Sports Nuts and Bolts

Watch out for flying Buckeyes

Contrary to popular belief, I was not at the core of the recent uprising of Ohio State haters. I simply don't appreciate the way Jim Tressel operates his meat market -- er, program -- and I'm not one of those who can look at an average-to-good team and say it's awesome.

With that in mind, I was going to list my top 10 reasons why Texas will blow OSU out of the Fiesta Bowl, but I hate to have all the fun.

I'll start, and the rest of you realists and real football fans can add on.

And for those homers who insist that nobody could possibly play better football than the Buckeyes and don't realize that the world doesn't end with the state borders, go ahead and list the top 10 reasons why OSU will beat the Longhorns.

 Anyway, one of my reasons for Texas domination: Colt McCoy is a Heisman Trophy candidate. Ohio State has no one on its roster worthy of being a starting quarterback in a BCS bowl.

--Scott

Go, Bucks? Oh, nuts!

As a college football fan, I've thoroughly enjoyed this season.

There are a lot of really good teams, making for a lot of surprising results. It's been a lot of fun watching teams like Alabama, Texas and Texas Tech surge to the top of the rankings after beginning the season regarded as afterthoughts in the national championship conversations.

And when some of these teams have been at their best, they've been jaw-droppingly good. Did anyone see Bama's first-half performance against Georgia? Or Florida's first half against LSU? How about Texas Tech's first-half showing against Texas?

What's really been nice is to finally see -- or, better yet, not hear -- Ohio State fans gain some perspective. An early beatdown from Southern California, combined with a loss to Penn State and the terrific showings of other big-time teams, seems to have let the usually-idealistic Bucknuts know that this year's squad lacks what it takes to play big-boy football in 2008. OK, Chris Wells didn't play against Southern Cal. But would Jim Brown in his prime have made a difference?

The usual chirping about how wonderful the Buckeyes are isn't moving through the air this season, and to me the silence is golden.

But wait. Oh, yes, I have heard some complaints about a stale offense and a little bit of other negative commentary. Oh, my gosh. I can't believe that people are questioning whether Jim Tressel walks on water!

Oh, and this, too. I was looking at SI.com's bowl-matchup prognostications the other day. The SI folks projected a Fiesta Bowl pitting Ohio State against Texas.

As Keith Jackson would say, "Whoa, Nelly!" If any OSU fan needs further proof that other schools have scholarship-worthy players, he or she should watch this game if it should come to fruition.

The devil was in the details for Fostoria Redmen

Yes, last Friday night at Fremont’s Don Paul Stadium Genoa beat Fostoria High School 28-14, but there were a number of turning points where momentum could have swung in favor of the Redmen but obviously did not.

The famous Michigan football announcer, the late Bob Ufer, used to call it "digging in the iffy bag."

In the second half, with Genoa ahead 28-14, FHS’s Shaquiel Taylor intercepted a pair of passes. Taylor picked off a halfback pass early in the third period that gave the Redmen the ball at their own 22 yard line. But a quick three-and-out was all that resulted.

Then in the fourth quarter, Taylor again swiped a pass and returned it to the Fostoria 45. From there the Redmen drove to the Comet 34, but on fourth-and-six Micah Hyde was stopped 2 yards short.

A couple of sacks and a dropped pass also kept FHS on the short side of the momentum war.

In the second half, after the Redmen defensive coaches made their adjustments, junior safety Jake Solether came through with several oustanding plays. The 5-foot-7, 150-pound Solether came through with a sack, two tackles-for-losses, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup.

Six penalties also hurt the Redmen during the game, especially a personal foul call near the end of the first quarter. On the play Jon Ramirez had just stopped star Genoa fullback Greg Hillabrand for a 1-yard loss, but further gang tackling pushed the pile back after the whistle and the flag was thrown. The penalty moved the ball from the Genoa 43 to the FHS 42, and from there the Comets finished the drive with Marcus Vicars scoring from the 1.

After returning the ensuing kickoff to their 33, the Redmen made one first down then ended up having to punt from their own 35. Hyde boomed a 57-yard punt that left Genoa first-and-10 from their own 8.

On the next play, senior halfback Blair Hillabrand blasted off right tackle on a counter play and went 92 yard untouched to paydirt. FHS’s defense was crowding up into the box on the play and Skilliter got a great jump. Five yards beyond the line, he was well beyond all the Redmen defenders.

On defense Skilliter was a force all over the field; a menace looking for a place to happen. Skilliter made some big-hit tackles, broke up passes and pressured Hyde on blitzes from his corner position.

