National Game of the Week: First-year St. Edward coach prepares for nationally ranked out-of-state foe in Mainland

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The good news for Tom Lombardo when he was named the head football coach at St. Edward (Lakewood, Ohio) in April could have also been considered the bad news.

The Eagles have emerged as a perennial national power over the previous five seasons with two Division I state titles — including 2014 — and a 58-9 record under previous coach Rick Finotti, who left to take the director of football operations job at the University of Michigan.

That was quite a stepping-stone and promotion for Finotti.

"One of the main attractions to come here was definitely such a great tradition," Lombardo said by phone Wednesday afternoon. "There wasn't a lot of tinkering and rebuilding to do. Not like the last time."

The last time was 2007, when Lombardo was named new head coach at Highland (Medina, Ohio), which had won just three games the previous two seasons.

Lombardo, then a St. Edward assistant, immediately had three straight winning seasons at Highland — a combined 23-11 record in that span — and finished 61-29 during his eight seasons, including 21-4 the last two years.

Coming in to rebuild presented its own set of problems, but expectations were minimal.

In Lakewood, an inner-city suburb of Cleveland, Lombardo's challenge is to keep the program flourishing at the top – no easy task, especially when considering Finotti had put together a Murderer's Row schedule for 2015.

Following Saturday's MaxPreps National Game of the Week at home against undefeated No. 13 Mainland (Daytona Beach, Fla.), the No. 25 Eagles (5-1) will have played their fifth out-of-state opponent in seven weeks.

The previous six opponents have been No. 1 ranked in either their region or state and the combined record of those foes is 26-3 (not counting the losses to St. Edward). All three of those losses have come at the hands of IMG Academy, the nation's No. 10 team.

"I'll admit before I took the job I didn't look closely at the schedule," Lombardo said. "Frankly, I knew little about our opponents. I was more interested in getting to know ours."

The transition has been largely seamless.

Lombardo kept 70 percent of Finotti's staff and he was already familiar with the school's culture.

"I knew what to expect," he said. "I've learned a lot from the coaching staff. I've been so impressed how focused and humble and poised the players have been."

They've had to excel in those areas because they graduated 12 Division I players from last year's team. They returned Indiana-bound running back Cole Gest (5-foot-8, 195 pounds), three-star cornerback Tony Butler (6-2, 195) and three starting offensive linemen, but the rest of the bunch had a lot to prove.

Defensive end Michael O'Malley (6-3, 235) has been very impressive, as has been first-year starting quarterback Jimmy Keefe (6-2, 195). It's led to impressive, tough, grinding wins over nationally or regionally recognized out-of-state foes Gilman (Baltimore) 14-13, Bergen Catholic (N.J.) 31-28 and Cocoa (Fla.) 24-14.

The Eagles' only defeat was 22-20 at No. 24 St. Joseph Regional (Montvale, N.J.) on a late missed 2-point conversion.

"The kids have shown they're smart and full of football savvy," Lombardo said. "We've shown we can win tough, hard-fought games. It's a mature group. We realize we have to keep improving. We can't let our guard down."

Especially Saturday.

Mainland is probably the fastest and most athletic team St. Edward has faced this season and features fleet junior quarterback Denzel Houston (2,783 yards, 34 touchdowns last year) and 3-star running back Adrian Killins (5-8, 175).

Defensive linemen Jachai Polite (6-3, 250), a likely Miami commit, and Kevin McCrary (6-1, 280) combined for 27 sacks last season and may be the most imposing one-two punch on the defensive front in Florida, if not the country. Cyrus Fagan (6-0, 170) is one of the best junior cornerbacks in the nation.

The Bucs have outscored opponents 251-76 so far this season.

"We'd heard about all their speed and all the big-time recruits they have," Lombardi said. "But then you watch them on film and they look even better. They really get off the ball. They're the real deal."