Kenston’s breakthrough began in 1981

Amid a week for giving thanks, Kenston and Kirtland are assuredly thankful for an extra week of practice and a Week 14 for which to look forward.

The state final four is always a time to celebrate the present for high school football teams, a banner time that will forever linger in the memory banks of the communities fortunate and talented enough to make it this far.

But it is also a time to note the past and how a legacy was established in the first place.

For the Bombers, rightfully much of the focus goes to two great autumns – the 1986 and 1995 campaigns, which each ended as state runner-up.

There always has to be a first, though.

For the pride of southwest Geauga County, that means going back to 1981 – the first 10-win campaign and playoff berth on the gridiron in Kenston lore.

Before jumping in the wayback machine 37 years ago, long before a brandnew school, stadium and signature wind turbine, it’s important to lay out a little history of Kenston and, by extension, Geauga football.

Even into the early 1950s, except for Chardon, high school football in Geauga County was six-man football prior to consolidation into the high schools we know today. The original incarnation of the Geauga County League in the late 1940s was comprised of Auburn, Bainbridge, Burton, Chester, Russell and Thompson.

Kenston was established in 1952 and had its moments heading into its third decade in football. The Bombers had nine seasons with at least seven wins between 1952 and 1980, including a 9-1 campaign in 1974.

Heading into the 1981 season, Kenston was considered to be a darkhorse in the Chagrin Valley Conference coming off a 7-3 season under veteran coach Zinn Gorby.

The offense returned Greg Randall at quarterback, along with running backs Shaun Walker and Denny Bisesi. Randall was also a standout at safety, and the defensive line was strong.

The Bombers rolled through their nonconference schedule, with shutouts of Chardon and Conneaut and a pummeling of Brooklyn by a combined score of 86-16. In three games, the defense held its foes to 11 first downs and 297 total yards.

Heading into a Week 4 clash at Wickliffe to open CVC play, Gorby told the Painesville Telegraph he had bought a pack of bubble gum a few days prior to the game. Gum in that era carried with it a small piece of paper with a fortune. Gorby unrolled the fortune, which read, “Angels will guard your every step,” and it predicted good luck for two years.

Bob Vaughn returned a fumble for a touchdown in the second quarter, and after a Doug Kostelnik interception and 30-yard field goal by Nick Zsebedics, the Bombers led, 9-6, with 3:32 left.

Walker, who had scored five touchdowns in the first three games and ran for 115 yards against Conneaut, was injured against the Blue Devils. A fumble by a backup fullback gave Wickliffe a late chance to win the game.

The Blue Devils got to the Kenston 15, but the Bombers forced three incomplete passes for a turnover on downs and ran out the clock with a safety on purpose to see out a 9-8 win. Defensively, Kenston held Wickliffe to minus-13 yards on the ground and had five sacks.

On Oct. 2, 1981, Kenston took on archrival Chagrin Falls. Bisesi found paydirt on a 50-yard TD run in the opening quarter, and Randall connected with Todd Hall for a 24-yard TD pass in the fourth for a 14-6 lead. But the Tigers answered with a Brent Rudolph TD run with 49 seconds left, and the decision was made to go for two and the win. A Mike Bistritz conversion run was turned away at the goal line, preserving a 14-13 victory.

The defense was stellar yet again in Week 6 with its third shutout, 13-0 over West Geauga.

The Bombers didn’t yield a first down until 5:29 remained in the third quarter despite four West G drives starting in Kenston territory. Randall had a two-yard TD run and a 44-yard pick-six, one of four interceptions for the Bombers.

Getting to 7-0 was ugly but effective with a 14-7 win over Orange. Randall connected with Hall and Greg Jones for scoring passes as Kenston won despite five first-half fumbles.

The Bombers’ biggest game of the year to that point came in Week 8 at fellow unbeaten Solon. With both teams perfect, it was tapped as the WVIZ-TV Game of the Week – a huge deal in that era long before the spread of cable. A snowstorm battered Solon at halftime, rendering the field snowswept to start the second half. Bisesi scored on a 90yard kickoff return in the third quarter to bookend Walker’s short TD run in the second and give Kenston the lead for good. But it was far from easy.

With less than two minutes left, Solon marched to the Bombers’ 3. One more time, the defense rose to the occasion with a goalline stand, including a fourth-down stop on the six-inch line with 1:21 left to punctuate a 14-6 win.

Kenston finished off its first 10-0 regular season in football in school history with routs of Aurora (280) and Twinsburg (31-14). In the clincher against the Tigers, Randall hit Jones for a 55-yard TD strike late in the first half nursing a 15-14 advantage, and the Bombers pulled away in the second half.

Unfortunately for Kenston, the gift of sorts for making the playoffs for the first time was a meeting with Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary. SVSM had a stout defense including future NFL linebacker Frank Stams and a massive Dline.

Before a crowd of more than 5,000 at Kent Roosevelt, the Bombers’ dream season concluded with a 23-0 Division III loss. Tim Wallace scored twice for the Fighting Irish, who didn’t allow Kenston to run a single red-zone play and went on to win the DIII state title that fall.

Gorby was named Northeast Lakes District co-coach of the year with Benedictine’s Augie Bossu. Randall was named special mention All-Ohio and was the Cleveland Touchdown Club’s CVC MVP. He went on to Michigan, where he was a two-year letterman at defensive back.

Good fortune to some degree, of course, is selfcreated. But the small piece of paper in Gorby’s bubble-gum wrapper was actually on to something.

So in a week for giving thanks, remember the greatest campaigns.

But never forget the one that helped put Kenston on the map in the first place.

Contact Lillstrung at clillstrung@news-herald. com; On Twitter: @CLillstrungNH.

KENSTON HIGH SCHOOL The 1981 Kenston football team is shown in the school’s 1982 yearbook.