The Comets’ defensive scheme was designed to keep Hyde inside the hash marks if possible. Six-foot-eight defensive end Richard Wonnell, a junior, has surprising agility for a big man, and his huge wing span seemed to be able to harass the FHS quarterback. Junior outside linebackers Jon Lester and Hillabrand also pressured Hyde, and a number of times the Genoa defensive ends would actually slow down their rush just to ensure that Hyde did not get outside of them.

Genoa scored touchdowns on each of its first half possessions, and in the second half FHS could not get the game down to a one-score contest.

The Comets proved to be just as fast as their most ardent supporters had been pronouncing. And their wing T offense, with its excellent faking and misdirection, made the first half a nightmare for the Redmen defense.

Genoa is a smallish club with lots of talent and discplined defense. They come to "thump," and if your defense is one misstep behind, it’s "Good Night, Irene."

Chieftains stomp Mogadore

Hopewell-Loudon found the defensive effort it had been looking for all season Friday night. And it came at just the right time.

The Chieftains gave their offense good field position all game long and limited Mogadore to 128 total yards en route to a 30-0 victory in a Division VI regional semifinal at Mansfield Madison’s Ram Field.

Hopewell-Loudon (12-0) advanced to play Norwalk St. Paul in the regional final Friday night at Fremont’s Don Paul Stadium.

Mogadore (10-2) entered the matchup with a reputation of having a strong running game, averaging 260 yards per contest. But the Chieftains limited the Wildcats to only 73 rushing yards and six first downs the entire night, a defensive performance that H-L coach Brian Colatruglio ranked No. 1 for the season.

"To hold a physical running team like they are to pretty low numbers, it’s the best effort I’ve seen," Colatruglio said. "I think our (defensive) line did a great job of controlling the line of scrimmage and controlling the gaps. Our linebackers, Nick Steve and Hudson Smith, were all over the field because our D-line was controlling the line of scrimmage."

Defense kept the Chieftains in the game when rain slipped up their passing game, resulting in three incompletions on their first series. After the weather cleared, Chieftain quarterback Tyler Brown hit Andrew Brickner for a 43-yard gain that put them at the Mogadore 13. Four plays later, Brown tossed a 5-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Brickner for the first score of the night with 1:51 left the first quarter.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Steve intercepted Mogadore quarterback Chad White’s pass, which Wildcat coach Matt Adorni said deflated his team.

"They manhandled us up front," said Adorni. "They had a good defensive game plan and they flew to the football. They guessed right on some plays, and they shifted some guys around. No. 38 (Steve), they plugged him in after the (Tiffin) Calvert game, and he’s one of the best linebackers we’ve seen this year."

The Chieftains drove down the field in the second quarter as Brown completed a 16-yard pass to Miles Chapman and a 25-yarder to Andrew Brickner to set up a Jay Yost 30-yard field goal with 53 seconds left.

Although Hopewell-Loudon led 10-0 at the half, Colatruglio made some adjustments with his team’s running game to add more balance to the offense.

"We narrowed down our run package," Colatruglio said. "We had a couple of plays we thought we could get going. They were bringing a lot of heat, and we were able to sneak some traps through there and do some things to counteract their aggressiveness a little bit. That was huge in the third quarter. Once we get that balance going, we’re a load."

Aaron Kapelka looked like he was running downhill in the second half, as he racked up 98 yards on 13 carries in the third and fourth quarters alone. The junior running back powered up the middle and moved the chains to keep his offense on the field.

With 10:36 left in the third, Yost reeled in a pass from Brown and stretched across the line for an 18-yard touchdown and a 17-0 lead. At the 4:50 mark, Brown completed a pass to Andrew Brickner to extend the lead 24-0.

Then Steve tackled Mogadore’s Kodey Chance for a loss, which pushed the Wildcats back and forced a punt. Chance came into the game as Mogadore’s leading rusher with 1,196 yards and 13 touchdowns but mustered only 7 yards on 10 carries against the Chieftains.

The adjustments to the Chieftain running game became evident late in the third as Kapelka rushed for 30 yards on five carries, dragging defenders on his back. That culminated in a 19-yard fourth-down score from Brown to Andrew Brickner for a 30-0 final. Three of the times the Chieftains found themselves in fourth-down situations, they stayed calm and converted with plays to the end zone.

"They’re pretty even-keeled," Colatruglio said of his players. "They’ll just run the play I call. Some of them probably didn’t even know it was fourth down. They feed off Tyler and Tyler’s calm."

