Hilltoppers playing ‘4’ a cause at Senior Bowl

Chardon teammates taking field in all-star game as school, community cope with recent tragedies

Shane Quin took a few deep breaths to regain his composure.

He spoke of the evening when he ran out of gas while on his way to play a basketball game for the Chardon Hilltoppers. He was running so late, he said he had to leave his car where it was and be taken to the school.

It wasn’t later until he found out his friend had filled a gas tank, drove to Quin’s abandoned car, filled it with gas and got it back to Quin’s house — unbeknown to him.

That guardian angel — Dominic Ricci — is no longer with Quin, having died in an automobile crash on June 6.

When Quin takes the field for the seventh annual News-Herald Senior Bowl on June 16, he will be wearing Ricci’s No. 4.

“Dom was really close to all of us,” Quin said, his voice trailing off. “Wearing his number means the world to me. It seems like something small, but anything I can do like this to honor him means everything to me.”

There are seven members of the Chardon Hilltoppers’ football team playing in this year’s Senior Bowl, which kicks off at 7 p.m. at Mentor’s Jerome T. Osborne Sr. Stadium.

Joining Quin are Joe Cyvas, Ryder Davis, Dustin Clute, Jesse Smith, Kyle McCaffery, and Joey Dinko on the White team.

The Chardon coaching staff, led by White team head coach Brian Landies, is coaching in the game.

Memories come flowing back to each of the boys as they think back to the two boys who died as the result of a car crash at the intersection of Route 44 and Hosford Road in Chardon Township on June 6.

Ricci, a receiver for the Hilltoppers, was taken by rescue squad to TriPoint Medical Center in Concord Township and pronounced dead on arrival, the OHP stated.

Jackson Condon died a day later from injuries sustained in the accident, reports show.

“Me and my best friend, Jesse (Smith) were working that day,” Quin said. “I live right off Hosford. I kept getting calls at work asking if I was OK. I had no idea what was going on.

“A friend checked (for) Dom’s phone (location), and it was at (Route) 44. Reality hit when we got the phone call. It was the most helpless feeling I have ever felt.”

Chardon coach Mitch Hewitt characterized Ricci as a hard worker and consummate teammate.

“When you’re a receiver at Chardon, as you know we run the ball a lot, your job is to work hard and block your butt off,” Hewitt said. “He was relentless.”

Cyvas said he “was not in a very good place” after hearing that Ricci had died. He said the loss of life has helped him — and many others — to appreciate life and the friendship they have forged over the years that much more.

“It’s brought all of us that much closer together,” he said. “I don’t know where I would be without all my friends, without my boys. I am thankful for the family and friends who have helped me get through this.”

The Chardon community, unfortunately, has had much more than its share of tragedy over the years, from the T.J. Lane school shooting in 2012 that claimed the life of three Chardon students, a car crash that killed Chardon student Zachary St. Jean on May 25, and now the crash that killed Ricci and Condon.

“Chardon, yeah things have happened, but I am so happy to live in Chardon,” Cyvas said. “Everyone is there for each other. We might get knocked down, but we always get back up and get back at it because we are Chardon.”

The Senior Bowl means a lot to many players who are taking part in the game. It’s the players’ last high school event before heading off to their post-graduate destinations, whether it be college, work or the military.

No one will be taking that for granted, especially the Chardon seven who have had too many reminders of the fragility of life.

This game is for their fallen teammate and their wounded, yet resilient, community.

“It gives us something extra to play for,” Cyvas said. “We’re going to play for our friend Dom. We’re going to play hard, fly around and play good, old-fashioned football because that’s what we do at Chardon.”