By Matt Florjancic
MaxPreps.com
It is not about the start. It is about the finish.
That may be true in most circumstances, but when it comes to football, the start is equally as important as the finish. With the weather in Ohio beginning to turn colder, it means the football season is underway.
Opening weekend in Ohio featured perennial powers facing off in the Northeast, while teams in the West began their seasons with dominating performances against local rivals.
The Findlay-Toledo St. John’s Jesuit game can only be described as a shootout. The St. John’s Jesuit Titans outlasted Findlay 47-34. In the game, Findlay had 485 yards of total offense, including 394 yards passing from quarterback Eric Gilbert.
The only trouble for Gilbert in terms of moving the football came when the St. John’s secondary claimed five interceptions. In an answer to those five miscues, Gilbert threw three touchdown passes.
On the winning side, St. John’s got the bulk of its offensive production come on the ground. Ian Gaston scored four times and rushed for 191 yards to help the Titans start the season 1-0.
This week, Findlay travels to Toledo St. Francis de Sales Friday, while St. John’s Jesuit hosts Columbus St. Francis de Sales. The Titans have two road games following the de Sales contest. They travel East to play Strongsville Sept. 5 and Toledo Central Catholic Sept. 12.
Olmsted Falls visited Toledo St. Francis de Sales last weekend, and the trip home was not fun for the Bulldogs. Olmsted Falls gave up a 90-yard interception return for a touchdown en route to a 17-14 loss. St. Francis defender Scott Loy stepped in the passing lane and took the John Atkinson pass the distance.
Fresh off the upset of the 2007 Ohio High School Athletic Association football playoffs, Coldwater opened defense of its Division IV state championship with a strong performance against Kenton, winning 58-19.
The Ada Bulldogs advanced to the Division VI playoffs on the strength of record-setting quarterback Zac Dysert and the spread offense. However, with the 6-foot-4 Dysert at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, the Bulldogs are shifting the quarterback responsibilities to Mitchell Faine.
Faine has many of the same receivers Dysert had last season, including senior Kyle Baker. Baker made several big plays on his way to a 1,600-yard season and first team All-Ohio selection.
Ada High School and Faine looked sharp in their first game with a 28-0 decision over Hardin Northern.
In the East, three big games were on the week one schedule.
The Youngstown Cardinal Mooney Cardinals traveled to Mentor High School. The St. Ignatius Wildcats played the Glenville Tarblooders in front of nearly 10,000 fans at Parma’s Byers Field Saturday night. Across the county, St. Ignatius’ chief rival, St. Edward played the Strongsville Mustangs.
Though fans had to make a tough choice as to which Saturday night game they wanted to see, no neutral observer left Byers Field or Lakewood Stadium disappointed.
The battle of the Cardinals featured Mentor, two-time defending state runner-up, against Mooney, who itself was a state runner-up in 2007. This year’s match-up may not have had the star power due to graduation, but that left opportunities for other players to become leaders.
Despite not having Ohio’s Mr. Football in quarterback Bart Tanski, Mentor beat Mooney 34-20. Mooney was without Big 10 recruits Taylor Hill (University of Michigan) and Michael Zordich (Penn State).
Mentor’s defense played well in the first half and did not let Mooney score a single point. While the defense was shutting Mooney out, Mentor’s offense was consistent, scoring a touchdown in each of the first three quarters and having a 13-point outburst in the game’s final frame.
Mooney will look to rebound this weekend when it travels to Fawcett Stadium in Canton for the Burger King Kirk Herbstreit Varsity Football Series. The Cardinals play in the 5 p.m. contest Saturday against Covington Catholic of Park Hills, Ky. It will be the season opener for Covington Catholic, who does not play a home game until Sept. 13.
The Mentor Cardinals head to Strongsville for a Thursday night game with the Mustangs to be featured on Fox Sports Net Ohio. This meeting is a rematch from Mentor’s 44-28 victory over Strongsville last season.
After not making the playoffs since 2004, the Strongsville Mustangs wanted to prove last season’s 39-0 win over St. Edward was a display of skill and not luck.
The Eagles spotted Strongsville a 21-0 lead, but fought their way back into the game. With less than one minute left in the contest, St. Edward scored a touchdown and kicked the extra point for a 37-36 lead.
There was enough time for Strongsville and quarterback Kellen Pagel to mount a game-winning drive. Pagel, the son of a former NFL quarterback, moved the Mustangs to the Eagles 34-yard line, setting up a field goal attempt in the game’s final seconds.
Strongsville senior Nate Freese got every bit of strength into the kick, but the 51-yard attempt hit the crossbar and fell short.
Unlike Strongsville, the Glenville Tarblooders came out on the opposite end of the spectrum. In a game that featured a 98-yard kickoff return from Glenville’s Shane Wynn, the Tarblooders needed a 30-yard field goal from Marvel Brooks to beat St. Ignatius 20-17.
With week one in the books, one question remains. How can the coaches and players follow up such an interesting weekend? How about with several cross-county match-ups and interstate games at the Herbstreit Varsity Series and Friends of Coal Classic.
Matt Florjancic currently works as a freelance reporter and sports show host for WOBL and WDLW