by Last October, a “Perfect Storm” actually happened during the High School Football playoffs. It was Friday night October 23rd, and I was sitting in a press box of another game, the winds of fortune began to blow my way. You see, while I was happy to cover the game I was at that night, both my heart and head was kicking myself for not choosing Medina at St. Ignatius.
Despite only going 3 -3 on the regular season, I knew firsthand just how great Medina was after watching them play and having several of their players on my podcast. Everything in me said they would pull the upset at Byers Field.
But as I said, the winds of fate where in my favor that evening. As a wicked storm blew through the area it cancelled and postponed many games in Cuyahoga County, but I was in Lorain County that night and they played on. What that means is simply this, despite my game being played in hurricane like conditions at times, the Medina vs Iggy was moved to the next day. What joyous news for this eager reporter to find out.
The first thing I did when I sloshed back to my car that night from the press box, was call the reporter who was at the Iggy vs Medina game before it got postponed, and gleefully told him he had Saturday afternoon off, I was now pulling a double, and taking that assignment! I couldn’t have been luckier if I bribed a bingo hall announcer, it turned out to be the luckiest break and one of the most defining moments I have ever had as a sports reporter.
Medina vs Iggy was everything it was cracked up to be and more. The Bee’s jumped out to a 31-13 halftime lead as the Wildcats had zero answers to stop the fast-paced high octane passing offense of the Bee’s. In fact, it was Drew Allar going 21 of 36 for 429 yards passing. Luke Hensley had 9 catches for 172 yards and 2 touchdowns in the first half alone.
The Bee’s had built an incredible 18-point lead at the break that almost felt like it was 81 points. But then, Chico said, “that’s about enough of that,” and back came the Wildcats. The Wildcats managed to make it 31-26 with under 5 minutes to go and the ball. A last second drive was thwarted and the Bee’s earned a safety to make it 33-26 and advance.
What I gave you was an overly simplistic view of game that was a work of art. It was a game that symbolized every reason I got into covering high school football to begin with and this year will be no different.
For Medina to win, punch their tickets to the Regional Finals and improve to 13-0, they need to do the following. Throw the ball and spread out the Wildcat secondary. It sounds simple and with the Bee 5 wide receiver set, it shouldn’t be any different then what they have done to teams all year. Normally the Wildcats have one of the best defenses in the state, but they have a banged up secondary and that may allow Drew Allar to feast.
Through 12 games this year the Bee’s have outscored their opponents 514 – 127 for an average margin of victory of 32.25 points a game. Pretty impressive considering most of their starters sat large chunks of the second halves. Allar has thrown for 3,761 yards and 44 touchdowns in just 12 games on just 393 attempts. Those are video game numbers!
His top six threats have been Brennan Schramn with 70 catches for 1193 yards. Ben Butler with 37 catches for 673 yards. JaJaun Jackson with 31 catches for 643 yards. Drew Hensley with 41 for 525 yards and Reid Kelps with 22 catches for 251 yards. And to think, I thought this offense would take a step back without YSU standout Luke Hensley who remains one of the most gifted athletes I have ever had the privilege of watching play.
The defense has been stout as well, the most points they have ever given up this season was to Stow, 27 all the way back on September 10th. No one has come close to that since and that is what St. Ignatius is up against. The Wildcats have to be smart with the ball, and cannot afford the turnovers they met with last year or they will have no chance.
The Wildcats cannot win a shootout with Medina, they found that out last year. They need to do what they do best and that is run the ball while playing great defense and special teams! Since falling to 4-4, the Wildcats have been on a roll with 4 straight wins. They are beating teams such as Mentor and Xavier in impressive fashion. St. Ignatius is playing the best ball they have all season and will need to keep it up.
Their strength of schedule is lightyears ahead of Medina’s “sos” and the Wildcats will need to lean on that big game experience if they are going to hold any mental edge. They boost a tremendous backfield of Marty Lenehan and Joey Georges. Marty went for over 1,000 yards this season on the ground and has been a force. He got hurt badly and knocked out of their game last year with a gruesome leg injury. I would have to believe Marty has that on his mind and is looking to have a monster day.
Joey Pfaff has battled injuries all year, but when healthy he is one of the best in the game. He has shown that recently with wins over Mentor, Xavier, Clarkson North and Stow. The hype may be focused on Allar, and for good reason, but you cannot question that heart of Pfaff either. Joey is a great kid, a natural leader and if anyone can pull this off, it’s Joey.
I’d feel better about picking St. Ignatius to pull off the upset if their secondary wasn’t banged up, but as it is this is too close of a game to pick anyways. I’ll simply say this, Medina is well coached, hungry and humble to go along with being extremely talented. But Chico and St. Ignatius have been waiting on this game for a year and knew it was coming for weeks now. Trust me, they will be ready, and if they do win, I sure as Hell am NOT calling it an upset.
Get your popcorn ready folks, this will be a classic!
