The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Hewitt & Co. aim to finish with a state title
Mitch Hewitt is going to the tape.
Chardon’s head football coach wants some answers.
As the final seconds were ticking off the clock in the Hilltoppers’ 47-7 walloping of Tiffin Columbian in a Division III state semifinal in Brunswick on Nov. 13, Hewitt ran down the visitor’s sideline trying to avoid the ice-water bath that was chasing him from behind.
“I’m freezing,” Hewitt said after failing to outrun the celebratory bath. “I thought I dodged it, then somebody grabbed me. I’ve got to review the film on that and see who’s gonna run on Monday.”
Deep down, though, the combination of 35-degree temperature at Brunswick’s Auto Mart Stadium and the bucket of ice water dumped over his head won’t both Hewitt TOO much.
That’s because the win put Chardon in the state championship game for the first time since 1998 - the same year that Hewitt himself led the Hilltoppers within an eyelash of
winning a state championship, only to lose in heartbreaking fashion to Lebanon, 27-21, on a late hookand-ladder play with 46 seconds remaining in the game.
For years, Hewitt has said he will never get over the feeling of his heart being shredded by a loss in the state championship game as a player.
Now he - and the Hilltoppers as a team - can exorcize that ghost when they play Columbus De
Sales at 7 p.m. on Nov. 21 for the Division III state championship.
“It’s a lot harder as a coach,” Hewitt said. “As a player, you’re worried about yourself and live in your own world most of the time. As a coach, especially in a year like this, there are landmines everywhere.”
And to this point, Chardon has navigated through them all.
Including a international pandemic courtesy of the novel coronavirus that delayed the start of the season and hung over every week like a dark cloud threatening to drown out the season.
There was the usual rugged journey through the Western Reserve Conference, not to mention the expectations of being the top-ranked Division III team in the state from start to finish.
Chardon navigated through it all, hung a running clock on EACH of the 11 teams they’ve faces - including each of its playoff foes - and is now on a stage where it can win its first state title since 1994.
“I don’t do anything to finish runner-up or be average,” Hewitt said.
It’s been that way since he was hired at Chardon in 2010.
“That was the first coaching hire me and (AD) Doug Snyder made together,” said then-principal Andy Fetchik, whose son Drew is Chardon’s quarterback this year. “He had a vision. He told us he wanted to change things and bring back the tradition.
“I remember seeing his highlights as a player. He was that kid who when he walked on the field, there was something different about him. You knew he was special. He had the ability to back up his swagger.”
Much like this year’s Chardon team.
If there was ever a team that personified their leader, it’s the 2020 Chardon Hilltoppers - hardworking, hard-nosed, resilient ... And relentless.
Tiffin Columbian found that out the hard way on Nov. 13. Chardon marched up and down the field offensively with lightning speed at times — thanks to a few long runs by James Pettyjohn — and with the subtlety of a bulldozer in other times - such as their 16-play, 84-yard drive in the second quarter.
The defense physically dominated, forcing turnovers, delivering bonejarring hits and knocking down both Columbian quarterbacks who prayed virtually every time they dropped back to pass.
“That’s giving myself too much credit,” said Hewitt when asked if this Chardon team best personifies what he was as a player.
Hewitt will be the first to tell you he’s blessed with a great staff that is galvanized in its mission and how to achieve that mission. He’ll go into battle with each and every one of his players like it was his own child.
And he’ll love his hometown like no other.
As Hewitt and the Chardon buses departed the school for the long ride to Brunswick, a trip around Chardon Square revealed a throng of townspeople lining the streets. They waved signs, waved their arms, blew kisses and screamed their approval.
“I’m telling you, I was crying,” Hewitt told the team afterward. “I saw little kids out there being what little kids should be - smiling, celebrating and being a community.
“Sports is a unifier, man, and you just bought your community one more week.”
Twenty-two years ago, Mitch Hewitt led the Chardon football team to this point as an All-Ohio player, only to fall short by the narrowest of margins.
He and the program get a shot at redemption on Nov. 21.
It’s safe to say if Chardon completes the journey Hewitt and his teammates failed on in 1998, he won’t dodge the ice-shower like he did after the state semifinal win.
It could be 20 degrees and snowing, but he’ll stand there and take it with a smile on his face.