The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Locations for regional semifinals announced
And then there were seven. With the first week of the high school playoffs in the books, seven of the 12 News-Herald area teams that qualified for the playoffs are still alive and in contention in the final four of their respective regions.
All the games from here on out will be played on neutral fields, leading up to the state championship weekend in Canton Dec. 1-2.
This week’s pairings, including the venues in which they will play, are as follows. All games begin at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 10.
• Mentor (10-1) will face St. Edward (10-1) at Byers Field in Parma in a Division I, Region 1 semifinal.
• Euclid (9-2) will face St. Ignatius (10-1) at Bedford Bearcat Stadium in a Division I, Region 1 semifinal.
• Brush (9-2) will face Akron Hoban (10-1) at Nordonia in a Division II, Region 5 semifinal.
• NDCL (9-2) will face Canfield (11-0) at Warren Mollenkopf Stadium in a Division III, Region 9 semifinal.
• Perry (11-0) will face Girard (10-1) at Twinsburg Tiger Stadium in a Division IV, Region 13 semifinal.
• Wickliffe (8-3) will face Sullivan Black River (10-1) at North Ridgeville in a Division V, Region 17 semifinal.
• Kirtland (11-0) will face Mogadore (9-1) at Solon’s Stewart Field in a Division VI, Region 21 semifinal.
Long time, no see
The Euclid Panthers will see a familiar foe in Round 2 of the playoffs when it travels to Bedford Bearcat Stadium to face St. Ignatius.
This is the second time this year the Panthers and Wildcats have faced each other. Coach Chuck Kyle’s team won the head-tohead in Week 3 earlier this year, 34-20.
“Like I’ve said before, you’re not a great program until you beat the Saints,” Euclid coach Jeff Rotsky said, referring to St. Ignatius and St. Edward.
St. Edward ousted Euclid from the playoffs in 2016 and 2015.
“We’ve got a chance to play the No. 1 team in the state and No. 8 team in the nation again,” Rotsky said of the Wildcats. “We’re smarting from that loss earlier this year. We were up 14-10 at the half and missed some opportunities.
“If you’re a competitor — any competitor wants a second chance and a rematch. Hopefully this time we’ll play for four quarters.”
Euclid did that in its playoff opener in a 49-29 win over Massillon Jackson. Titus Jackson jumped a route, picked off a pass and took it to the end zone for a pick-six on the first series of the game.
The first time Euclid touched the ball offensively, Ronald Lee went 76 yards for a touchdown, in the process breaking Robert Smith’s school record for rushing yards in a season.
It was the perfect way to open Euclid’s new stateof-the-art stadium, Rotsky said.
“Who gets to open a new stadium with a playoff win like that?” Rotsky said, still bubbling with enthusiasm two days later. “It was unreal. Our kids were so fired up to play in the new stadium. Guys wanted to go out an hour early. It was the perfect way to open it.”
Prediction holds true
When the playoff pairings were announced, Mentor coach Steve Trivisonno predicted a fourteam slugfest in Division I, Region 1.
Those four teams are who is left — Mentor, Euclid, St. Ignatius and St. Edward.
“We said all along there were four really good teams in our region,” Trivisonno said. “They all took care of business in Week 1. We’ll find out know who survives in Week 2.”
St. Ignatius had tight wins over Mentor (41-31), Euclid (34-20) and St. Edward (17-10).
Mentor got a last-second field goal to beat Euclid, 61-59, in Week 9.
“All the big teams are consistent and do things well,” Trivisonno said. “They all play sound football.”
Mentor spotted visiting Stow-Munroe Falls an early 17-14 lead, then scored 35 unanswered points in a 49-17 romp.
At first glance, the stars were quarterback Tadas Tatarunas (256 yards passing, four touchdowns), receiver Logan Shea (6 catches, 103 yards, four TDs) and running back Chris Edmond (119 rushing yards, one score).
But Elijah McDougal averaged nine yards on his 10-carry, 90-yard night to continue his stunning second half of the season.
Heading into this week’s game with St. Edward, McDougal has run 77 times for 788 yards (10.2 per carry) and eight scores. Most of that productivity has come in the second half of the season.
“Eli’s just gotten better,” Trivisonno said. “He hadn’t played since his freshman year. He’s doing a great job and getting better each week. He has that burst you need. He flies. We’re really proud of him.”
McDougal’s emergence gives Mentor a nice 1-2 punch with Edmond (953 yards rushing, 19 TDs).
“It makes Chris more effective,” Trivisonno said. “Chris isn’t the biggest kid in the world, so (splitting carries) helps him stay fresh, too.”
Third time’s a charm
The third crack at the playoffs was a charm for Wickliffe football coach Marce Porcello.
As a player in 1997, Porcello and his Wickliffe teammates fell to Canton Central Catholic, 21-7, in the first round of the playoffs.
As head coach of his alma mater last year, the Blue Devils lost to LaBrae, 29-26.
But with a 25-22 win over host Grand Valley on Nov. 3, Porcello got in the “W” column in playoff action.
He’s more happy for the program than himself. It’s Wickliffe’s first playoff victory since 1999.
“It feels great,” Porcello said. “After losing in the playoffs last year, we wanted to get back to Week 11. They’ve worked hard to get to this point.”
They’ve worked hard in more ways than one.
With only 29 players on the roster, 12 of whom are freshmen, many players are pushed into double-duty. Porcello said only 15 players get varsity action. Two are freshmen Chase Fortkamp and Tyler Fisher.
“We don’t have typical backups,” Porcello said. “If someone is injured, we move guys around to different positions. Fortunately, we’ve stayed pretty healthy. We don’t even hit in practice. We try to limit it to keep fresh for Friday nights. It’s paid off for us.”
In Black River, Wickliffe will face a mirror image of sorts. The Pirates run the same Pistol Wing-T offense the Blue Devils run.
“They are very disciplined and very physical,” Porcello said. “They run the same offense we do and they run it very well.
“We’ve been taking care of the ball very well this year. We have to get our athletes out in space and play defense. We need to play tough, physical football the way we did Friday against Grand Valley.”
“Like I’ve said before, you’re not a great program until you beat the Saints.” — Euclid coach Jeff Rotsky, on Euclid’s game against St. Ignatius