opponents' best receiver. Senior defensive lineman Will Ling (6 sacks) was a first-team pick also.
Cloverleaf had two All-Gazette selections in junior offensive lineman Joel Belding and punter/kicker Andrew Kaminski, a two-time first-teamer.
While Highland had a disappointing season, senior fullback Elijah Blower surpassed the 2,000-yard barrier and joined the 30-TD club for his career.
The 6-2, 220-pound Blower, who is being looked at by Mid-American Conference schools, finished his senior year with 1,204 yards and 15 TDs.
Blower, a second-team All-Ohio honoree, picked up a lot of his yards behind senior offensive lineman Brett Lonjak, a first-team pick.
Medina had its first winning season since 1998 as senior running back Reggie Hough (1,060 yards, 13 TDs) and wide receiver Montreal Wade (20 catches for 244 yards, 3 TDs) led the offense, while senior defensive lineman Stephen Castro (6 sacks) controlled the line of scrimmage for the defense.
Black River's inexperience in the previous two seasons started to pay off in wins in 2002 as the Pirates made the playoffs for the first time since 1999.
Senior fullback Brett Hastings (1,247 yards, 22 TDs, second-team All-Ohio) led Black River in rushing for the second straight season, while defensive mainstays Kyle Clark (9 sacks) and Brian Ensign (66 tackles, 5 int., second-team All-Ohio) helped limit opposing offenses to 12.9 points a game.
From the GAZETTE By Jason P. Skoda, Staff Writer
It was a short but very important conversation.
In the second week of the season in 2001, Darren Cereshko stood on the outskirts of a Buckeye football practice when Chris Medaglia sauntered over and asked him if he wanted to play.
Cereshko gave into his desire, and one season later the Buckeye junior developed into The Gazette's 2002 MVP for football.
What if Medaglia, then the offensive coordinator, hadn't taken the initiative?
"I don't even want to think about it," said Medaglia, who took over as head coach this fall. "I'm sure he probably would have played this year, but the development wouldn't have been there.
"Darren had a phenomenal season and I don't know where we would have been without him."
With the 5-foot-11, 170-pounder, the Bucks (9-2) had their most wins since 1979, won their first share of a Mohican Area Conference title and qualified for the postseason for the first time in school history.
In a season that saw him play many great games, Cereshko's performance in the Bucks' 42-14 win over Warren John F. Kennedy in Week 5 may have been his best.
Cereshko scored on a 55-yard pass from his twin, Dan, on the game's first offensive play, then intercepted JFK quarterback John DiFiore on Kennedy's third possession. He returned it 80 yards down the sideline to give the Bucks a 13-0 lead after they had run just six offensive plays.
Cereshko had two more interceptions, including one he took 35 yards for a score in the fourth quarter, to put a stamp on an incredible individual show.
"About the only thing we accomplished tonight was making No. 34 look like an all-state player," Eagles coach Tony Napolet said after the game. "He was all over the field."
Napolet was half right. Cereshko not only made first-team All-Ohio, he shared the Division III Defensive Player of the Year with Newark Licking Valley's Jake Butler.
It was the third postseason award for Cereshko.
He was also the Defensive Player of the Year in the MAC and co-Defensive Player of the Year in the Northeast Inland District.
"I think about what if I didn't play last season sometimes," Cereshko said. "I thought I should just concentrate on baseball, but when I saw everyone else playing, I knew I had to play.
"I'm happy that I did because I don't think I could have had that type of season if I didn't."
And all it took was for someone to ask.
"You can see why they went after him," said Scott Sorrell, who finished his first year on the Buckeye staff. "He is a tremendous athlete and most of the plays he makes are on instinct."
Cereshko finished the season with 20 catches for 405 yards and six touchdowns as the Bucks' speed threat on offense.
Defensively, he was an even bigger playmaker. Cereshko finished with 51 total tackles, including one for a loss, three fumble recoveries (including one to setup the game-winning score against Black River), intercepted 12 balls and returned four for touchdowns.
He did all this despite playing just a handful of plays against Loudonville due to a knee bruise sustained early in the first quarter.
"He is a good kid who has a great feel for the game," Triway coach Jim Reynolds said. "He has great field perception. He would see a play develop and then get there before it happened."
Next season could be one of frustration for Cereshko. A run at the school record of 16 interceptions in a season would be nice, but Cereshko may not see 16 passes all of next year.
Regardless of what happens his senior year, Cereshko had a career's worth of impact plays in 2002.
It started with an interception return for a TD in 7-on-7 drills at LaGrange Keystone and finished with two TD receptions in a playoff game against Willard.
In between there were plenty of games being played.
"He baited some of those quarterbacks into thinking the receiver was open," Sorrell said. "This is basically a first-year player tricking veterans into mistakes. They'd throw it and Darren always made the right play."
From the GAZETTE: By Lisa Gayle Grayson, Staff Writer
Buckeye's football team may not want to emphasize individual accomplishments, but that did not stop the state from singling out one player.
