Ashtabula County teams gearing up for the postseason

Oct. 24—Any coach will say it's difficult to win a game or match, let alone win a league title and reach the playoffs.

But after the gauntlet of 10 regular-season weeks, 448 high school teams have earned a trip to the postseason. That's more than half the schools in the state.

It can be debated if 16 teams in the 28 regions are too much.

One of the main issues is the postseason gets watered down with the amount of teams, and there's a fair amount of squads with sub-.500 marks.

On the other side, this will likely be the last football played by most of these athletes, so they at least have stories down the road about making the playoffs.

The fact remains these are the rules and everyone knows it from the start. There's no need for teams to apologize for their situation.

The playoffs will weed out the competition in a fairly short manner. By the time the state championship games arrive, the teams people expect will likely be playing for titles, although a surprise team could come out of nowhere.

That's why the postseason in any sport in an unknown.

Six Ashtabula County teams — Jefferson, Edgewood, Conneaut, Geneva, Lakeside and Pymatuning Valley — start their playoff journey on Friday.

For Grand Valley, Madison and Saint John — the Star Beacon teams that didn't advance to the playoffs this season — the building process continues.

The playoffs for all teams start on Friday. The second round is the next Friday, Nov. 4, before divisions are split and games are played Friday or Saturday.

Here's a look at the games involving county teams. There's a lot to unpack here:

Division II, Region 5

Lakeside (6-4, 15th seed) at Riverside (9-1, second seed)

The Dragons will look to bounce back after the tough loss to Edgewood.

Nate Bartone, who has played well for the injured J'Shon Sanders, picked up 126 yards rushing. QB Alex DiSalvatore threw for 152 yards.

Lakeside is making its third straight playoff appearance, counting 2020.

The Beavers have tallied 30 or more points in eight games this season. Riverside fell to Mentor 7-6 in Week 3, but rebounded to down two-time DIII state champion Chardon 21-7 the next week.

Senior receiver Jake Elly and junior QB Mikey Maloney are among the top players for Riverside.

For the season, Elly has caught 50 passes for 784 yards, rushed for 56 yards and scored seven touchdowns on offense, while accumulating 28 tackles and five interceptions on defense.

Maloney has thrown for 1,877 yards and 20 TDs and rushed for 455 yards and 11 scores on the season.

"Riverside is really good," Lakeside coach Buzz Edwards said. "They attack in all three phases. Defense is the best coached-unit we've played all year.

"Offense is physical and explosive. QB is the best player we have played against all year."

Division III, Region 9

Geneva (7-3, ninth seed) at Gilmour Academy (9-1, eighth seed)

The Eagles closed the regular season with an impressive 34-0 win over Chagrin Falls, which was on the cusp of reaching the postseason.

Geneva has gained 2,516 yards rushing and 34 TDs through 10 games. Three runners have more than 500 yards, led by Luke Smith's 902 with 12 TDs.

The Lancers have scored 28 points in eight of the 10 regular-season contests.

"Gilmour is a spread offense and a 4-2-5 defense," Eagles coach Don Shymske said. "They have good size up front and speed at the skill positions.

"Their QB Jake Kavcic and RB Andy Kavcic are explosive athletes. Their TE Will Lazzaro has size, speed and good hands. We'll have our hands full."

Division IV, Region 13

—Poland (5-5, 11th seed) at Jefferson (7-3, sixth seed)

The Northeast 8 Conference foes played on Oct. 14. The Falcons won 27-13, and that went a long way in Jefferson reaching the playoffs. The Bulldogs ended their regular season with a 35-7 loss to Struthers.

"Poland is a solid and well-established program," Jefferson coach Brandon Hanna said. "Both their quarterbacks can throw and run hard ... Cole Fulton and JP Genova.

"Daniel Nittoli stands out on both sides of the ball at running back and linebacker. We're looking forward to another great game with them."

Meanwhile, Jefferson, which is making its first playoff appearance since 1999 (not counting the COVID-19 2020 season) defeated Lakeview 27-7 in Week 10. Quarterback Grant Hitchcock rushed for 150 yards and one touchdown. He also threw a couple of TD passes.

—Edgewood (6-4, ninth seed) at Struthers (6-4, eighth seed)

To say the Warriors' 32-28 win over Lakeside last Friday was dramatic would be an understatement.

The county schools battled to the end and just one yard separated enjoyment for Edgewood and heartbreak for Lakeside.

The Warriors have taken their lumps this season, but ended strong with two wins in their last three games.

QB Tony Hall had a big game for Edgewood with 268 yards passing and four TDs.

Christian Cunningham recorded six receptions for 97 yards and two scores and returned a kick 69 yards for another TD.

Struthers is on a five-game winning streak, including defeating Girard 42-28 in Week 9.

In the win over Poland, the Wildcats rushed for more than 300 yards. Alec Grzyb gained 148 yards with one score.

"Struthers is a hard-nosed football team that plays extremely hard," Warriors coach Olajuwon Cooper said. "They're extremely physical up front as well."

Division V, Region 17

—Garfield (8-2, ninth seed) at Conneaut (8-2, eighth seed)

The G-Men are 6-1 since a 22-21 Week 3 loss to Warren John F. Kennedy.

Garfield has nearly 3,100 team yards rushing with 44 scores. Jesse Grace and Keegan Sell lead the way with 838 and 811 yards, respectively. They've combined for 25 rushing TDs.

"We are excited to play at home," Spartans coach Rocco Dobran said. "Our band, cheerleaders and community bring a lot of energy to our stadium."

Dobran knows Conneaut will be in for a battle.

"That energy will be needed versus a very physical Garfield team," he said. "They run the ball with Jesse Grace and Keegan Sell leading the way. They also lead the team in tackles as Garfield's middle linebackers. We are going to have to match their physicality and cause turnovers."

The Spartans' prolific rushing game has posted 2,632 yards, paced by the trio of Zack Rice (1,215, 16 TDS), Max Gleason (788, 11 TDs) and Wyatt Payne (584, seven TDs).

On defense for Conneaut, Ty Covill has five sacks and Payne five interceptions. Covill has surpassed the school's single-season record for tackles this season with 134. The previous mark was 116 by Anthony Nunes in 2020.

Division VI

—Pymatuning Valley (4-6, 12th seed) at Brookfield (9-1, fifth seed)

The Warriors have reeled off nine straight wins after an 52-14 opening-season loss to Ursuline.

The Lakers have had their struggles this season, but won when it counted in defeating Mathews 24-14 last Friday for the Northeastern Athletic Conference title. It was the Lakers' fourth NAC championship in a row.

Ryan Croston and Ty Vickery are a dangerous 1-2 combination in the backfield. Croston has rushed for 1,164 yards with five TDs, while Vickery checks in at 922 and 13 scores.

In 2007, Clayton Kirby and Josh Pilson both had more than 1,000 yards rushing in a season when PV assistant Jason Root was the school's head coach.

Root emailed other good information about the Lakers earlier this week. The win against Mathews marks only the eighth conference title in school history, which dates back to 1964 for football.

Conference titles:

—1975: GRC Champs Coach Joe Kearney

—1985: GRC Champs Coach Ken Parise

—1989: ESC Champs Coach Ken Parise

—2008: ESC Champs Coach Jason Root

—2019: NAC Champs Coach Neal Croston

—2020: NAC Champs Coach Neal Croston

—2021: NAC Champs Coach Neal Croston

—2022: NAC Champs Coach Neal Croston

Good luck to all the teams as they embark on their journey to Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, located beside the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.