Kee On Sports Magazine Volume 1: “The Genesis”

Cover Spotlight – The North Olmsted Eagles

By Vince McKee

The North Olmsted Eagles Have Plenty Too Be Encouraged About After First Year In The GLC

By Vince McKee

After winning 2 games in 2020, the North Olmsted Eagles tripled their win total in 2021 with 6.  They had blowout wins over North Ridgeville and Fairview.  A hard-fought win against Westlake, and three thrilling come from behind victories versus Amherst, Buckeye and Bay Village.  They were never out of any game and proved they could hang with the very best of the GLC in their games against Elyria Catholic and Rocky River.

With Bryson Burgess, Sammy Capps and Logan Dangerfield just to name a few, they had plenty of weapons to run the ball.  Burgess would finish with 541 yards on 98 attempts while Capps leads our candidate list for Comeback Player of The Year with 304 yards on the ground as well as countless blocked kicks on special teams.

It also helped that they had a mobile quarterback in Xavier Balson who kept the chains moving with his legs and arms.  Balson had great targets in Jared Kelley, Eric Wasen and Brady Haug.  Balson finished the regular season with 379 yards on the ground, and his 1214 passing yards with 13 touchdown passes where top 3 for the GLC.

There’s no question, his biggest target was Jared Kelley who caught 32 balls for 465 yards and 13 touchdowns.  Kelley also had the epic two-point conversion in overtime to defeat the Bay Village Rockets Week 7.

Placekicker Gannon Graf was a sure thing with touchback after touchback, along with 33 extra points and 3 Field Goals. The Eagles also returned several punts and kickoffs to the house as well.  Perhaps best of all, most of the names I just told you about, are coming back!