The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
HORNETS HUG IT OUT
Seniors-to-be will be rich with experience for 2018 season
Kirtland’s Kalid Alabsi holds teammate Justin Gardner during the Division VI state championship game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton. The Hornets lost to the Marion Local Flyers, 34-11. For more coverage, see Sports, C1.
CANTON » As amazing as six state final appearances in seven seasons is, Kirtland has no intention of stopping anytime soon.
Several of the key players on the 2017 edition of the Hornets that fell to Maria Stein Marion Local, 34-11, in the Division VI state final Dec. 2 are juniors and will be focused and determined in the offseason to get right back to take another shot at winning it all next year.
The Hornets’ juniors learned they will have their work cut out for them if they hope to overcome Marion Local should the teams have a rematch next year.
“They were a really good team, and we learned just how hard we’re going to have to work to get back next year, and how hard we’re going to have to work all offseason if we want to win it next year,” said Joey Torok, a 5-foot-8, 155-pound junior who scored the lone Kirtland touchdown in the state final.
Of the 79-player Kirtland roster, 22 are seniors. The remaining 57 (plus incoming freshmen) have had 15 weeks of practice this season, plus preseason summer workouts.
In the case of the junior class, there have been 43 varsity games — and 43 weeks of practice the three seasons from which to learn.
Not to mention two games now against 10-time state champion Marion Local, which they’ve split.
“They executed well, they’re big and physical and well-coached,” Kirtland coach Tiger LaVerde said. “They beat us in all three phases: offense, defense and special teams. Our kids are going to have to get a little bit better. They’re going to have to get bigger, faster and stronger in the offseason.”
Among the returning junior standouts are 1,000plus yard running backs Torok and Jake Neibecker. Also back are Ethan Jernejcic, Dominic Capretta, Kalid Alabsi (6-6, 295), Austin Fulco (6-2, 240) and Jack Bailey, a 6-foot-4, 250-pound two-way lineman who played for the first time since Week 9 against Cuyahoga Heights after sustaining a shoulder
injury.
“It’s tough,” said 5-10, 185-pound Neibecker. “We went out there and we fought and battled our hardest. They’re a great team, and they made plays, and we didn’t make enough plays.”
The lessons learned from a successful senior class, which has played in three state finals in four years, are not lost on the juniors.
“The seniors this year taught us so well,” Neibecker continued. “They gave us a first step toward greatness next year. We’re going to take what they did and look at their hard work all offseason. We’re going to use that same strategy. My whole grade and the grade below us are going to work so hard in this offseason, and that starts tomorrow.”
As the bona fide smallschool state power they are and have been this whole decade, there’s little reason to doubt the Hornets will take the lessons they’ve
learned and work as hard as previous classes have to achieve the same level of success.
The talented junior class will lead the way in 2018, and its offseason motivation and goal is clear — get back to the state title game, and win it this time.
Whether it’s a rematch with Marion Local, or a matchup with anyone else in Division VI.
LaVerde and the Kirtland coaching staff will take the same, successful approach that has led to three state titles in six appearances.
“I know they’re motivated. The junior class is a special group,” LaVerde said. “We’re going to take a month off, then go after it. That’s all we can do. We can’t expect to always be here. We just have to take it one week at a time. We’ll work as hard as we can every day to win Week 1. We’re going to be thinking about Chagrin Falls in Week 1 for the next nine months.”