by Diamonds in the Rough
Angel Jiminian and the Westlake Demons
Sean McNamara and the Fairview Warriors
I’ll never forget the night of October 15th as long as I live. I was privileged enough to watch Angel Jiminian put on one of the most dominant defensive displays I have ever seen.
He was in the opponent’s backfield on almost every single play. I’ve been covering sports a long time and have never seen anything like that at the High School level. It reminded me of watching vintage Lawrence Taylor.
Despite missing a couple of games with injury, he still finished the season with 19 tackles for a loss and 9 sacks as well. He is one of the most explosive talents I have ever seen.
When people go back and look at the Westlake season, their final record doesn’t tell the story of just how much talent this team has. They are loaded with talent on both sides of the ball and despite several starters graduating, I have full faith the Demons will continue to get better.
He is a perfect example of that, he may have flown under the radar, but I’m telling you right now, if he goes on to play college ball, he will only get bigger, stronger and faster. Trust me, you will want to write down and remember the name Angel Jiminian.
Another player that shined on a team with a below 500 record was Sean McNamara of Fairview. Despite being down in quite a few games, that young man never took his foot off the gas pedal.
That couldn’t have been easy to do as he played QB, DB and punted. He was on the field for 80% of the snaps, if not more than that and he never stopped working hard. Not only did he show incredible endurance, but he showed amazing heart.
Now, people may look at the term “rough” and think I’m knocking the rest of the team and I can promise you THAT IS NOT THE CASE! I use that term as a compliment quite frankly, these kids could have given up or just quit trying the first time something went wrong and they didn’t. In fact, one of the most fun and compelling games I covered all year was Week 9 with Westlake hosting Fairview. Every player on that field worked his tail off and never let up despite a long rain delay as well.
This just goes to show, that you don’t need to go to a premier Div 1 school, or have your highlights on the local news each week. Somone is still watching and admiring.
Yep, it would be nice for these young men to get some individual validation. They do all of the things you mentioned on Page 1, too!
Nice job with the coverage and recognition of each individual team. I’m sure it not easy and KeeOnSports had an outstanding season just like all of the GLC players you mentioned. Being a bit of a homer, I will say that I enjoyed your coverage of North Olmsted the most. I would also like to mention the entire Offensive Line for the hard work they put in and the effort they gave in each game. LT: Joey Wengstrom has the size, strength and athletic ability to play at the next level. LG: Christian Riggen, I’ve watched him play since youth football, hard nosed young man, very tough. C: Brandon O’Boyle, two way player this season and perfect with every snap. Cowboy strong. RG: Kent Albert, another one that I’ve watched play sports since he was young. This guy is the pure definition of gym rat. Strong, obviously, since he is the lightest Lineman I’ve seen. RT: Jacob Holtz, just a sophomore starting every game. That says a ton considering the competition in the GLC. He is going to be fun to watch next year. Fantastic group of young men and 3 of them return next year.
How did frankie boscarello not make the list when he is first team and a couple guys on this list are 2nd and hm