The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
All-Ohio football teams unveiled for IV, V
The next two of seven AllOhio footballl teams are unveiled by the Ohio Prep Sports Writers Association. Find who the best players were in Divisions IV and V this season.
It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
Four years ago, Kirtland’s eighth-grade football team met up with Chagrin Valley Conference rival Cuyahoga Heights and got hammered, 43-0.
The loss stung the group. Ask them about it today and they’ll still bristle at the shellacking they took that day.
It’s safe to say that class of Hornets has improved since then.
On Dec. 2, the Kirtland football team — led by that 20-man senior class — will play Marion Local in a Division VI state championship game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
“This senior class, I think there’s 20 of them, they lost to Cuyahoga Heights, 43-0, in an eighth-grade football game,” Kirtland coach Tiger Laverde said on Nov. 27 in an Ohio High School Athletic Association teleconference leading into state championship week. “Four years later, they’re playing for a state championship at 14-0.
“The growth I’ve seen over the last four years has to do with their commitment to each other, to the team and their work ethic. To me, that’s unbelievable.”
Heading into this weekend’s state championship game, this current senior class at Kirtland has a three-year varsity record of 39-3.
If all goes to their liking, they will win their second state championship ring over a three-year span, to go with the ring they earned in 2015 with a 22-20 victory over the same Marion Local program they will see this weekend.
“(This senior class) wasn’t great,” LaVerde said. “Here they are with a chance to live out their dream a little bit.”
The turnaround of the Class of 2017 is strikingly similar to that of the Class of 2015. That senior class was winless in eighth grade and ninth grade, yet improved to the point that as seniors they went 14-1 and won the 2015 state championship.
“Yeah, they struggled as eighth-graders,” LaVerde said of the Class of 2015. “They came around, too. That’s what is fun about this job. I’m very fortunate for the position I am in.”
Kirtland using Cuyahoga Heights as a measuring stick for how far the Class of 2017 has come is made even more special in that Coach Al Martin’s Redskins will play for a Division VII state championship on Dec. 1, against Minster, a league rival of Marion Local in the rugged Midwest Athletic Conference.
Kirtland (14-0) defeated Cuyahoga Heights (13-1), 42-34, in Week 9 of the regular season. It was a victory that catapulted the Hornets into their current playoff run.
“It was a great four-quarter battle,” LaVerde said of the win over Cuyahoga Heights. “We were fortunate to win. We were up 15 with two minutes left and they almost won the game. I think it was good for both teams.”
Back in the summer, when the OHSAA’s competitive balance measure went into affect, Cuyahoga Heights dropped down to Division VII after playing in the Division VI state championship game last year.
Instantly, LaVerde got on the phone with Martin and members of his Cuyahoga Heights staff.
When we found out in the spring they were in Division VII and we were in Division VI, I texted them and was like, ‘Man, wouldn’t it be great if we both get to play in Week 15?’ ”
And here it is, Week 15, with the CVC’s Cuyahoga Heights playing the MAC’s Minster for the Division VII title on one day, and the CVC’s Kirtland playing the MAC’s Marion Local for the Division VI title the following day.
“You talk about it as a goal, but you rarely see it happen,” LaVerde said. “It’s great for the league, it really is. I’m proud of their kids and I’m proud of our kids. It’s going to be fun watching them on Friday morning.”
Kirtland is playing in its sixth state championship game over a sevenyear span. The Hornets won state titles in 2011, 2013 and 2015, and were state runner-up in 2012 and 2014.
Cuyahoga Heights ousted Kirtland from postseason play in the regional final a year ago.
“I’m really proud of this group of kids,” LaVerde said. “It’s pretty much a different group from what we’ve had in the past. The goal was to win the conference, make the playoffs and take one week at a time. They’ve done a nice job handling their business.”