Beal and Solis, brothers-in-law, are keeping the family pleasantries to a bare minimum as their teams prepare to play tonight.
View full sizeTwinsburg coach Mark Solis.It's been a light family affair for Brunswick rookie coach Luke Beal and Twinsburg fourth-year coach Mark Solis the past 51 weeks but the lines are drawn this week as each team prepares for tonight's Northeast Ohio Conference crossover football game.
Beal's wife, Stacey, is Solis' sister and it's the first time the brothers-in-law are coaching against each other.
"I tried to avoid Mark as much as possible this week," said Luke Beal.
Beal wasn't joking.
"Luke sent an assistant coach over when we exchanged films," Solis said with a chuckle. "It's a big game for both schools. We're an up-and-coming program while Brunswick built a strong program under former coach Rich Nowak."
Solis has a lot respect for his brother-in-law.
"He went 0-20 in his first two years at Galion Northmor, but stuck with it and went on to do a great job at Fredericktown," said Solis. "Luke's now coaching in a program where they just expect you to win and it's been so far so good. I'm happy for him."
While it'll be tense for both families -- Twinsburg stands 4-0 and Brunswick is 3-1 -- and a lot of Division I postseason computer points will be at stake, one thing's certain.
"My wife will definitely be sitting on the Brunswick side," said Beal.
Brunswick will be without at least three key performers tonight. Running back Tevin Jackson, defensive end Jake Maurer and linebacker Ray T. Brown will be sidelined for violating the school's athletic code.
Beal made no excuses.
"We'll coach up the players we have and go from there," he said. "We will move on."
Real Barnes-burner: North Royalton tight end Brit Barnes burned Nordonia's secondary for a 45-yard touchdown reception right before halftime to tie the game at 14-14, and the Bears ended up winning the NOC crossover game, 35-28.
"That touchdown was key," said Royalton coach Nick Ciulli. "We were down, 14-7, entering the second quarter but the crazy part was that Nordonia ran only one offensive play in the first quarter."
The Knights got a 93-yard kickoff return by Paul Ward for touchdown after Royalton's Logan Pearce sprinted 51 yards for the game's first score. Nordonia then grabbed a 14-7 lead on Donnie Eatmon's 19-yard run, one play after the Bears fumbled the ball away.
"It was a crazy game," said Ciulli. "We even had an offensive lineman score a touchdown. John Varro picked up a fumble and ran 9 yards for the score for his first touchdown ever."
Defensive rewards: Last year, St. Edward struggled so much on offense, it made life hard on the defense.
This year, the Eagles offense has been superb, and the defensive guys are reaping their rewards.
St. Edward (4-0) has allowed just nine points in its last two games against Cardinal Mooney and Inkster (Mich.). Coach Rick Finotti said the offense has been more explosive than they anticipated and opposing offenses are forced to play catch-up. Tailback Terrell Bates already has 10 touchdowns.
"We've been scoring three or four touchdowns in the first half, so that leaves teams with one dimension to do, and that makes it easier on our defense," Finotti said.
Two things St. Edward does very well is get to the quarterback and cover receivers. Outside linebacker Deonte Gibson and free safety Robbie Coury have been big in that regard.
St. Edward travels to Cincinnati Elder on Saturday for a game in "The Pit," one of the harsher high school venues for visiting teams. Finotti wants his players to turn that disadvantage around.
"We have to use that in our favor," Finotti said. "This team has created a great bond, and it's you against everyone in that stadium and everyone in that town, and sometimes that gives you an edge because you tend to come together more with your teammates and focus a little better."
Bad break: Highland suffered a big loss when junior quarterback Jerry Scholle suffered a broken collarbone against North Royalton. Scholle, arguably the best quarterback in the Suburban League, accounted for more than 2,200 yards in 2009. Coach Tom Lombardo said Scholle is expected to miss at least six weeks. Sophomore Austin Adams will take the majority of the snaps in Scholle's absence.
Finally: Lutheran West had reason to celebrate after ending its 13-game losing streak a week ago by defeating Brookside, 23-18.
The Longhorns (1-3, 1-0 Patriot Athletic Conference) had not won since the final game of the 2008 season.
They did it in dramatic fashion with a game-ending, goal-line stand to preserve the win. Lutheran West also had four interceptions and stopped three two-point conversion attempts.
"Our kids were absolutely ecstatic," said third-year coach Dave Geye. "It was huge for us because you could tell there was a lot of frustration and added pressure. It's huge relief."
The Longhorns went 7-3 in Geye's first season. Involved in coaching for 22 years after stints at Brooklyn and Elyria Catholic, Geye said he has never been involved with a winless drought like that.
"It was long," he said. "I'm glad it's over."
Schreck returns: Medina quarterback Jason Schreck got his first start of the season after dislocating his collarbone and responded by completing 6 of 8 passes for 100 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-17 NOC crossover win over Stow.
Both of Schreck's scoring strikes went to Justin Letts, who was under center while Schreck recuperated.
"We got another solid performance from [tailback] Jason Suggs," said Battling Bees rookie coach Larry Laird.
Suggs garnered 235 yards on 24 carries and a touchdown.
"Jason's got about 600 yards on the year," said Laird. "He and Letts have been real steady for us."
-- Bob Fortuna, Joe Maxse, Tim Rogers, Tim Warsinskey