Defensive back Darren Cereshko was named Ohio's Division III co-Defensive Player of the Year Tuesday. The junior shares the honor with Newark Licking Valley's Jake Butler.
The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Cereshko is the only Medina County player to earn first-team All-Ohio in D-III and IV.
"Wow, that's amazing," Buckeye first-year coach Chris Medaglia said. "(I thought the chances were,) honestly, slim to none. I didn't think we were covered enough by the bigger papers and I thought that'd be a factor."
Cereshko, who was also the Mohican Area Conference's Defensive Player of the Year and co-Defensive Player of the Year in the Northeast Inland District, is vacationing out of state and unavailable for comment.
Medaglia, however, thinks the two-way athlete will be stunned.
"I think he'll be very surprised," Medaglia said. "His stats are impressive but I didn't know how they'd compare against the rest of the state."
Cereshko had 51 tackles, three fumble recoveries, 12 interceptions with four returned for touchdowns.
Offensively, he finished the season with 20 catches for 405 yards and six touchdowns.
Butler, a 6-0, 165-pound senior, also played both sides of the ball. He matched Cereshko's 12 interceptions.
"I didn't think other teams got a real feel how good (Cereshko) was until they saw him play," Medaglia said. ‘They watched tapes and saw scouting reports, but until they saw him play they didn't get a gist of how good he is."
Eight other county players were recognized Tuesday in D-II and III.
Highland's 6-2, 200-pound Elijah Blower was named second-team All-Ohio on offense for D-II. The senior fullback had 1,204 yards and 15 TDs.
Hornets teammate Brett Lonjak, as well as Buckeye's Travs Travers and Tyler Van Drei earned special mention.
In D-IV, Black River seniors Brett Hastings made the second team on offense, while Brian Ensign made it on defense.
Hastings, a 5-10, 165-pound fullback, finished with 1,247 yards and 22 TDs. Ensign, a 6-0, 175-pound back, had 66 tackles and five interceptions.
Also recognized for the Pirates were special mention selections Andrew Cortese and Kyle Clark.
From THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 11/26/02 7:25PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Record-setting quarterback Benny Mauk of Kenton and sterling running back Raymond Williams of Cleveland Benedictine were among the top award winners on the 2002 Associated Press Divisions III and IV All-Ohio high school football teams announced Tuesday.
Mauk, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior, was selected as offensive player of the year in Division IV after setting a national record for passing yards in a career, with 17,223 heading into this weekend's state championship game.
Williams, a 5-11, 174-pound junior, has rushed for 3,149 yards this season as Benedictine readies for the Division III state playoff final this weekend.
Joining Williams as Division III honorees are defensive backs Jake Butler of Newark Licking Valley and Darren Cereshko of Medina Buckeye, who shared the defensive player of the year award. The coaches of the year are Richmond Edison Local's Dave Everson, Steve Evans of Columbus Hamilton Township and Oak Harbor's Gary Quisno.
In Division IV, the top defenders were Rossford back Darren Paige, linebacker Sean Leibrock of Kettering Alter and Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph linebacker Tom Gallucci. Listed as the top coaches are Coldwater's John Reed, Bret Pearce of Milton-Union, Clinton-Massie's Dan McSurley, Brian Blevins of East Palestine and Belpre's Jon Bolen.
Mauk has completed 390 of 631 passes (62 percent) for 6,228 yards and 72 touchdowns this season while setting the national career mark for yardage. He also has rushed for 1,252 yards and 15 TDs -- to give him a role in 87 scoring plays this season.
Kenton (12-2) takes on Portsmouth West (12-2) for the state title Friday morning at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium in Massillon.
Paige, a 6-1, 175-pound senior, had nine interceptions, including two he returned for touchdowns this season. On offense, he ran for 12 TDs and passed for 10 more at quarterback. Leibrock, a 6-2, 230-pound senior, was the linchpin of Alter's strong season. The 6-0, 215-pound Gallucci spent his senior season terrorizing VASJ's opponents.
Reed guided Coldwater to the No. 1 ranking in the final regular-season poll against a killer schedule. After back-to-back 1-9 seasons, Pearce guided Milton-Union to its first 10-0 mark since 1983. McSurley was 2-8 at Clinton-Massie last year, but made the playoffs with a 9-1 mark this season. In his third season, Blevins led East Palestine (9-1) to its best record ever and first league title since 1975. Belpre and Bolen went 8-2 with just 24 players on the roster.
In Division III, Williams topped 4,000 career yards, with one game left in his junior season. He scored 39 touchdowns this season. He will lead Benedictine (12-2) against Columbus Watterson (10-4) in the state title game Saturday afternoon.
Butler, a 6-0, 165-pound senior, and Cereshko, a 5-11, 170-pound junior, each had 12 interceptions. Both also starred on offense.
Everson led Edison Local to its best record ever (9-1) and a spot in the playoffs. After 11 consecutive non-winning seasons, Hamilton Township rolled to an 8-2 record under Evans. In a season in which he picked up his 200th career victory, Quisno coached Oak Harbor to a 9-1 mark.
