The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Columbia’s Coleman breaks county rushing mark >>
Coleman sets Lorain County career rushing record; Raiders inch closer to playoff berth
This season has been a bit of a whirlwind for Columbia, which has found itself on the playoff bubble after a handful of heartbreaking losses and even more blowout victories.
Finally, however, Coach Jason Ward saw his team play “inspired”
football Oct. 19 as the Raiders beat visiting Fairview, 49-14, behind the most inspired performance of them all — a record-breaking night for senior Brandon Coleman who became not only the all-time leading Columbia rusher, but the Lorain County rushing leader as well.
Coleman entered the night needing 224 yards to break the record set by Columbia’s own Dustin Intihar (4,778 yards), who played for the Raiders from 1999-2002, and midway through the third quarter, ran 42 yards in his final carry of the night to finish with 232 and a career total of 4,786 with one game left in the regular season.
“It’s special for me, but it’s special for our whole team.”
— Brandon Coleman, Columbia senior
“It’s special for me but it’s special for our whole team,” Coleman said. “The lines that I’ve had since my freshman year have been so great…all of our coaches are very good, pushing me in practice every day. My teammates push me in practice every day and just the support from everyone is great.”
The 6-foot-1, 210-pound running back is not one for personal accolades and often passes much of the credit for his success to his teammates and coaches, but Ward pulled Coleman aside on the sideline to try to give him some perspective on just how incredible of an accomplishment he achieved.
After all, it’s not every day a player breaks a county record set by one of the program’s own.
“It’s a massive accomplishment and I told him on the sidelines, because he’s just such a forward thinker, you know, I said, ‘Try to enjoy it because it’s really special for a lot of people. It’s a massive accomplishment,’” Ward said. “The fact that he broke another Columbia player’s record makes it even more special. … It’s been exciting, to say the least, to watch him do what he does. We’ve all been lucky to be a part of it.”
Coleman ran for four touchdowns against Fairview (3-6), and while he received much of the attention and praise, his twin brother, Bailey, had a breakout night of his own.
The Colemans accounted for five of Columbia’s (6-3) six touchdowns, including a wide-open pass from Jared Bycznski to Bailey in the third quarter for a 49-yard score, but the most thrilling play for the senior came in the early minutes of the game.
The Raiders had just forced a Fairview punt when Bailey fielded it near the 32 yard line and ran 68 yards for the touchdown to put Columbia up, 14-0, at the 6:09 mark of the first quarter.
“I just trust my teammates’ blocks,” Bailey said. “They’re always out there putting in the work blocking for me, I saw a hole open up and I just took it. I just turned on the jets and ran for the touchdown.”
It was an emotional night for the brothers who have been teammates their whole lives.
“It’s very special,” Bailey said of his brother. “What he’s been able to do these last four years, it’s very, very special. I’m glad he had a good game and I had a good game, the whole team had a good game and it was really fun.”
It was as fun for the coaches as it was for the players, too.
“We played inspired football. We played Raider football,” Ward said. “We played with a lot of the intangibles that I love. We played with a lot of the things that cause me to enjoy doing this.
“I want to see high school kids love this. I want to see them suck every ounce of joy and passion out of playing high school football that they can. I’ll be honest, there’s some games where I haven’t seen that but tonight I saw it and it was really fun to watch.”
Fairview coach Dave Latkovic wasn’t as impressed by game’s end, at least with his own team’s lackluster performance, and with Columbia holding a clear size advantage, the Warriors struggled to hold their own against one of the top lines in the area.
“I’m going to be honest with you. My grandma could’ve run through those holes tonight whether it’s Brandon Coleman or not,” Latkovic said. “They were just bullying us up front. They’re bigger, faster, stronger than us
“I think what happened was we had to stack the box because we are so much lighter…so we stacked the box and once they broke the first line of defense our DBs couldn’t tackle him so he was gone. (Coleman’s) bigger, faster, stronger than all our kids and on top of that they have big linemen and they were just moving us around and getting by us.”
It wasn’t a complete wash for Fairview, however, as the Warriors had a record-setting night of their own.
Senior Jack Provenza became the program’s alltime leading rusher, needing 50 yard to break the record set by Hans Larsen, and finished with 88 yards and a touchdown on the night. He has 2,187 career rushing yards.
Fairview is essentially out of the playoff race, but with one game left on the regular-season schedule against Oberlin Oct. 26, Columbia is still very much in the hunt and has no plans of slowing down now.
“We’re trying to be our best by Week 11,” Bailey said, “and we need to keep moving forward and keep getting better every game, every practice.”