Lorain County Football Preseason Top Coaches

Here are my picks for the top high school football coaches in Lorain County:

1. Mike Elder, Avon – The Eagles have the most talent in Lorain County. Every position on the team has a star player returning. Justin O'Rourke can be every bit of a QB like his older brother Ryan. Cory Furnas can be every bit of dominating LB like his older brother Patrick.
   
   
2. Mike Polevacik, Elyria Catholic – Coach Polo feels he was hired as the new head coach because he wants the team to return to the EC tradition of tough, attitude, hard-nosed football as opposed to the fun-n-gun style under Ben Malbassa. Team will still throw the ball a lot because they have a QB with an arm to do it.
   
   Polevacik will need to find the next Danny Reaser (Jeremy Holley), Zach Rogers (James Baker) and Cory Campbell (Joe Dempsey). He will have to deal with the sanctions the program received by the Ohio High School Athletic Association last season for recruiting violations. The Panthers are also moving to the West Shore Conference from the North Coast Conference.
   
   
3. Mark Solis, Lorain – the Titans will be the county most improved team in 2011. Coach Solis has been a winner everywhere he has been including Ashland Crestview from 1999-2004 (42-11, two play-off appearances), Elyria from 2005-2007 (20-12, one trip to play-offs) and Twinsburg from 2008-2010 (32-14, three appearances). If Solis can win at Elyria, he can win at Lorain.
   
   Lorain QB Collin Bryant could be the most improved player in the county. Solis has also been a developer of quarterbacks and his offense has been successful in Division 1 (94-37 career record) and now he brings his program to Lorain with where he'll have twice as many kids as he had at Twinsburg.
   
   
4. Dave Dlugosz, Avon Lake – The Shoremen have won so many games for so long that you just take Dlugosz for granted. Team depth will be tested early and a lot of players will be playing under the lights for the first time. If Dlugosz gets Avon Lake in the play-offs this year now in Division 1, Region 2, it will be one of his better coaching jobs.
   
   
5. 
   Kevin Fell, Elyria – Like Mark Solis, Kevin Fell is another coach that has had success wherever he has gone. Like Mark Solis, Kevin Fell takes over at a school that is historically irrelevant and plays in a bad conference. Like Mark Solis, Kevin Fell is a huge win for the school and the city. Fell has a career record of 234-111-2 and has been to the playoffs with every team he's coached and was inducted into the Ohio High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 2008. He is the only Lakewood football coach to consistently beat St. Edward.
   
   Fell inherits an offense with quarterback Dustin Stolarski, tailback Jumarr Lewis, OL Tad France and wideouts Demetrius Walton and Myles Tyler all returning. The Pioneer defense was horrible last year despite having D-1 defensive player of the year, Chase Ferris.
   
   
6. Mike Collier, Clearview –Like Dlugosz, Collier is another coach that has produced a winning team every year yet doesn't seem to receive any recognition. The Clippers return just 7 starters from a 2010 team that went 7-3. Add to the fact that Collier is going to start a Freshman at quarterback. Look for the trio of Chad Anderson, Matt Jordan and Josh Molina to carry the load.