The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Hornets roll, but LaVerde sees room for improvement
On the scoreboard, it looked perfect.
But Kirtland football coach Tiger LaVerde didn’t even have to look at the game film from his team’s final scrimmage against visiting Jefferson to realize it wasn’t.
The Hornets blanked the Falcons, 28-0, in a half of game-situation scrimmaging at Rogers Field on Aug. 17.
But the season-opener against Chagrin Falls eight days away, LaVerde said there is plenty of room to get better.
“We don’t want any mental errors, and we had a bunch of them tonight,” LaVerde said. “We jumped offsides. We didn’t guard a receiver on one play. Four (mental errors) come to mind right away. In a half, that’s too many.”
But for the most part, Kirtland dominated, even with four-year starter Brett Diemer in street clothes for precautionary reasons and with All-Ohio running back Joey Torok playing only defense.
“Joey Torok,” yelled LaVerde as he sent his firststring offense out on the field, “your offensive debut is next week.” Kirtland didn’t need him. Even with their top two running backs — Torok and Diemer — not touching the ball, the backfield depth was evident.
Jake Neibecker scoerd on touchdown runs of 7 and 28 yards, Ryan Lipps bulled in from 8 yards out, and Dylan Aquila, Mike Zeuli and quarterback Dylan Fulco all ran the ball effectively.
With the ability to run the ball that well, Fulco hit Brandon Samsa for a 45yard touchdown pass on a play-action pass in which all 11 defenders bit on the fake hand-off up the middle.
“We have a strong running game, that’s obvious,” Fulco said. “When the line does what they do and we run play-action, it’s there. It’s always there.”
And so is the running back depth, where Kirtland can go maybe up to eight deep.
“We’ve got some guys who can run it,” LaVerde said. “Mike Zeuli ran it well and had a couple of good blocks, too.
“We just have depth all the way around. We have 77 players, that’s the most we’ve ever had. We just have to do some more things correctly than we are right now.”
Coming into the fall camp, youth on the defense was a question mark for the Hornets.
Jefferson threatened only once, with Nathan Jacobs laying out for a onehanded catch from quarterback J.J. Henson down to Kirtland’s 11. But two straight passes in the corner of the end zone were successfully defended by Torok, turning away Jefferson’s only scoring opportunity.
“I think we’re getting better every day,” said three-year defensive starter Justin Gardner. “It’s all about having a high motor. Every single day we go out to practice and have kids working hard to get better.”
Jefferson opens on Aug. 24 at Grand Valley, while Kirtland goes to Chagrin Falls on Aug. 25.
Kirtland hasn’t lost a season-opener since 2005, a 3027 loss to Beachwood.
“Coach (Mark) Iammarino does a good job of exploiting your weaknesses,” LaVerde said. “We’ve got to go to their place. It’ll be a great Friday night.”