Game Notes - Week 13. Solon vs. Glenville

Solon Football, November 18, 2009 2:04 p.m.

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THE GAME…
This is the fourth meeting between Solon and Glenville in the history of the two schools. Both teams will compete for a chance to play in the Division 1 OHSAA State Semi-Finals against the winner of Region 2.
Preston White serves as the Byers Field Game Manager and can be reached at 440-885-8318.

BACK AT BYERS FOR REGIONAL FINAL.
The Solon Comets and Glenville Tarblooders will play for the fourth time in school history on Saturday night at Byers Field at Boulton Stadium in Parma. Solon returns to Byers Field in Week 13 after beating Mayfield in overtime there last week. Glen-ville enters the Regional Final game after a 30-13 win over St. Ignatius at Lakewood Stadium. The Tarblooders are 11-1 overall and finished the regular season with a 7-0 record against teams in the Cleveland Senate League.

COMETS CONTINUE
Last Saturday night the Solon Comets secured their twelfth win of the season against the Mayfield Wildcats, in overtime, by a score of 13-10. The Comets’ de-fense was dominate yet again, and Kicker Kevin Hicks tied the game at 10 with a fourth quarter field goal. Hicks’ field goal in overtime ended up being the game winner, sending the Comets back to Solon ready to prepare for the school’s fifth appearance in the Regional Finals.

NOT SO EASY FOR UNBEATENS
Across 6 divisions and 24 regions, 192 teams entered the 2009 post season and 30 of those 192 entered with 10-0 records; the Solon Comets being one of those 30. After the second round of the playoffs, only 16 teams stand at 12-0 in the state. Division I lost one of its four undefeated teams as Glenville beat St. Ignatius. Each team in Division II that is currently playing has suffered at least one loss this season. Two undefeated teams are still alive in Division III, while three are still playing in Division IV, and four are playing in Division V. Two Regional Final games in Division VI feature undefeated teams going up against each other. Wynford and Norwalk St. Paul, and Delphos St. John’s and Ada will play for their thir-teenth wins of the season and Regional titles on Saturday night. Along with the battles of the un-beaten in Division VI, Clinton Massie and Kettering Alter will fight to remain undefeated in Divi-sion IV while Fredericktown and Ridgewood will do the same in Division V.

TARBLOODERS ARE TOUGH TEST
Saturday night’s Division 1, Region 1 final between Solon and Glenville will be a sight for all to see. Week 13 marks the second time the two teams will play, since 2003. In 2005, Solon and Glenville squared off at Cleveland Browns Sta-dium in a Region 1 Semifinal game. A close contest through three quarters, Glenville pulled away and advanced to week 13 by a score of 34-14. Last week, Glenville played St. Ignatius for the second time in 2009, beating the undefeated Wildcats. The Solon Comets know that in order to get to the State Semifinals you must play and beat good teams like Glenville and each week is a different challenge. “Our defense has been dominate in the playoffs just like they have been all year. We need to continue to get better, especially on the offensive side of the ball,” said Head Coach Jim McQuaide. “Glenville has had tremendous success in Northeast Ohio as of late and we need to work extremely hard this week to prove we can advance to the State Semifinals.”

ACADEMIC SUCCESS
The Solon Comets have shown in 2009 that success is attained both on and off the field. Not only are the Comets entering the Regional Finals with a 12-0 record, 67 players have finished the first grading period of the 2009-2010 academic year with a 3.0 or higher grade point average. Congratulations to these players for their success, hard work, and dedication to their team and school.

DEFENSE DRIVES COMETS IN PLAYOFFS
So far in the post season, the Solon Comets defense has led the way in securing wins to advance the Com-ets in the tournament and allow the team to play for a Regional title against Glenville on Saturday night. Tony Davidson leads the defensive unit with 86 total tackles (54 assists, 22 solos, 10 tackles for loss) and one fum-ble recovery. Overall the Comets have held their oppo-nents scoreless in 31 out of 49 (63%) total quarters/overtime periods played in 2009. Through 12 games, the Comets have given up 16 touch-downs and an average of only 10 points per game. The Solon defense has recovered 28 opponent turnovers (16 interceptions, 12 fumble re-coveries) this season and averages 2 turnovers per game.
Last week against Mayfield, the Comets forced 3 turn-overs (1 interception, 2 fumble recoveries) in the first quarter and held Mayfield scoreless in 2 quar-ters and 1 overtime period. After Mayfield scored their only touchdown with 7:44 to go in the 3rd quarter, Defensive Coordina-tor Ed Bubonics’ squad only gave up 1 first down the rest of the game.

NORTHEAST OHIO CONFERENCE ALL-STARS—ALL LEAGUE SELECTIONS
Player of the Year—Offense: Jake Voigt
Player of the Year—Defense: Darryl Baldwin
First Team: Tres Barksdale, Kevin Berlocker, Kyle Hammonds, Chris Humphrey, Brandon Nelli,
Cameron Stuart, Donald Williams
Honorable Mention: Joshua Cobble, Juan Lemus

DUNKIN DONUTS SALUTES COMETS
When the Comets are preparing to play in the post season, the Dunkin Donuts on Rt. 91 in Solon is busy changing their menu. No longer are custom-ers ordering a chocolate glazed or jelly filled donut on S.O.M. Center Road. Now, it’s a ’Max Branstetter,’ ’Jeremy Paul,’ or even a ’Ray Hallman.’ Each year, when the Comets clinch another playoff berth, the donut shop features the senior football players and trainers as names for the donuts. Support the Comets and Dunkin Donuts by ordering a football senior donut throughout the OHSAA Football Playoffs!

