Buckeye defense works better when
Logan Schulz is doing his thing

 11/7/2018 By BRAD BOURNIVAL The Gazette

The seasons Buckeye outside linebacker Dom Monaco and strong safety Logan Steppenbacker are having can be boiled down to three things. While the duo is unquestionably part of the push the Buckeye football team is having this season, drive, determination and Logan Schulz are big parts of the reason the Bucks are playing in Week 12 for the first time in school history.

As the third-seeded Bucks (10-1) travel to Bedford High School to play second-seeded Kenston (10-1) on Friday in a Division III, Region 9 semifinal, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound defensive end is the cog in the spoke of an opponent’s offense. If Schulz isn’t making a tackle, he’s occupying opposing linemen and opening a hole for one of his teammates to come rushing in.

“I can trust him,” Monaco said. “I’ve been his friend for 15 years. I know every time I have contain and cut the guy back inside, Logan is going to be right there to hit him. He and I always joke around because he says he’s the reason I get all my tackles. I think all the linebackers can agree when all the teams are focused on him so much, it really makes our job easier.” Monaco leads the team with 60 tackles, including 16 for loss with three sacks.

Steppenbacker is second on the team with 57 sticks and two sacks. They know when Schulz isn’t making one of his 48 tackles, including 11½ for loss (4 sacks), their job is to rise up and make the play. “He’s always getting pressure in the backfield,” Steppenbacker said. “He always knows what’s going on. Being a three-year starter, he can help everyone else to know what’s going on. He opens a lot of plays for me to come up and make a tackle. He’s opening up holes and making guys bounce.”

Schulz has been a starter in coach Greg Dennison’s system the last two years. For the senior, in-game action is more read and react at this point and less trying to figure out what’s going to happen pre-snap. “I’ve learned a lot of things from all the different coaches I’ve had, so everything just falls into place,” Schulz said. “It all feels so natural. You read the offense, go out there and play and do your job. Big games are when the best players play. You have to step up and play for your team.”

An in-your face player before games who gets everyone fired up, Schulz’s knowledge has paid huge dividends for everyone willing to come to him for advice. It doesn’t matter what style offense other teams are using, Schulz has the answer and knows how to stop it.

“He just knows football,” Monaco said. “Any system you put him in, he attacks the guy with the ball. It’s just his mentality. He’s a fighter. He’ll step up when you need him to.” Stepping up in big games has become commonplace for Schulz this season. His two sacks went a long way in a 38-35 win over Columbia. It was his quarterback pressure on the last play of the game that forced Jared Bycznski to throw before he wanted to, causing an incomplete pass.

“We lost two of our linebackers last year (Austin Bir and Turner Mitchell), so we knew coming in we would have to play really well up front,” Dennison said. “He’s leading the way. He makes plays sometimes that nobody can make.”

In last week’s 28-25 win over sixth-seeded Alliance, the defensive lineman made eight tackles and forced a run-heavy Aviators squad to go to the air late. “You love having guys like that,” Dennison said. “I tell our kids all the time if you want to be known as a great player, you have to do it in big games.

Great players aren’t made playing against teams that are 2-8. They’re made playing against the good teams when it matters the most. “When it matters the most, he seems to step up. Even within the game, in key situations he steps up.”

Buckeye rallies to clinch first
postseason win in school history

Their prize is a regional semifinal against second-seeded Kenston (10-1) next week. Things briefly looked eerily similar to postseasons past for Buckeye (10-1), but then Anthony Watkins stepped up and took a short pass from Jacob Doerge and went 64 yards to put the Bucks ahead to stay with 1:34 left.

“I wanted it so bad,” an emotional Watkins said. “I’ve seen that ending repeated since my brother (Carlton) has been here. I wanted to be the one that broke the streak. I wanted to score. I wanted to make history. I wanted to be the one who leads this team.” Playoff participants nine other times, Buckeye always found heartbreak in the first round. There had been years where the Bucks were blown out. There had been three-point losses. There had been overtime losses. And when Alliance (7-4) went ahead for the first time on a stunning 80-yard touchdown pass with 1:53 remaining, it looked like the next chapter of misery was going to be added to the books.

Right before that, Buckeye looked like a lock to win. Up 21-19, it marched to the Alliance 14-yard line, but a fumble by Dom Monaco (18 carries, 98 yards, 2 TDs) gave the Aviators the ball on their own 20 with 2:07 to play. Brandon Alexander rolled to his left and hit a wide-open Gavin Geier on an 80-yard touchdown on the next play to put Alliance, which had trailed since Buckeye scored on the first drive of the game, up 25-21.

