2011 Year in Review

This week is a series of posts recapping the 2011 season.

• Part 1: WOBL Radio Games
• Part 2: Final High School Football Regular Season Standings
• Part 3: Final Team Power Rankings
• Part 4: Top Players of 2011
• Part 5: Top Stories of 2011

Here are the top stories of the 2011 Lorain County Ohio football season:

1. Avon goes to State The Eagles made their first appearance in the football state championship game and the first Lorain-County school since 2004. Using a passing attack led by Justin O'Rourke (3168 yards passing, 40 touchdowns) and a running attack led by Ross Douglas (1019 yards rushing, 14 touchdowns), Avon was a well-balanced team offensively. Defensively, the team allowed 16 points average during their 15-game season. Head Coach Mike Elder in five years has an impressive 47-12 record and will likely to continue to win as long as Elder is around.
   
   
2. Firelands is the only team in Lorain County to go 10-0 The Falcons were by far the biggest feel-good story of the year - making their first play-off appearance in school history. The team had nine returning starters (all seniors) on both offense and defense so expectations were high. Still no one would have guessed Firelands running the table especially given this team won only nine games over the previous seven years (9-61 record from 2004-2010).
   
   
3. Avon defeats Aurora one day after tragedy The Eagles defeated the Greenmen 43-20 on the day after Thanksgiving to advance to the state championship game. However, the bigger story was the death Aurora's Paul McGhee, a sophomore defensive end, who was killed in a one-car accident the day before when he lost control of the sport-utility vehicle he was driving and hit a tree on Winchell Road, less than a quarter-mile from his home. On Tuesday, the Paulie McGhee Memorial Scholarship Fund was established.
   
   
4. Three teams from the PAC Stars division go to the post-season A division not known for their strength (1-15 non-conference record in 2008) had a particularly strong year as Firelands (Region 9), Wellington (Region 14) and Black River (Region 13) all qualified for the play-offs in three different regions. Firelands made their first ever trip to the play-offs while Wellington and Black River joined the party for the first time since 2003.
   
   
5. Bad weather and poor field conditions Rainy conditions in Week 5 and Week 6 led to miserable evenings. Since only two county schools play on artificial surfaces, athletic departments were scrambling to make field playable the rest of the season.
   
   North Ridgeville was forced to play on the road at Bay when their field was unplayable for their game against the Rockets in Week 8. Olmsted Falls was had to play on the road at Avon Lake when their field was a mess for their crucial SWC championship game against the Shoremen. The Black River vs. Wellington match-up was postponed one day so 15 trucks of sand could be applied to the surface at Dukes Stadium.
   
   
6. Elyria has a winning season The Pioneers got off to a fast start defeating Amherst 55-0 and North Olmsted 48-0 in the first two weeks on the way to a 7-3 final record. During the previous four seasons from 2007-2010, Elyria was 11-29.
   
   The biggest difference this year was new head coach Kevin Fell. Already a Ohio High School Coaches Hall of Famer, Fell instantly made a historically irrelevant school in a bad conference relevant again. On the field, quarterback Dustin Stolarski (2805 yards passing, 26 TDs), receivers Demetrius Walton (54 catches, 8 TDs), Du'Juan Glover (45 catches, 4 TDs), running back Jumarr Lewis (12 TDs) all had big years for Pioneers.
   
   
7. Avon Lake misses the play-offs The Shoremen had their typical 8-2 record going undefeated in conference play and winning the Southwestern Conference for the 17th time in 20 seasons. However, missing was a trip to the post-season - their first missed appearance since 2006. Avon Lake moved up from a Division II (Region 6) to a Division I (Region 2) school for this year and was the smallest D1 school in the state (only 494 boys). Still Avon Lake accumulated 23 points which would have been enough to make the play-offs in each of the other D1 regions (#7 seed in region 1, #7 in region 3, #5 in region 4).
   
   
8. Elyria suffers food poisoning The game originally scheduled for Friday September 16 was postponed to Sunday the 18th when 38 of 86 players on varsity and JV squads were ill due to food poisoning centered around the team's potluck dinner hosted by the players' parents Thursday night at Ely Stadium. The Elyria Health Department eventually called the cause "suspected food borne illness" and ruled out salmonella and Norwalk virus. As it turns out the team did not dress 4-5 players for the game - none were starters and the Pioneers defeated Strongsville 38-21.
   
   
9. Elyria Catholic joins the West Shore Conference and struggles The Panthers had a transitional year: new conference, new coach, new mindset, new quarterback. After several years in the North Coast League White Division, the Panthers joined the WSC in 2011. Former assistant coach Mike Polevacik became the head coach replacing Ben Malbasa who left to go to Benedictine. Sophomore QB Jeremy Holley (1925 yards passing, 21 TDs) replaced legendary Danny Reaser (7288 career passing yards, 69 TDs). Things started well with convincing wins over Clearview and Buckeye but had a five game losing streak (Elyria, Midview, Avon, North Ridgeville, and Bishop Hartley) that showed the Panthers lack of size and depth. Still EC rebounded winning their final three games to finish 5-5.
   
   
10. Black River returns to play-offs Since the Pirates joined the Patriot Athletic Conference in 2005, the non-conference schedule has been Collins Western Reserve in week 1, Northwestern in week 2 and Akron Manchester in week 3. From 2005-2010, Black River had lost every game in their non-conference schedule and starting each campaign 0-3. In 2011, that trend reversed itself as the Pirates won their first three games (48-26 vs. Western Reserve, 55-19 vs. Northwestern, 29-28 at Manchester) on their way to making the play-offs for the first time since 2003 and finishing 9-3.
    
    Getting off to a big start was big but also was the stability at quarterback that made a difference. Dakota Kuntz was the signal caller all season which allowed running backs Andrew Vaughn (1675 yards rushing, 22 TDs) and Austin Phillips (1087 rushing, 14 TDs) to carry the load offensively. Injuries to the offense and defensive lines caught up with the Pirates and they were blown out 56-14 by Girard in week 12. Still a successful year in Sullivan, Ohio.
    

Best Halftime: Oberlin
On Homecoming night, the lights in the stadium were turned off and the band members wore LED lights on their persons and performed the show. This was the best halftime show I've seen ever.

Generally when the weather is bad and the field is a mess, the band will perform the halftime show on the track. Luckily, the band played on the field and the kids delivered. Given the choice of the Oberlin band performing on the field or save the field. I say have the team play on the field.