The Chieftains rolled up 323 yards of total offense as Brown completed 16 of 33 passes for 202 yards and four touchdowns. Andrew Brickner caught eight passes for 129 yards and three touchdowns, while Kapelka rushed for 112 yards on 20 carries. Miles Chapman grabbed four passes for 41 yards and Yost kicked a 30-yard field goal and hauled in three catches for 28 yards and a touchdown.

Chance and Jake McAvinew led the Wildcats with 34 combined rushing yards on 20 carries, while White connected on 6 of 23 passes for 55 yards.

- Tessa Sibley

It All Works Out in the End

This isn't to say others wouldn't do as much, but the Fostoria Browns Backers impressed me once again in the not-too-distant past.

You might have been one of those who bought a ticket to a recent Backers dinner to benefit Toys for Tots. The special guest for the evening, during the Browns' bye weekend, was supposed to be linebacker Kamerion Wimbley.

During the middle of the week leading up to the dinner, Fostoria Backers president Marv Bernal got a call saying that Wimbley would not be there, but wideout/kick returner Josh Cribbs would take his place. Not too bad, as Cribbs is also one of the team's "name" players.

It wasn't long, though, before another call came, saying that Cribbs wouldn't make it, but defensive end Shaun Smith would be on hand.

At least the courtesy was there to let Marv know ahead of time that another change had been made.

But when Smith's arrival time was 10 minutes away on the evening of the dinner and Marv's phone went off with a call that the guest of honor would be no guest at all ... well, that's why the athletes of today have the reputations that they do.

Bernal offered refunds to the guests on hand, but in an impressive fashion none would hear of it. The cause, after all, was to help out Toys for Tots, not necessarily to add to their own autograph collections. Some of the guests were Browns Backers members from chapters in places such as Mansfield, Medina, Ashland and Plymouth, Mich., but many were from right here in Fostoria.

All told, after expenses, the Fostoria Browns Backers were able to clear $500 to donate to Toys for Tots.

It could have been a lot worse. But the Browns fans wouldn't let it be.

Now it's time for the fans to head out to the Geary Family YMCA on Saturday to meet an all-time Browns favorite, former running back Greg Pruitt. The "Breakaway Kid" was one of the most exciting players in team hitory. He'll be at the Y from 10 a.m. to noon, and in addition to getting Pruitt's autograph, kids will be able to indulge in a variety of activities.

Do you still have your No. 34 jersey from your youth? If so, bring it out and let Pruitt sign it for you. He's one of the good guys out there. And we can be reasonably assured that he'll actually be there.

--Scott

An "F" in fan behavior

Just when you think you’ve seen it all in questionable fan behavior, you find out you haven’t. 
I grew up in southeast Ohio, a block from a football stadium. And since I am an older person, 58, I’ve been a witness to some pretty rude instances of over-the-line fan action.
Last Friday night at Shelby, Fostoria High’s football squad was warming up in its end zone, where behind the goal post and a chain link fence about 25 to 30 young people, apparently Shelby students, were baiting and taunting the Redmen.
The two groups were only that chain link fence’s thickness apart. And I walked over to listen to what was happening. The weird thing was the kids had all these white outfits on. Some were wearing bathrobes and others wore those white suits that are used when disposing of toxic stuff, like a coverall. It was strange because there were a lot of kids. There was a small section of seating there, too. So apparently that’s where they spent the game.
You see things like that at times, but this felt kind of different. I heard things like, “Go ahead, hit me with that helmet, I want you to!” It was obvious the kids in the white stuff wanted to provoke the FHS players into an incident. They were just too close for comfort.
But the FHS kids held their composure while assistant coaches Clayton Moore and George Tucker were in the vicinity, keeping a good eye on things. I felt that it put those guys in an odd position because I’m sure it’s not every road game where they’ve had to be in that kind of situation instead of just coaching their guys.
Then when the Redmen finished up and started off the field through the corner of the end zone to go back to the locker room for a pregame talk, some of the agitators hustled over to that area to run their mouths at the team some more.
It was just a nasty little scene. Those guys were trying to get inside the Redmen’s heads. People will do that, but these guys apparently wanted to start something to which a policeman — standing about 20 yards away — would have to respond.
There were lots of adults passing by and some tailgaters nearby, outside the fence. If one of the FHS kids would have responded to a taunt in the wrong way, a mini-riot might have broken out. But those FHS kids kept their composure a lot better than most adults would.
And assistant coach Mike Daring put it best to his players, reminding them ”we do our talking on the field.”
Near the end of the game, the Redmen’s Jon Ramirez interecepted a pass at the Fostoria 37 yard line and cut away from two would-be tacklers and was almost at the goal line when he stumbled down at the Shelby 6. A guy in the press box said, “Oh, that will haunt him for the rest of his life. Too too bad.”
But “upon further review,” you may look at it as Jon Ramirez’s finest hour. You see, the 6-foot-1, 235-pound Ramirez plays on defense as a nose tackle and on offense as a fullback. So, you know he’s going to be beat at the end of the game. Ramirez had spent the whole game trying to put the stop on star Shelby fullback Kyle Bailey. That’s kind of a lonely place in there, as the Redmen defense played its inside linebackers off the ball quite a bit and the tackles were wide, too.
Bailey ended up with 61 yards on 14 carries, so it was obvious that Ramirez did his job clogging the middle. He also came up with a pair of tackles for loss.
So at the end of the game, when Ramirez fell down on the 6 yard line, he turned to his back and spread his arms out in total exhaustion. He didn’t score because he had given all he had to give. But that was enough to win.
The more you see Ramirez play, the more you realize he is one of the keystones to the FHS team. He is what used to be called a hard-nosed football player.

