High School Football Playoff Schedule

Note: These are probable playoff matchups according to www.joeeitel.com and the matchups have changed several times on Saturday, which means they might be different on the website on Sunday. Official OHSAA playoff pairings will be released Monday.

Friday’s Games
(All games 7:30 p.m., unless noted)

Division II, Region 5
Firestone (7-3) at Tallmadge (9-1)

Division II, Region 7
Lake (7-3) at Louisville (8-2)

Division III, Region 9
Field (9-1) at Walsh Jesuit (8-1)
Cortland Lakeview (8-2) at Aurora (9-1)
Ravenna (8-2) at Mentor Lake Catholic (6-3)

Divison III, Region 11
Poland Seminary (7-3) at Northwest (10-0)
New Concord John Glenn (8-2) at West Branch (8-2)
Canton South (6-4) at Dover (7-3)

Divison V, Region 17
Northwestern (9-1) at Waynedale (8-2)

Saturday’s Games
(All games 7 p.m., unless noted)

Division I, Region 2
GlenOak (6-4) at Brunswick (10-0)
Toledo St. John’s Jesuit (6-4) at North Canton Hoover (8-2)
Perrysburg (8-2) at Nordonia (9-1)
Wadsworth (9-1) at Toledo Whitmer (8-2)

Division IV, Region 13
CVCA (9-1) at Stuebenville (10-0)
Tusky Valley (8-2) at Canton Central Catholic (9-1)
Lake Co. Perry (9-1) at St. Vincent-St. Mary (8-2)

Division VI, Region 21
Columbiana (7-3) at Mogadore (9-1)

Here is some cross country analysis as leagues/conferences hold their championship meets and the state championships approach.

Louisville senior Kyle Kling and Medina junior Donny Roys have each been impressive runners this season, but there are still several teams that have a good collection of talent and other individuals that are having success.

The cross country teams at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy and Woodridge are two examples of squads that have consistently fared well at invitationals this season, in addition to Louisville, Medina, North Canton Hoover Green, Jackson, Louisville, Hudson, Crestwood, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Vincent-St. Mary and Walsh Jesuit.

CVCA and Woodridge have front-end talent and depth that make them a contender at each meet.

CVCA has been led by juniors Katie Gillespie and Kyle Sullinger. The girls and boys teams each placed first recently at the Legends Meet at the Trumbull County Fairgrounds.

Gillespie and junior Carolyn Case have paced the Royals girls squad with freshmen Joy Talbott, Irene Frangos and Hannah Lyons also being key contributors. The girls team placed first in September at the Division II Boardman Spartan Invitational.

Sullinger and sophomores Ross Crocker and Mark Talbott have paced the Royals boys squad.

The Woodridge girls’ squad was second to CVCA at Boardman. The Bulldogs have been led by juniors Emily Sabo, Erin Mercer and sophomore Becca Howdyshell.

The Woodridge boys’ team won the Division II Boardman Spartan Invitational in September behind senior Brian Himelright, who placed first. The Bulldogs have also received significant contributions from juniors Michael Rhodes and Joe White, seniors Tony Marette and Matthew Weiss and freshmen Jimmy Charles and Vibus Sivakumaran.

This Saturday several leagues will be holding their championship. The City Series and Suburban League will be running at Goodyear Metro Park in Akron.

The Firestone boys will look to defend their title after winning the past four titles and five out of the past six. The Ellet girls will look to win the title for a sixth season in a row.

Coach Keith Dambrot has added another local talent to the University of Akron men’s basketball team.

Rydell Brooks, a 2006 Buchtel High School graduate, has transferred from Niagara University to the University of Akron and is a member of the Zips men’s basketball team, UA Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations Gregg Bach said.

Bach said Brooks will have to sit out the 2007-08 season and will be eligible to play at UA the following three seasons. Brooks is currently a walk-on.

Brooks, a 6-foot-2 and 190-pound guard, led Buchtel to three consecutive City Series championships. He was selected as the City Series Player of the Year his junior and senior years and was a Division II second-team all-Ohio pick as a senior.

Brooks averaged 27.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.8 steals during his senior campaign as the Griffins leader.

He helped Niagara win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament championship as a freshman. Niagara went 23-12 and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. The Purple Eagles won 12 consecutive games, including the a win over Florida A&M in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Kansas.

Brooks played in all 35 games with 30 starts. He averaged 4.7 points in 18 minutes per game.

The addition of Brooks gives the Zips six area high school graduates on the roster: Tim Carroll (CVCA), Eric Coblentz (Lake), Nick Goddard (Wadsworth), Andrew Moss (Copley), Jeremiah Wood (Central-Hower) and Brooks.

UA went 26-7 last season, winning the Mid-American Conference East Division title and losing in the MAC Tournament championship game. The Zips must replace standouts Romeo Travis and Dru Joyce III, a pair of 2003 St. Vincent-St. Mary graduates, that were key players for four years.

Photo courtesy of Niagra University athletics

Rydell Brooks

Junior Ben Speas will not be playing on the Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy soccer team this season because he was named to the U.S. U-17 National team in Bradenton, Fla., CVCA coach Jason Spodnik said.

Speas is in a pool of 40 players who train in Brandenton and attend IMG Academy. Spodnik said Speas could return to CVCA for his senior year.

Speas, a 5-foot-7, 145-pound midfielder who earned first-team all-district honors last fall, had eight goals and 12 assists for CVCA (17-2-1) as a sophomore.

He then played for the U-17 National team. His biggest achievement in an American uniform came April 27 in Larne, Northern Ireland, when he scored a goal against Israel in a 5-1 U.S. win.

Spodnik said a player of Speas’ caliber will be hard to replace in the Royals lineup.

Wrestling star Harry Lester continues to prove that he’s one of the most dominant athletes to come out of the Beacon Journal’s coverage area.

Lester, an Akron native and Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy graduate, won a gold medal in his first Pan American Games on July 24, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Lester, a four-time Ohio high school state champion at CVCA from 1998 to 2001, lifted Anyelo Mota of the Dominican Republic in the air and slammed him onto his back for a first-period fall in the finals of 145.5-pound weight class in the Greco-Roman style.

It has been a good summer for Lester.

On June 10, Lester earned a spot on the U.S. World Team for the third consecutive year by winning a title at 145.5 pounds in the Greco-Roman style at the U.S. World Team Trials in Las Vegas. Lester, who won a World bronze medal in 2006, will get another shot at gold at the World Championships, which will be Sept. 17-23 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

If you know wrestling, you know that Lester is a favorite to win gold in the 2008 Olympics. What do you think of his recent success? Do you think he’s one of the most dominant area athletes to come our of the Akron area in the past 10 years? I do. If he wins a gold medal in 2008 and LeBron James doesn’t win a title by then, is it fair to say he could pass James in the category of dominant local athletes?

Harry Lester, a former wrestling star at CVCA, made the U.S. World Team for the third consecutive year.

Lester, who won four high school state championships from 1998 to 2001, won a Greco-Roman title at 145.5 pounds on June 10 at the U.S. World Team Trials in Las Vegas.

Lester, a 2006 World bronze medalist, will get a chance to vie for a gold medal at the World Championships on Sept. 17-23 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

“The next couple of months, I have to train my butt off, get myself prepared and go get a gold medal,” Lester said.

Look for a feature story about Lester to appear in the Beacon Journal in the near future.