VASJ gets first win in Sowers era

Bill Sowers has been coaching football for 15 years now.

The night of Sept. 1 provided a new experience for Sowers, though. It was the first night he walked off the field as a winning head coach.

With a 13-9 win over Elyria Catholic, VASJ earned its first win of the season and gave first-year coach Sowers his first career victory as a head coach.

Prior to coming to VASJ, Sowers was an assistant coach under Mike Bell at Lake Catholic, North and Twinsburg.

Sowers said the win “felt nice, but I’m not that kind of guy.”

Instead, he said the win, which came at Sparky DiBiasio Stadium in Euclid, was more for the team than it was for him.

Euclid’s facilities are undergoing construction, including the installation of artificial turf, and Sowers had no problem pointing that out to his team.

“Like I said to the guys, the complex over there at Euclid is under construction, and I kind of feel that’s how we are, to,” Sowers said. “We’ve been trying to lay a foundation since the spring. It’s nice to get that first brick (i.e. win).”

Sowers said a new coaching staff sometimes has trouble with immediate wins. When he and Bell’s staff left Lake for North, the Rangers started 0-6. When they left North for Twinsburg, another 0-6 start occurred.

Heading into Week 3 against undefeated Kirtland, VASJ is 1-1.

“It’s tough to get young men to buy in when they’re not seeing success,” Sowers said. “To get a win early under your belt goes a long way in terms of believing in what we are doing and buying into the system.”

Sowers credited the defense for the win. Defender Nathaniel Dean had a key interception in the red zone. “He was

huge all night long,” Sowers said. And offensively, QB Delano Harris was a heady leader.

“But our defense was the reason we won that game,” Sowers said. “It was a good night for our defense, and all that credit goes to Marty Gibbons, our defensive coordinator.”

Wickliffe rolls on

After a season in which the Wickliffe Blue Devils went 8-3 and qualified for the Division V playoffs, graduation losses were heavy.

Apparently they weren’t heavy enough to slow down the Blue Devils.

Through two games — a 37-0 win over Collinwood and a 42-17 win over Fairview — Wickliffe is averaging 39.5 points per game. That upstages the 35.6 points per game the Blue Devils averaged last season, despite the team having to replace a significant part of the offensive line.

“We’ve tried to develop a program where kids learn as they go,” said Coach Marce Porcello. “My big emphasis is physicality. Kids have taken that challenge and have been really physical.

“We only have nine seniors, but all nine either start or get substantial playing time.”

Running backs Nick Fenton and Isaac Pettway have been dominating. The combined for 290 yards and five touchdowns against Fairview, with Fenton running for 154

yards and Pettway going for 126.

Returning linemen Dominic Liuzzo (a threeyear starter at center), Jared Szinte (a four-year starter at tackle) and Michael Gallioto (tight end) have anchored the line.

“We have some really good running backs. That helps,” Porcello said. “We’ve been throwing the ball pretty well, too, with Brad Dieterich. It helps when you have guys like Pettway and Fenton back there, but we need to throw the ball effectively when a team does stack the box on us.”

Wickliffe will go for a third straight win on Sept. 8 against East Tech.

Nose for the ball

In his first two years on the Cardinal football team, Hayden Cummins played tight end.

“A good combination of blocking ability on the edge, with ‘basketball hands’ as a receiver,” said Coach Eric Cardinal, explaining Cummins’ skill set.

Because of injuries and adjustments last season, Cummins moved to the offensive line out of necessity.

Despite the move to the trenches, Cummins has still found a way to get into the end zone.

In Week 1 against Garrettsville, Cummins scooped up a fumble and rumbled in for a touchdown. Then in this week’s win over Pymatuning Valley,

Cardinal’s Cam Klepper deflected a PV pass, Hayden picked it off and went in from 7 yards out for the touchdown.

Coach Cardinal called it “a defensive lineman’s dream” to score two weeks in a row.

But Cardinal also typified Cummins as somewhat of a coach’s dream, selflessly giving up offensive touches as a tight end for the glory-less position on the line.

“This year, Hayden is still an offensive lineman,” Cardinal said. “Though the move was personally disappointing to him (I’m sure), Hayden never said a negative word, and took to the line immediately. In an era when players often balk at a position shift, Hayden epitomized the ‘team before me’ attitude all coaches always preach.”

Stat attack

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