The Woodridge football team is one of the hottest teams in the area with a 6-1 overall record and a 4-0 mark in the Portage Trail Conference County Division. The Bulldogs secured home wins against Mogadore (52-7) and Garrettsville (42-0) the past two weeks.
I put together a story for the Akron Beacon Journal for this past Thursday’s sports section. Here are some additional comments that were left out of the story:
Woodridge coach Eric Ervin on the win versus Garrettsville after the score was tied 0-0 after the first quarter:
“I think one of the biggest positives to come out of last week’s game was the fact that we faced some early adversity against a very good Garrettsville team and our players responded to that in a very positive way.”
Ervin on the players that stood out in last week’s win:
“I think a couple of guys that stood out in the game were the guys that really gave us a spark to get things going. Our first touchdown came off of senior defensive back Zach Bickel’s hit on their running back. He forced the fumble and senior defensive lineman Brennan Owens picked it up and rumbled in for the score. On the ensuing kickoff, junior wide recever/defensive back AJ Graham came down the field and laid a huge hit on the kick returner that forced the fumble and junior defensive back Sebastian Dodds picked it up and ran it in for the score. Those two touchdowns in a matter of seconds really changed the game.”
Ervin’s assessment on Week 8 opponent Rootstown (4-3, 2-2):
“Rootstown is another conference team that is on the way up. They have had a lot of success this year and they are going to be another big test for our team.”
Ervin on his team’s depth:
“This is the first time since I have been here that we haven’t started an underclassmen, and we have never had that before.”
Senior middle linebacker Cameron Hilling on the crowd support at Woodridge:
“The student section is just crazy. There is about 10 guys that are wrestlers that are not on the football team, but they take pride in leading the student section. It’s kind of a small community, but the support has been crazy and we are very close.”
Senior quarterback Anthony Westren on the crowd support at Woodridge:
“I have never seen crowds like these before at our games. Both sides of the stands are completely full. There is not even enough stands for the people. There are people standing along the sides to watch the games.”
Westren on the parties at Hilling’s parents house that feature food and Gatorade:
“I think it’s really great our parents come and have fun with us. It’s a nice safe place where you know kids are not going to get in trouble.”
Westren on the playoffs:
“We kind of control our own destiny. We can’t overlook teams and look ahead. The (computer) numbers after week 10 actually mean something.”
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!
woodridge 32 ROOTSTOWN 34
Moggy cat – the spanking still stings , doesn’t it…….52-7
We will take 35 and 6 all time against woodridge, it was worth the loss the woodridge to see them choke so bad against Rootstown! HAHAHAHAHA OVERATED….
Mogadore fans are just scared because they can see the rest of the league catching up with them and they are not dominating like they did in the old PCL. This is the 5th year of the PTC, mogadore has won 3 championships which is very good, but 2 of them have been shared, which is still good but it shows that there is more parity in the new conference. If woodridge defeats waterloo, the best mogadore can do is share it again and they still have to play a very talented East Canton team who beat them last year and always plays them tough. Mogadore is one of the most consistantly good teams in all of ohio, but the mogadore faithful are becoming very sore losers because they no longer dominate and no one is afraid of them.