Akron native Tyrell Sutton made his NFL debut Sunday with the Carolina Panthers.

Sutton, a graduate of Archbishop Hoban High School and Northwestern University, rushed for 15 yards on three carries and had one reception for 11 yards as a starter at fullback. The New Orleans Saints defeated the Panthers 30-20 in the game played at the Louisiana Superdome.

Sutton, 22, replaced injured Panthers Brad Hoover and Tony Fiammetta in the lineup at fullback. Sutton, a tailback normally, gained nine yards on his first NFL carry. That rush was the first offensive play of the game. He also lined up at returner on kickoffs.

Sutton, 5-foot-8 and 213 pounds, signed with the Panthers on Sept. 6, but did not appear in the first seven games. He went through training camp with the Green Bay Packers.

“I thought Tyrell did a pretty good job considering he’s a running back and hadn’t even been in camp with us,” Panthers coach John Fox said in his postgame news conference.

Sutton was a four-year standout at tailback for Hoban and then led Northwestern in rushing for four consecutive years. He was named Mr. Football in Ohio in 2004 and is the all-time leader in rushing yards in state history. He is second all-time at Northwestern in rushing yards.

After Week One of the five weeks of football playoffs, here are my observations looking back and moving ahead.

*The Federal League rematch of Canton McKinley and Canton GlenOak will be a different game. The Bulldogs were the eight seed going into top seeded Toledo Whitmer and demolished the Glass City bunch, which did not surprise me, McKinley has found its swagger and I expect them to beat GlenOak this time.

By the way and for what it’s worth, I don’t think Hudson, the team edged out by McKinley for that eighth and final spot, could have won that game in Toledo.

*Massillon will be favored to beat Twinsburg, but I for one think Twinsburg can pull the upset.  Twinsburg’s defense must set the tone early on and stop Massillon’s running game and force quarterback Robert Partridge to run for his life.

*Just wonder how Garfield or Buchtel might have done in the playoffs. Something has to be done to get a City Series team in the post season with smarter scheduling and more home games.

*In Division II, Louisville, another No. 1 seed, was kayoed by No. 8 Columbus Marion-Franklin. One has to wonder if quarterback Bobby Swigert had stayed healthy how deep into the playoffs the Leopards go.

*Division III, Archbishop Hoban’s offense is killing them. They could surprise Poland Seminary at Uniontown Lake’s Blue Streak Stadium Friday night, but not if the offense is as bad as its been in big games.

Don’t be shocked if Northwest, a sixth seed, knocks off No. 2 seed Dover. I have Indian fever!

*One of the coolest stories of the year is Woodridge in Division IV. The Bulldogs put a whipping at Martins Ferry in their first playoff appearance in school history (49-28) and winning their first ever league title.  This team can light up scoreboards on on given night.

*Lest we not forget Mogadore. The Wildcats lone loss was to Woodridge and Saturday night I look for them to knock off Norwalk St. Paul at Medina’s Kenneth Dukes Stadium.

Hey everyone! This is my column that’s running in the Akron Beacon Journal Friday, but it’s posted on Ohio.com now, as you can see. Thanks to everyone who submitted votes for their favorite high school nicknames. If there are other crazy nicknames from out of state, post them so we can all get some laughs. Thanks again!

Archbishop Hoban senior Krissy Sokol recently signed an NAIA National Letter of Intent to continue her athletic and academic career at Walsh University.

Sokol intends to play volleyball and track and field at Walsh. Sokol leads the Knights volleyball team in kills, blocks and service aces this season.

The St. Vincent-St. Mary girls soccer team suffered their first loss of the season last week to rival Archbishop Hoban 4-0, and lost bragging rights for the year.

But maybe that was a good thing.

The Irish (8-1-3) rebounded to beat Chippewa, which was 9-1 at the time, 3-1, then beat Our Lady of the Elms 4-0. St. V-M was ranked No. 6 in last week’s Division II state poll and should remain in the top 10 in this week’s poll.

St. V-M is a young team but the Irish keep improving every week. They are led by seniors Erica Hutson and Nora Wisor, the only two starting seniors. Junior Kelly Fulkerson was a starter last year and junior Becca Bridenthal add experience depth this year to coach Rob Young’s squad.

There are five sophomores who have made strong contributions this year including center midfielder, Miranda Yeaton, Rachel Hutson and Sam Daugherty.

The newly-formed Greater Akron Girl’s Golf League will hold its first league championship tournament 9 a.m. Saturday at Mud Run Golf Course.

The schools in the league include Archbishop Hoban, CVCA, Firestone, Our Lady of the Elms, Springfield and St. Vincent-St. Mary.

Six area schools are enjoying being part of a new league.

Archbishop Hoban, CVCA, Firestone, Our Lady of the Elms, Springfield and St. Vincent-St. Mary are all members of the newly formed Greater Akron Girls Golf League.

The league had a preseason tournament, it will have a postseason tournament and will recognize an all-league team.

“It’s a great thing,” said CVCA coach Don Zinn. “Most of the teams in the league have never been in a league or they haven’t been in a league for a long time. In the past, the girls only had the sectional tournament to look forward to but now they have the challenge of playing in a league where you have six teams of equal ability to compete against. My girls are excited and are having a good time.”

CVCA has been led by sophomore Jennah Romansky, who shot a personal low 38 at Riverwoods Tuesday, sophomore Noelle Lewis and senior Margaret Burton.

Archbishop Hoban is 2-0 and will face a strong Louisville team Friday led by senior quarterback Bobby Swigert.

Hoban put together wins against Garfield and Walsh Jesuit and the defense did a nice job in both games of not allowing big plays.

That may be hard to do against Louisville (2-0). Swigert was 17-for-24 and threw five touchdown passes to five different receivers (Jeremy White, Jared Strasser, Cody Stocker, Lee Ferguson and Michael Schooley) in a big win last week against North Canton.

For the Knights to have a chance, they can’t allow Swigert to make big plays, but that’s easier said then done.

Still, Hoban’s defensive players have earned recognition and they are: Evan Luse, LaTroy Lewis, Steve Veillette, Ameer Hodoh, Matt Romero, Guiseppe Frisone, Rynell Parnell, Dan Redle, Norm Jesser, Ian Santoferarro, Nate Greczanik, Matt Romero, Kyle Brett, Pat Oborn, Anthony Arnone and Vinny Peterson.

Garfield football coach Bob Sax feels for his team, especially his seniors, after they lost yet another close, down-to-the-wire game with Archbishop Hoban (31-28) last Thursday.

What Garfield needs to do is forget about that game. The Rams have always been in a position to win the last four years but couldn’t make the plays in the end. Still, it’s about moving forward.

“The kids have kept their heads up,” Sax said. “We had two good days of practice and we just have to get ready to play a good Green team Friday.”

It’s still questionable whether Archbishop Hoban sophomore defensive end Greg McMullen will play against Walsh Jesuit Friday at Hoban’s Dowed Field.

McMullen, who is 6-foot-5, 250 pounds and already being recruited by a host of major Division I colleges, had surgery on his wrist this summer and didn’t play in Hoban’s 31-28 win agains Garfield in the season opener.

“It’s too soon but we’ll know a little more later in the week,” Hoban coach Ralph Orsini said.

Also, junior defensive back Kerrigan Cain will be out of action one to two weeks with a leg injury. “His leg is stable but he can’t do anuthing going backwards,” Orsini said.”

But Orsini is happy that junior strong safety Nate Gerzanick is returning. He suffered a broken arm recently but is cleared to play this week.