AP PUTS COMETS THIRD
To finish the 2009 season, the Associated Press ranked the Solon Comets third in Division 1. Finishing behind 11-1 St. Ignatius and 12-0 Dublin Coffman, the Comets cap-tured 205 total votes. Solon returns to the AP Poll after being absent since 2007.

CHEERING THE WAY TO VICTORY
While the Comets are excelling on the football field, the Solon Cheerleaders are busy making sure the fans are supporting the team throughout the entire game. This year’s Cheerleaders are led by seniors Morgan Edelman, Jamie Collins, Rachel Bell, and Jaime Yamanaka. The varsity squad is comprised of twelve girls who practice twice a week for two hours. Each practice is full of excitement, as the girls are busy preparing cheers and chants for Friday nights, getting ready for competitions, and making signs and banners to sup-port the team. The Cheer-leaders are competing for the first time in 2009 at Me-dina High School on Mon-day, November 2nd.
The entire football team would like to congratulate Coach Kristen Smaltz and the 2009 Solon Cheerleaders on an excellent season. Thank you for your superb efforts and support each week!

MARCHING EXCELLANCE
On Wednesday, November 4th, the Solon High School Marching Band pre-sented their annual Pigskin Review at 7:00p in the Solon High School Audito-rium. The band played all of their music from the 2009 football season and honored their senior members. The Solon Football Program would like to con-gratulate the Solon High School Marching Band on an excellent season. Their support and enthusiasm each week is greatly appreciated!

AWESOME ADMINISTRATORS
The Solon Football Players and Coaches would like to thank the Administration of Solon High School and the Solon City Schools for all of their support throughout the season. Every day their example of leadership and Solon Pride challenges us to be better men and allows us to be successful on Friday Nights. Thank you for all that you do to allow us to “Maximize our Talent.”

SPECIAL THANKS
As we conclude the 2009 regular season, the Solon Football Program would like to take this opportunity to thank the following individuals for their help and assistance with these weekly Game Notes: Kathy McQuaide, Mark McGuire, Jim Paradise, Tony Sanson, Brynt Sines, Bob Fortuna, Kristen Davis, Mike Conley, Ed Kline, Rob Luce, Tamara Strom, Jeff Sabo, Erin Cochran, Greg Voigt, David Peleg, Don Holub, Kristen Smaltz, and Mark Labuda. Without the support of these people, we would not be able to produce these weekly pack-ets. We look forward to their continued help and support in the playoffs and seasons ahead.

“BUZZ” OF SOLON
Veteran Comet Assistant Coach Bruce “Buzz” Heinrich has seen it all when it comes to football in Northeast Ohio, as he has been a coach at Solon since 1981. He started as a freshman coach but later moved to the varsity level and has always coached the offensive and defensive lines. Heinrich served as Offensive Coordinator under Head Coach Jack Ruvolo back in the 1980s. Prior to Solon, Heinrich coached at Padua and Benedictine High Schools. Throughout his time at Solon, Heinrich has been an asset to our program. “Coach Heinrich has dedicated the bulk of his professional career to helping mold Solon Comets into better men and football play-ers,” said Head Coach Jim McQuaide. “He has been a tremendous teacher in our program and a great example of ‘Pride! Pride! Pride!’”
Coach Heinrich’s most memorable football mo-ments at Solon were playing in the 2000 Division I State Championship game against Upper Arlington at Canton’s Fawcett Stadium and beating undefeated Nordonia 34-20 in 2003. “I am thankful for all the Solon Comets football teams that I have had the privilege of being a part of for the past 29 years. The feeling of working, coaching, and remembering that ‘We are SC! Pride! Pride! Pride!’ is one that will stay with me forever,” said Heinrich. Overall, he is most proud of players from Solon who go onto college and play football.
On behalf of the entire Solon Football Program and the Solon City Schools, we wish Coach Heinrich great success in his retirement.

SOLON EDUCATION TELEVISION
Although Solon Comets fans are fortu-nate enough to have some football games covered on TV outlets such as STO, FSN, and NEON, residents have al-ways had the unique opportunity to see every Solon home football game on their local educational access station. Lo-cated on Time Warner Cable channel 22, and soon to be on AT&T U-Verse chan-nel 99, Solon Education Television tapes over 100 district programs per year tai-lored specifically for the Solon community. Nearly all programs are produced by members of Comet Productions, an extracurricular TV production club at the high school staffed by student volunteers. The students do it all: they op-erate cameras, mix audio, record replays, and even direct the show. The club is advised by Joseph Ferencie, industrial technology teacher at Solon High School, while production is managed by Classic Teleproductions of Twinsburg, Ohio.