Week 10
Who: Strongsville
What: Northeast Ohio Conference (Valley Division) game
Where: Jerome T Osborne Stadium
When: October 31 at 7:00
Opposing Coach: Larry Laird (1st season at Strongsville, 17-6 record as head coach)
History: Since the two started playing regularly in 2006, Mentor is 7-2 against Strongsville
History: Since the two started playing regularly in 2006, Mentor is 7-2 against Strongsville
Looking Back…
Legendary coach Russ Jacques stepped down after last season's 5-5 season. Strongsville hit a rough patch from 2009-2011, so last season was actually a pretty positive step. Last season in Week 10, the Mustangs gave Mentor all they could handle in the first half before the Cards pulled away 45-19. Strongsville was undefeated (5-0) against teams with losing records and 0-5 against teams with winning records. LB Clay Carusso and OL Brandon Bailey were among the standouts that graduated.
Schedule…
One half of Strongsville's schedule are a group of five teams that combined for a 15-35 record. The Mustangs won all of those games last year. Lake Catholic, Berea, Parma, Medina, and Twinsburg are important games for Strongsville to win again. The other half of the schedule were against 5 playoff teams. Strongsville lost all of those games. Besides Mentor, the toughest games on the schedule will be Hudson and Cleveland Heights. Just like last season, the games against Solon and rival Brunswick will make or break the season. If they want to make the playoffs, the Mustangs will need to win one - if not both of those games.
2014 Strongsville Outlook…
Larry Laird, the mysterious coaching magic man, is a big part of the season. Laird has spent one season at Medina and one at Avon Lake. Laird took the teams to the playoffs in both seasons (winning three playoff games) and stepped down after his lone season both times. What will happen with Laird at Strongsville? He steps in with a good and deep senior class. Senior QB Bobby Cole (over 3,000 career passing yards) has been starting since he was a sophomore and could be one of the top at his position in NEO. Cole will have some big and experienced guys protecting him on the line. Returning skill players include RB Dominic Lombardo (778 yards in 2013) and WR Drew Robertson (608 yards). Senior DE Austin Platt (6'3, 255) is one of the standout players on defense. Platt had 10 sacks in the last five games of the season. LB Kylen Bailey (110 tackles) and DB Zach Kahn are other key players on defense. The Mustangs will aim for their 12th playoff appearance and first since 2008 if they can win a few NOC Valley games.
No comments:
Post a Comment