Then Watkins stepped in and added a wrinkle that will be talked about for decades. Buckeye began its drive on its 36 with 1:48 remaining and coach Greg Dennison called 78 under, which is a simple screen to Watkins near the right sideline. Watkins caught it at the 35, broke two tackles at the line of scrimmage and stepped out of another at the 48 before turning on the jets. Aviators defensive back Demarko Brooks had a chance to ground him at the 2-yard line, but the senior jumped into the end zone and into the history books.

“Right after Alexander’s pass, my first thought was, ‘It figures that’s going to happen,’” Doerge said. “But I went right back into the offensive mode and started thinking, ‘What are we doing? Are we going to go with the two-minute drill or are we going to go with a pass play?’ I tried to keep my head as well as I could and I guess it worked out. “I honestly couldn’t see (Watkins). I got hit after the pass (and a flag for roughing the quarterback was thrown). I turned back and was looking at the ref and then I saw him through a mass of people going down the sideline. I just couldn’t believe it.”

Up 14-0 and 21-6 in the first half, Buckeye didn’t get a first down in the second half until there was less than five minutes in the fourth quarter. That drive ended with Monaco’s fumble, but it didn’t end in defeat.

“I knew we had two minutes left after (Geier’s score),” Monaco said. “I know we have one of the best playmakers in Medina County with Anthony Watkins. With time left on the board, anything can happen. “The heart of this team is crazy. All year, we just believed we could do it. We had so much adversity. We had 18 seniors graduate. We got blown out by Revere (in Week 1). We strung nine wins in a row and now 10. This win is for every single Buckeye alum that has ever played football. This is for everyone.”

With the first playoff win in school history under their belt, the Bucks now want to make it two. “Now that they have a sense of it, they know they can compete in the playoffs,” Dennison said. “We’re excited to be playing in Week 12.”

They want Anthony to be someone better, someone to be proud of, someone for others to admire. In Carlton Sr.’s case, that means staying off the streets and getting the education he never had as a high school dropout. In Carlton’s Jr.’s case, that entails keeping a level head and taking nothing for granted. The condensed version is that nothing should stop Anthony from being anything but the best. Man up. No excuses. Become better than us.

“Growing up in Elyria, I went the whole wrong way, you know? It took me on dark roads,” Carlton Sr. said. “Sometimes when you hit those roads, you gotta grind your way out. By being there, I’m showing them (children Karyssa, Carlton Jr. and Anthony) the work ethic of staying above water. “A lot of it was myself had to be seen (by my children) because I wasn’t seen. I wasn’t there. When I did have them, I wasn’t there. My mind was outside. That was one of the things. I didn’t want to do what my father did to me. I felt like I had to be a good father someway, somehow.”

As the third-seeded Buckeye football team (9-1) heads into a Division III, Region 9 quarterfinal at 7 o’clock tonight against No. 6 Alliance (7-3), that brutally honest tough love has helped turn Anthony into a wide receiver/running back/cornerback/returner who can transform a game each time he touches the ball. The 5-foot-11, 170-pounder also is well on his way to becoming a man.

To his father and brother, that’s what matters most. “My dad tells us the worst thing you can do in life is to live it without a purpose,” Carlton Jr. said as he held his 6-month-old daughter, Zahria, at his Medina home. “He didn’t have that best of an upbringing or a life, but he knows that doesn’t limit us and the things we can do. We’ve always understood that. “Abilities only get you so far,” he continued. “It’s that characteristic of a man. No one has to be watching for you to do the correct thing. (Anthony) learned that growing up.

There’s a lot of distractions as a 15-, 16-, 17-year-old kid, and for him to keep his grades up, play two or three sports and achieve at those, I’m very proud of that.” Anthony, who is far less philosophical because he’s the student and not the teacher, will never forget the messages. “They’ve always made sure I remain humble,” he said. “Never act like you’re the big man on campus, know what you’re capable of and handle your own.”

Father foundation Carlton Sr. has been honest with his children, believing the true way to keep them on the right path was being transparent as to why his life has been hard. Though a physical presence at a built-like-a-truck 5-8, 235 — “There’s nothin’ jiggling on that,” Carlton Jr. joked — he acknowledges the preaching hadn’t always been applied in practice because of brief jail and prison stints for drug-related offenses while Karyssa, 27, and Carlton Jr., 25, were growing up. The love for his children never wavered — their love for him never did, either — and his moment to straighten up came when Anthony moved into his Branch Road apartment for the 2014-15 school year.

