Aurora football team qualifies for OHSAA playoffs; boys cross country moves on to regional
The Aurora High School football team qualified for the OHSAA playoffs following a 7-3 regular-season, which included a 5-2 finish in the tough Suburban League American Division.
The Greenmen finished in a three-way tie for second place with Tallmadge and Barberton. Aurora beat Tallmadge 31-30 in Week 6 before losing to Barberton 35-14 in Week 8. Tallmadge defeated Barberton 20-14 in Week 10.
Medina Highland (10-0, 7-0) won the league championship.
The Greenmen will play at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (8-2) at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28, in the first round of the OHSAA Division III playoffs.
This marks Aurora's 19th trip to the postseason, all since 1998. The Greenmen are 24-17 all-time in the playoffs, winning the state championship in 2008 and advancing to the semifinals four other times.
CVCA, a member of the Principals' Athletic Conference, or PAC-7, are 3-10 all-time in 10 previous playoff trips.
The Royals, who were part of a five-way tie for first place in the PAC-7, defeated Kent Roosevelt 42-9 in Week 9. Aurora beat the Rough Riders 56-13 in Week 7. That is the only common opponent.
The game will be played at the CVCA stadium on Wyoga Rd.
On Friday, Oct. 21, Aurora defeated Revere 42-7 in the regular-season finale. Senior Alex Tenorio rushed 18 times for 158 yards and he scored three touchdowns. He also caught a TD pass.
Quarterback Brandon Liepins, a junior, completed 18-of-24 passes for 279 yards and two scores, to Tenorio and Sam Retton.
Cross country runners advance to regional
The Aurora boys cross country team finished in fifth place at the OHSAA district championship at Madison High School and qualified to the Division I regional in Boardman on Saturday, Oct. 28.
Also, senior Grace Barto qualified as an individual in the girls race.
Junior Robert Will led the Greenmen with an eighth-place finish in 16 minutes, 49.60 seconds. He was followed by sophomore Zack Ploskunak (16:58.21) in 16th place, junior Thomas Ploskunak (17:31.90) in 32nd place, freshman Zachary best (17:37.57) in 34th place and senior Zachary Zabell (18:08.96) in 55th place.
Also for Aurora, freshman Nathan Eminian was 77th (18:35.25) and sophomore Nathan New was 86th in 18:53.87.
Solon won the team championship with 49 points, followed by Chardon (93), Mentor (107) and St. Ignatius (127).
The Aurora girls finished one spot out of qualifying as a team. The Greenmen were eighth with 193 points. Shaker Heights won the team title with 45 points and Mentor and Cleveland St. Joseph followed with 57 and 87 points, respectively. Chardon, Magnificat, Painesville Riverside and Nordonia were the other qualifying teams.
Barto crossed the finish line in 20:01.60 to finish 15th and advance to the Boardman regional.
Aurora's other runners were freshman Samantha Bucalo (21:17.10) in 35th, freshman Isabella Cicero (21:35.96) in 42nd, junior Eva Logan (21:54.70) in 51st, sophomore Sydney Langell (21:59.42) in 53rd, sophomore Gianna Previte (22:36.14) in 66th and freshman Brooke Palian (22:37.53) in 68th.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Aurora High School Greenmen sports roundup
