by Olmsted Falls head coach Tom DeLuca grew up in Norwalk, Ohio. He was a football fan who idolized players such as Ronnie Lott as well as overall athletes such as Dan Gable. The former being one of the greatest freestyle amateur wrestlers of all time. Lott was a NFL Hall of Famer who is known as one of the hardest hitting safeties of all time.
DeLuca is no stranger to other gridiron as he played football in High School at Norwalk and then in college at Baldwin Wallace. He began his coaching career with BW as a student coach before landing with Tiffin Columbian High School. Eventually his path in coaching would lead him to the SWC as the defensive coordinator for the Westlake Demons. He was there for four years before taking the Head Coaching job at Olmsted Falls.
Deluca commented on his choice to go after the Bulldogs job, “I had been the DC at Westlake HS for 4 years. I wanted to try the head coaching deal and I lived in Olmsted Falls when the position became available. I thought this would be a good position for me to go after. “
Every good team needs a good rival and this was no exception. As the Bulldogs grew, so did a team and school just 3 miles down the road. In 2013, Berea and Midpark High Schools merged to take on the name Berea-Midpark and became the, “Titans”.
Being that the schools were just three miles apart from each other and both playing in the SWC it was only natural that a rivalry christened “The Battle of Bagley Road”, would begin. Bagley is the road both schools are located on. The Bagley Cup would be the trophy at hand every year as the teams battled it out.
Coach DeLuca talks a little bit about the importance of the rivalry, “Ever since Midpark and Berea merged this has become a very big rivalry. We typically do not do anything special to get our players ready for the game. They know it’s a big game and have been ready to go during this game. I think the location of our schools is a big factor in the rivalry. We have a trophy that we play for called the Bagley Road trophy. “
The rivalry began in 2013 with a commanding 34-0 win for Berea-Midpark. Olmsted Falls struggled mightily that year, only going 1-9 while Berea-Midpark wasn’t much better, finishing at 3-7. In 2014, the Bulldogs improved drastically to 5-5, but still lost to their rivals badly by a score of 35-7. The Titans finished 8-3 that year and made the playoffs.
After the 2014 season, DeLuca was still very new to Olmsted Falls but confident enough to realize they needed a change in style and how they ran their offense. Ohio High School Football was once known strictly for running the ball before many schools took on the spread and also hurry up offense. DeLuca was a firm believer that he could bring back the smashmouth style to Olmsted Falls and begin making waves in the SWC once again.
“After the 2014 season our offensive coordinator left and I was looking for a way for us to establish the run game”, said Deluca. “I wanted to be different then everyone else and I wanted to make it challenging for opposing defenses to plan for us. Our offensive line coach at the time was Carlos Rivera and he had a lot of experience in the triple option offense. As I was deciding on which route to go, I would watch and learn as much about the offense as possible. I would spend time watching Army/Navy games and trying to stop the offense in my own mind.
I would call Carlos with my ideas and ask how he would attack my plan. He always had an answer of how to attack the defense. I loved that about the offense. There was always an immediate answer in the system as to what the defense was doing. After a couple of months, I decided this was the route for us to go.”
So confident in the system was Deluca that they began installing it right away, not only at the Varsity level but all levels of the Olmsted Falls football program, starting in the youth football leagues and then junior high. This decision in itself is genius because it has the young men ready to go by the time they reach varsity.
The third edition of the game which took place that took place in 2015, stands out as one of the best versions as the Olmsted Falls Bulldogs captured a nail biter 30-27. There was magic in the air for Coach DeLuca and his Bulldogs as they overcame an injury to their all-time leading rusher in school history Spencer Linville to win the game. This came thanks in part to Noel Caroballo who went off for 200 yards in only 3 quarters of action, and then turned around and played defense where he racked up 17 tackles.
The game came down to the very end when an exchange of field goals went in favor of the Bulldogs late. Ricky Castrigano made his kick for the Olmsted Falls Bulldogs while Berea-Midpark Titans missed theirs.
Coach DeLuca looks back to that night and explains why it was a nice launching point for his program and the rivalry along with a promise that led to him sleeping on the 50-yard line, “I feel that night propelled Olmsted Falls football, during my tenure, to where it is today. There are so many great memories from that game.
They were a very talented team that year and we knew we were going to have to play a great game and stick to our style of football. It was a very physical game and we just stuck to our plan to run the ball and try to create turn overs. It was a back and forth game and was decided by both teams attempting field goals on their final drives.
One funny story is that I promised the players in the summer that when we beat Berea on our homecoming game that I would sleep on the 50 yard line. That night a bunch of players and I slept on the 50 yard line. That was a big win for us and propelled us into future success. By that time in the season the kids. “
By the time 2016 rolled around, both programs were running their offense on full steam and it led to a streak of high scoring games between the two. In the 2016 edition from Berea, The Bulldogs arrived to defend the Bagley Cup with a dominating 75-38 win.
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CHECK OUT THE BOOK ABOUT THIS RIVALRY, AND THE BEST RIVALRIES IN NORTHEAST OHIO HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