Carlton Sr. had prior custody of Anthony on the weekends, but the prospect of being a father full time at 43 “scared” and “excited” him. This was his last shot. He wasn’t going to let it go to waste. Luckily for Carlton Sr., Anthony already was on the right path due a strong presence from his mother, Jodi Butcher. Growing up in Cleveland through the seventh grade, Anthony was a quarterback who played at Gunning Park on the corner of West 168th Street and Puritas Avenue.

The aspect missing was his father and brother taking him to the next level — on the field and off. “I just missed having someone to guide me like my older brother does. He’s been all through this and knows the ins and outs of everything,” Anthony said. “And I just really needed my dad. I just need them around me because in high school I started taking sports seriously and it’s what I want to go to college for.”

As soon as Carlton Sr. was comfortable in his role, Anthony dropped another bombshell and moved back in with mom for the 2015-16 school year to attend the Ginn Academy, a magnet school founded by Glenville football coach Ted Ginn Sr. The all-boys facility in South Collinwood has a dress code, more challenging academics than Cleveland Metropolitan Schools and an adult mentor for each student on call 24/7, and Anthony believes the structure “put a little polish” on him. Football was a different animal, as Watkins didn’t play much as a freshman backup quarterback for the Glenville junior varsity. He was awestruck by the talent surrounding him — the Tarblooders have produced 19 NFL players since 2001 — and the aura of Ginn, who strives to get at-risk kids into college.

“The talent level is tremendous up there,” Anthony said. “It’s ridiculous.” Though he never felt uncomfortable at Ginn Academy, Anthony regretted leaving Buckeye and his father and brother. He struggled most with the fact Ginn Academy draws kids from all over Cleveland, so the tight-knit school camaraderie of Buckeye was lost. Anthony moved back, lit it up on the JV level in 2016 and hasn’t looked back. “I was grounded to myself,” he said of his time at Ginn Academy. “I saw a lot there, but I always knew I didn’t want to be a part of that. I love sports and I love school, so I try to keep my head on. “It wasn’t really uncomfortable. Just after a year I was like, ‘Yeah, this isn’t how I like (school).’ I liked it back at Buckeye, where everyone is tight and good friends.”

Carlton Sr. was heartbroken at Anthony’s decision to leave before coming to understand how the experience helped mold his son. With Anthony back in town, their relationship picked up where it left off. It also changed Carlton Sr.’s life, as he has been almost completely clean since. “Wow, our relationship, the things that he gives me, I just know he’s going to be all right,” Carlton Sr. said. “He’s going to do something. That’s one of the things I just love — the way he’s growing and listening. Lots of kids don’t listen. He’s just becoming a fine young man right now. I’m really liking it.” Carlton Sr. is also liking how close his two sons have become.

Brotherly love Carlton Jr. is more charismatic than the laid-back Anthony and Carlton Sr. combined and passionately believes his duty is to be an extraordinary brother. He is proud of the values taught to him by his father and considers himself an extension of him, no questions asked. There is an eight-year age gap — Carlton Jr. graduated from Buckeye in 2011 — and the brothers did not spend a huge amount of time together when Anthony was younger.

Living 30 miles apart was an obvious reason, but Carlton Jr. also played football at Tiffin University from 2011-15 and the next three years as a cornerback in the Indoor Football League. A hyper-extended knee has derailed Carlton Jr.’s football dreams for now, but he has zero complaints living back in Medina County. His career with the semi-pro Sioux Falls Storm landed him a girlfriend, Helen Gebrengus, daughter and the deeper bond with Anthony that he had yearned for. Taking Carlton Sr.’s plea to get an education, Carlton Jr. graduated from Tiffin with a degree in criminal justice. What he begs Anthony to do is stay humble, because Carlton Jr. believes that’s what prevented him from reaching his full potential sooner and, with his athletic clock ticking, possibly bigger football dreams.

“It’s about pushing him to let him learn his own lessons, in a way,” Carlton Jr. said. ‘“I’m going to let you learn, but I’m going to be straightforward with things. You’re going to hear me at the games. There’s enough people to cheer you on. You know there’s only so many that are going to hold you accountable.’ “I told him going into high school, ‘I’m going to be hard on you the next few years so I can be a fan senior year.’ He’s definitely showing and taking our values of seizing the moment.” Carlton Jr. has helped teach Anthony how to do so.

