The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Kenston’s Grubich is coach of the year
Kenston’s Jeff Grubich has been named the winner of the 2018 Bob Ritley Award as The News-Herald football coach of the year.
The presentation was made at Hooley House on Nov. 26 as part of a special edition of the Varsity Chalk Talk Show in front of a capacity crowd for the News-Herald’s awards night.
Grubich was presented with the plaque by members of the Ritley family. Bob Ritley was a legendary football coach at Perry.
“I’m pretty humbled,” Grubich said. “I’ts not something you coach or expect for anything like this to happen. I’m really appreciative to even be mentioned in the same name as Bob Ritley. It’s very humbling.”
Grubich has guided Kenston to a 13-1 record heading into the Division III state championship game on Nov. 30 against Kettering Alter. Over the past two seasons, Grubich has led Kenston to a 21-3 record.
Prior to advancing to the state championship game, Kenston went 9-1 in the regular season and shared the Western Reserve Conference championship with Chardon and Riverside.
Grubich topped two other finalists for the Ritley Award, Riverside’s Dave Bors and Kirtland’s Tiger LaVerde.
Bors led Riverside to a 9-3 record and the first playoff win in program history.
LaVerde and his 14-0 Kirtland Hornets will play Marion Local on Nov. 30 in the Division III state championship game.
Tim Ritley presented the
award in the name of his late father and said having his father remembered with the Coach of the Year award is special.
“Dad loved coaching, he loved his kids, he loved teaching and he loved this area so much,” Ritley said. “To have this award named after him means the world
to the family.”
Grubich said he and his team are ready for more hardware this weekend in the state championship game.
“That’s the end goal,” he said. “We have three more days of practice and hopefully we can bring one home to Northeastern Ohio.”