The best part of the first week of high school football is that every team is optimistic and believes it can have a good season.
View full sizeThe Euclid Panthers run onto the field Thursday before the start of their season opener against the Strongsville Mustangs at Euclid. Starting over.
That's the best part of this week, when high school football seasons kicks off in Northeast Ohio.
Starting over means running out of the tunnel, fans stomping, cheerleaders screaming, the scoreboard and standings the same for every team: 0-0.
As Browns coach Eric Mangini told his players before they beat Pittsburgh on a snowy Thursday night last season: "Don't let anyone label you as a person, a player or a team. Today, you can write your own label on that field."
From the pros to high school sports, those words hold true.
Hope is real from Glenville to Strongsville to Painesville to Brecksville and every school's -- public or private -- football team in Ohio. Thursday night, the season officially kicked off with seven area teams in action. It kicks off in earnest tonight.
Players, coaches and fans can talk of conference titles, state playoff appearances . . . and yes, even state titles.
And this week, just about every team has some dream that at least has a hint of reality. That's what it's like as you are ready to play your first game. For many teams, the goal is this: Make the playoffs, then end the season with a victory.
That goal especially fresh at Glenville, Maple Heights and Chagrin Falls. All three schools went to last season's state title games -- and all three lost.
Mentor coach Steve Trivisonno knows the feeling, a dream season that doesn't end with a nightmare -- but with a sense of emptiness. His teams lost in the Division I state finals in 2006 and 2007.
View full sizeAllicia Collins comes down into the arms of her fellow Archbishop Hoban cheerleaders Thursday as Hoban plays Akron Garfield Thursday in Akron. "You don't say it, but in the back of your mind, you know how hard it is to get there," said Trivisonno. "You know you may not get back. Instead, we told our kids that they knew the price to be paid [for reaching the finals], so our motto in 2007 was -- finish it."
That didn't quite happen in 2007, but the Cardinals did get back to the game. They really did come back more determined than ever to win a title.
"That's how we feel going into this season," said Maple Heights coach Todd Filtz. "We want to get back."
More than great players are needed
Filtz means to the Division II finals. Back to a march of 15 games in 15 weeks.
That's what it takes -- 10 regular-season games, then five more in the playoffs.
"Coach doesn't talk about it a lot, but winning the state title is in the back of everyone's mind," said Maple Heights star quarterback Shaq Washington. "We break our huddle saying 'state'. Before, we thought we could win. Now we know it."
Washington is a team captain, a University of Cincinnati recruit whose 3.7 grade-point average makes his coaches smile. When your best player goes to class and does all the right things, it's easier to get others to follow. It's also the type of attitude needed to be a state title contender.
It's a safe guess at least 50 area schools believe if most things go right, they could be this season's Maple Heights and Chagrin Falls -- two teams that seemingly came out of nowhere to reach the state finals.
"You really never know what will happen," said Chagrin Falls coach Mark Iammarino. "That's really true. Maybe we were expected to make the playoffs, but every week after that, we were supposed to lose. Every playoff win was gravy for us, but our kids kept wanting more. We won our first 14 games, just came up one game short."
Iammarino said his team lost most of its key players from a year ago -- and the Tigers were picked to finish fifth in the eight-team Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division this season by The Plain Dealer.
"We still have 17 seniors who played in that title game [a 37-7 loss to Kettering Archbishop Alter]," said Iammarino. "Four of our leaders -- Dan Driscoll, Alex Garnaut, Alex Forbes and Austin Garofolo -- are all linemen. When your hogs [linemen] are your leaders, you get the other kids to follow. They're big enough to scare the others into going to practice and being unselfish."
Iammarino laughed as he said it, but his point is coaches can't do it alone.
While Filtz said Washington is a key to his Maple Heights team, he also mentioned center Donovan Garner, a 3.0 student, as having the attitude needed to win a championship.
"You need more than good players," said Mentor's Trivisonno. "We had great leaders over the years, but in 2006, we had Bill Deitmen [now a running back at Case Western Reserve], who may have been our best ever."
View full sizeHoban students are ready to start the football season before Thursday's game against Akron Garfield.Mentor has never won a state football title, and Trivisonno said he talks to the junior high players about it. He thinks it's a realistic goal for this season, mentioning team captains Joe Kasper and Alex Hervey -- a pair of 4.0 students.
"People aren't talking about us," he said. "They talk about St. Ed, St. Ignatius and Glenville. That's OK, it keeps us hungry -- and being hungry is the key to getting back to the title game."
Some coaches fear complacency
Which is what Glenville coach Ted Ginn Sr. is telling his team.
"Our season came down to two points," he said. "We lost the first game of the season [to St. Ignatius] by one point, our last game by one point. Think about that, two points."
Glenville came so agonizingly close to becoming the first Cleveland public school team to ever win a state football title. The Tarblooders lost, 16-15, to Hilliard Davidson, a game that they appeared to have won.
Ginn said he has showed the tape of the final moments of that game -- pointing out penalties and mental mistakes that set the Tarblooders up for the upset. They have watched it several times.
"We are talking about discipline and character," said Ginn. "We need more of it if we want to get back [to the finals]. It takes character to bounce back from what happened [in the finals] last year. It takes discipline to say we didn't get it done last year, but we will be even better this season."
Ginn is proud of what his team accomplished and the pride that bloomed on the streets of Glenville for months. But the veteran coach also fears complacency.
View full sizeHoban's Ben Edwards (46) appears to be champing at the bit to start playing football Thursday as he stands with teammates prior to kickoff.He talks about the players being treated as heroes in the community, which could lead to them forgetting all the sacrifices it takes to make playoff history. He talks about the college recruiters who can bloat the egos of his players. He talks about national rankings, Glenville at No. 7 in the country by ESPN/Rise and 22nd by USA Today. He mentions state rankings, some having Glenville as the best team in Ohio.
He knows how great expectations can whirl together into a tornado of disappointment.
What leaders are helping with that?
"We have leaders," he said. "But right now, I'm not going to name them."
Ginn's approach is tough love.
"This is a real test," he said.
Every coach can say that. This week is a chance to see what all the practices and preparation has produced. It's a way for all the weights lifted, the sprints run, the blocking sleds pushed and the seemingly never-ending streams of August sweat for every team on every field.
"Really, it's fun," said Iammarino. "Let's face it, the games are what make all the work worthwhile."