--Bill

Football fairness and other questions

We at Sports Nuts and Bolts get a number of calls from parents of area student-athletes.

Some want photographs of their kids. Some want their kids to be photographed. Some want something else, like for us to intervene in a dispute with a coach over a playing-time issue.

Playing time is not for us to decide. Nor is it for the parents. It’s for the coaches to decide, though, by and large, the players are the ones who make the decisions through the way they practice and play.

Anyway, we recently got a call from a parent whose son plays seventh-grade football at an area school. This man claims that his son is not getting a fair shake from the coaching staff in two ways: one, that they are discriminating against the child as one who has a learning disorder; and, two, that they are allowing an eighth-grader to play on the seventh-grade team because the eighth-grader’s father is a recreational-sports-playing buddy of the seventh-grade coach.

The son of the man who called us does not play the same position as the boy who is playing down a grade, but “it’s not fair to all of the seventh-graders,” he said.

The athletic director of the high school of the district in question told us the eighth-grade boy is a first-year football player who actually began the year in seventh-grade classes and is playing with the seventh-graders because of low numbers at that level.

And that is perfectly legal, according to an assistant commissioner of the Ohio High School Athletic Association with whom we made contact.

“There is nothing impermissible about playing middle-school students on either the seventh- or eighth-grade squads,” she said in an e-mail.

“We would not put our kids into a situation that is not good for them,” the school’s athletic director said.

The allegations of out-and-out discrimination against the one child has the makings of an everyday he said-she said situation that we’re not in the business of deciding.

And in small-numbers situations at a lot of schools, it’s common for seventh- and eighth-grade athletes to compete together. Should that be the case? What are your thoughts?

MAL Showdown Looms

Last Friday night I got my second look at the Carey Blue Devils and their signature wishbone offense.
Since I work with a number of Carey residents, former players, guys with wives from Carey and a couple of referees, at my day (factory) job, there’s a lot of talk, especially as the showdown between Hopewell-Loudon and Carey nears.
I watched the Chieftains early in the year, so from what I see Carey will have to make use of all the weapons it has to get a win.
Hopewell-Loudon takes on Seneca East this week, while the Devils meet North Baltimore. The following week will be the possible meeting of two undefeated teams at Carey’s Wentling Field.
Carey junior quarterback Tyler Brodman is a very good faker and may have to complete some passes in the big game. Mike Dennis, the Blue Devils’ 6-foot-7 tight end, will be a logical target choice. Dennis pulled in a short pass against St. Wendelin last Friday, made a nice move and finished with a good stiff arm to turn a quick toss into a 19-yard gain. Dennis caught two passes for 27 yards in the game.
Senior Matt Messmer will be another key to Carey doing well in the game. Messmer is listed as a 6-1, 200-pound halfback, and after interviewing him after the St. Wendelin game, I can tell that he is all of that size and probably more. Messmer rushed eight times for 48 yards against the Mohawks. He is a good blocker and a hard runner.
Fullback Derek Stock is the Blue Devils’ bread-and-butter guy. Stock also plays defensive end and will have to expend a lot of energy trying to pressure Hopewell-Loudon quarterback Tyler Brown. Carey may try to have Stock rest a bit during the game while their defense is on the field, as I am sure he is likely to get about 30 carries.
Dennis will be playing the other defensive end and will be expected to get pressure on Brown, make him move and throw him off his rhythym.
An athlete who really stands out for Carey is slight (145 pounds) Cy Strahm. Strahm is a very good kicker and plays excellent cornerback on defense. He plays an in-your-face game, is a hard hitter and always seems to be around the ball — just what coaches want.
Hopewell-Loudon will attempt to use its speed to disrupt the Carey rushing offense. If they can do that and get the Blue Devils in second- and third-and-long, it will take Carey out of its game.
If the Devils’ offensive line can come off the ball hard and fast, Stock can get up in behind them quickly and pound the ball like coach Todd Worst likes.
But ... like the football geniuses always say, you can’t look ahead, you take them one at a time, there’s no I in team, we need to be agile, mobile and hostile. You could go on and on and on and on ...

