Kirtland football: Breakfast tradition now a must for the state-bound Hornets

Nov. 30—Never mess with a winning streak.

Back in 2011 when Kirtland defeated Bucyrus Wynford, 42-0, in a Division V state semifinal game, Mary LaVerde — wife of head coach Tiger LaVerde — offered to make the team and coaches breakfast the following morning to kick off state championship week.

It was the first state championship week in Kirtland football program history.

Ever since then, Mary LaVerde has kept with tradition, making Sunday morning breakfasts for the team and staff.

When the Hornets defeated Fort Frye in a Division VI state semifinal at South Range, that meant another short night's rest for Mary LaVerde.

"It's crazy," Tiger LaVerde said. "She probably didn't think she'd be doing this 11 out of 12 years.

"Here's the thing. I'm superstitious. So she can't get the groceries to do that until after we win."

Not long after Kirtland's game against Fort Frye had ended, Mary LaVerde scampered off to a Youngstown-area grocery store that had late hours to buy food for the next morning. She was up into the wee hours cooking — and then also up early.

"That's like $300 worth of breakfast food," LaVerde said. "If we buy it early and lose, I don't want to get stuck with $300 of food in my freezer.

"The breakfast is fantastic. Hame, eggs, sausage, pancakes, cinnamon rolls, orange juice, milk. Oh, and a big thing of cheesy potatoes. ... Mary's still catching up on sleep. She's a saint."

No headgear

LaVerde differs from most of his peers in that he doesn't wear a headset on the sidelines.

While assistants Ryan Beeler, Eric Zeigler, Dean Morrison, Jeff Eckles and Rossi Santo wear wired headsets during games, LaVerde doesn't. And can't.

"This is my 20th year of coaching and I wore it one time," he said. "Never again. I can't concentrate. When I'm calling plays, I've got to get the formation in, snap count, personnel in — and you've got 40 seconds to do that. I can't do all that if I have someone in my ear talking to me."

LaVerde said the assistants communicate back and forth on the headsets and then relay to him if he wants or needs to know something.

"When I go to coaching clinics, guys ask me how I can do that — go without a headset," LaVerde said. "I ask them the same thing — how do you do it?"

Road warriors

The Hornets are practicing most of this week at Mentor's Jerome T. Osborne Stadium to get in some work on an artificial turf field.

But this is the last year the Hornets will need to go on the road to prepare for playoff games on another school's artificial turf. That's because starting next year, Kirtland will have turf of its own.

Work on the new turf-laden field will begin in the offseason. It will be called "Wilson Stadium," after John Wilson Jr., owner of AQUA DOC Lake & Pond purchased the naming rights to the future stadium with a price tag of $200,000.

"It's exciting," LaVerde said of the prospect of having an artificial turf stadium rather than the current grass field named Rogers Field. "It's a big deal. We can't wait."

Wilson is a 1980 graduate of Kirtland. His pledge to buy the naming rights to the stadium includes $20,000 for the next 10 years, with $10,000 paid at the signing of the agreement.

The report was first announced by OhioVarsity.com.

"John is a great fit for the naming rights of our renovated stadium," Kirtland superintendent Chad VanArnhem said in the Ohio Varsity release. "He is a Kirtland graduate and a self-made success story from years of hard work. Mr. Wilson is a huge sports fan and loves following the Hornets. I am very thankful for his generosity and support which will allow us to upgrade our turf and provide funding to our facilities and programs."

In the meantime, Kirtland is happy to have gracious neighbors such as Mentor to allow them use of their field to practice upon heading into state championship week.

"Our field is so wet and muddy, we can't do anything full-speed on it," LaVerde said. "We don't get a lot of reps there. Mentor's been great to us. We are thankful."

Kirtland vs. Marion Local

What: Division VI state championship game

When: Saturday, Dec. 3, 10:30 a.m.

Where: Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, 1835 Harrison Ave. NW, Canton

Records: Kirtland 15-0, Marion Local 15-0

Kirtland's path: Defeated Independence, 48-6, def. Hanoverton United, 48-6, def. Dalton, 33-0, def. Mogadore, 30-0, def. Fort Frye, 41-6

Marion Local's path: Defeated Anna, 45-0, def. West Liberty-Salem, 56-0, def. Versailles, 35-3, def. Allen East, 55-0, def. Columbus Grove, 27-0.

TV: Spectrum News 1, Spectrum app, OHSAA.tv; Radio: OHSAA Radio