The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Good times in Eastlake
Coach Shawn Dodd and his North football team aren’t the only ones with huge smiles across their faces these days.
The sense of pride beyond the football program is there for former Rangers coaches and players celebrating the program’s first spot in the football playoffs in school history.
George Gresko was a record-setting quarterback for the Rangers who threw for 2,932 yards in the 2009 regular season (second in area history to Mentor’s Mitchell Trubisky in 2011).
Gresko’s Rangers came close to qualifying for the playoffs when he was a senior, but missed at 7-3.
Gresko is the current QB coach at Kenston, but coached North’s current senior class when that group was eighth-graders.
“It was my first year coaching, and I’ve never been around a more hardworking group of young men in my life,” said Gresko. “They were always hungry to be the best they can be at all times.
“I could not be more proud of all the work the kids put in. They not only made the playoffs for themselves, but they made the playoffs for all the alumni that didn’t do so in the past.”
North (6-4) qualified for the Division II playoffs with its win over Chardon on Oct. 27. It secured the No. 6 seed in Region 5, and a first-round game at Bedford Nov. 3.
The Rangers getting into the playoffs is being felt throughout the area.
“Good for them,” said Mentor coach Steve Trivisonno. “I’m sure everyone there is excited, and they should be happy. It shows what a (successful) football team can do for a community.”
Dodd is still feeling that love days later from one of the biggest — if not the biggest — wins in school history when his team defeated the Hilltoppers.
“It’s unreal, amazing,” said Dodd. “And it hasn’t stopped. It’s been great, and huge complement for our team.”
Former North coach Dan Kukura was at the school from 1988 to 1996 and knows all about coming close. Four times, his Rangers were 8-2, and missed the playoffs. To have the 2017 team break through in the fashion it did impressed the former coach.
“To be 1-4 and win five straight, that’s the most impressive thing,” said Kukura. “To put it all together at that point when a lot of teams call it a season and quit, that’s storybook. Really, really happy for them.”
Dodd said he and his team, while still on Cloud 9, have already moved on to their playoff opponent in Bedford.
“For the kids, it’s just Week 11,” said Dodd.