--Bill

FHS Launches Shaq Attack

Shaquille Taylor not only was a big star of Fostoria High School’s win over Bellevue last Friday, nabbing three touchdown catches and playing great defense, but the 170-pound senior also showed he had a lot of Hardy Brown in him.
Hardy Brown was a famous big-hitter who played with the San Francisco 49ers in the mid-1950s. There is an NFL highlight film of Brown, a 195-pound linebacker, laying guys out with an educated shoulder shot right under the chin of backs and receivers loose in the open field. Brown never became a Hall of Famer, but seeing him in action showed he was some kind of Jack Tatum-like dangerous hitter.
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. Brown had a one great nickname too — “Thumper”!
And since I am in a digressive mood, there was another 49er who had the best nickname I ever heard. Linebacker Frank Nunley was from Michigan and was known as “Fudgehammer.” It was said, “He was a real sweet guy who hit like a hammer.”
In the couple of times I’ve Taylor play, he has come through with some tooth-rattling blocks. Against Bellevue, Taylor launched Micah Hyde on a second- quarter punt return with a crushing pop as Hyde made a 17-yard return and then was tackled out-of-bounds for a 15-yard personal foul call. Two plays later, Taylor pulled in a 24-yard pass from Hyde with 10 seconds left in the half.
FHS had done some nice clock management in that situation, using its timeouts wisely and forcing Bellevue to punt from deep in its own territory.
Taylor’s last TD catch, in the fourth quarter, was a thing of beauty as he secured the ball laying out near the end zone sideline, dragging both feet to stay in bounds.
Lots of people thought FHS would be in trouble against Bellevue, but obviously that was not the case.
“The last time I heard we were supposed to come out here and get scraped,” Hyde said. “But, hey ... I guess we didn’t.”
FHS matched up well against the Bellevue spread offense. During the game I made a special note of all the players in the Redmen defensive backfield because they were playing so well.
Junior Antoine Williams got a nice compliment from coach Grine in the game story. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Williams intercepted a Bellevue pass and returned it to the visitors’ 15 yard line in the third quarter.
Safety Jordan Bulkowski came up with a tackle for loss and grabbed six passes on offense for 59 yards.
Another junior, Jake Solether, played with enthusiasm, defending passes and making hard tackles. Add in Taylor and Hyde and that was where Bellevue’s passing game ran smack into FHS’ strength.

--Bill

Lakota gets bedeviled

Well, Carey remained undefeated by surviving its trip to Kansas, claiming a 25-21 win over Lakota.
The Blue Devils really like to pound with their terrific fullback, Derek Stock, lull you to sleep and then have 200-pound halfback Matt Messmer come sweeping around the end. Messmer broke off a 55-yard run at the end of the Lakota game to wrap up the win.
The Raiders showed plenty of intensity for the game, as they came out determined not to lay down against the well-publicized Carey offensive line. Mike and Chris Kleman had fine games, hanging in there and doing their best to slow up Stock and make big plays. Chris Kleman blocked a punt and Mike got a couple of sacks on Blue Devil quarterback Tyler Brodman.
Down linemen Nathan Gonyer, Austin Podach and Cody Allison played inspired football up front for Lakota. and believe me, it’s no small task to stand in there play after play while the Carey line tries to wear you down and the 215-pound Stock comes barelling in behind them.
Linebacker Jeremy Robbins also played tough defense for the Raiders. Allison got some nice compliments from his coach in the Saturday edition (game story) of the paper.
The Lakota offensive line did a good job of giving quarterback John Timmons time. When that happened Timmons was able to find some of his recievers open deep. When the Raiders watched the films, I’m sure they agonized over the one that got away, as Timmons hit one receiver in stride behind the defense but the ball skipped off his hands. Ouch!
Roger Guerra sat this game out too, with an injured ankle. When he comes back I think Timmons will have a nice set of receivers to hit in Jacob Smith, Levi Peeler, Jake Wiseman and Guerra. The Raiders may just be able to put together a good passing game against a good team sometime soon and pull out a quality win.
Lakota has enough athletes, leaders and tough guys to still produce a successful season even though they are now 1-2 now. If the Raiders can bring the same kind of intensity to the field every week that they did against Carey, it may happen.

-Bill