Anthony loves making magic with the ball as much as the next player, but he soon recognized that coaches at the high school level tend to not play quarterbacks on defense and special teams so they don’t get hurt. As a result, Anthony left that position behind in Cleveland and settled in as a wide receiver/cornerback with the Bucks. He did, after all, have the perfect teacher at his fingertips, and Carlton Jr. was ready and willing to be the brother/father/coach rolled all into one. “I knew I was good at offense stuff, so I was like, ‘All right, now it’s time to critique my defense,”’ said Anthony, who addresses his brother using their father’s childhood nickname. “Then I’m like, ‘All right, Cobb, I want to play corner and I want to play defense.’”

Anthony already had the athleticism and size, as he can dunk, run a 4.6-second 40-yard dash and weighs 25 pounds more than Carlton Jr. did at his age. Carlton Jr. has been training Anthony using agility ladders since his little brother was 6, so picking up the footwork was easy. But, oh, that technique. In Medina County circles, no one is in the same zip code as Anthony and Highland superstar Jake Rogers when it comes to technique. With quick hips, a perfect jab punch and tremendous balance — “I don’t want to say I’m ‘shredded,’ but I’ve got a good core so I can keep everything maintained,” he said — Anthony excels at bullying wide receivers in press coverage and making twisting, one-handed pass breakups.

He’s also a sound tackler by driving his shoulder pads into ball carriers’ thighs and adept at shedding blocks on fast-hitting screens. Nearly once a week, Carlton Jr. and Anthony head to Medina’s Kenneth Dukes Stadium to make sure everything is tuned correctly. “It’s really big having him because he’s there whenever there’s certain things I don’t understand or want to fix,” Anthony said. “I have my coaches here and they’ve taught me a lot of things, and I’ll go to him to get his opinion and I’ll try to critique it on my own.” That extends to special teams and offense. Anthony has played slot receiver most of his Buckeye career but added a new wrinkle last week at Brookside when he played tailback in place of injured 120-point scorer Dom Monaco.

He scored four touchdowns, including an addition to his highlight reel when he miraculously kept his balance out of a spinning tackle and went 24 yards. Carlton Jr. wants more in typical brother fashion, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t proud. “I’m blessed to actually have a hand in his upbringing, you know?” Carlton Jr. said. “We do have different moms, so we started off not together, but as he became a man, he realized how much alike we are.” “I love it because I put them together,” Carlton Sr. added. “I knew I would need that next level (as a father), and knew I had it in me. I knew it was his brother who could give it to him other than his father. “It’s like if I put them together, I was going to get that extra (help).

Carlton knows that crowd that way. Anthony can have all types of contact if I’m not there. His brother’s got something for him to look at and understand, ‘If you do it this way, you can be all right.”‘ Lessons applied Carlton Sr. and Carlton Jr. have not just talked the talk in regards to their protégé. Anthony is proving they’re all walking the walk with how he’s handled his senior season. The lessons from Dad are shown through merit-roll grades and a clean disciplinary record. The lessons from Big Bro are shown through a team-first attitude, as Anthony has handled with 100 percent class football-related aspects that are outside his control.

A combination of factors has led to Anthony not getting the opportunities befitting a star. Chief among them is the talent of the Bucks, who have won 20-of-21 games with Anthony in the starting lineup and rightfully spread touches between Watkins, quarterback Jacob Doerge, tailback Monaco and fullback Armando Nigh for an offense that averages 35.6 points. All Anthony tries to do is make the most of his chances. The small sample size is gaudy with 31 carries for 365 yards, 14 catches for 209 yards, five kickoff returns for 197 yards and seven punt returns for 92 yards, totaling 57 touches, 863 all-purpose yards, a 15.1 average and touchdowns of 8, 9, 24, 34, 83 and 86 yards. He’s never seriously asked for a larger role in the offense because the bottom line is the Bucks have won nine straight, by an average of 26.4 points. “I’m real controlled about that,” he said. “I know their talents. On any good team, there’s always more than one person who is able to do that. “Everyone plays a role. My role, I’ve still got to make good blocks for (Monaco) and, when I’m getting the ball, I have to make plays. Always make sure it’s positive.” That mentality extends to defense.

The combination of Anthony’s strong fundamentals and lack of standout passing quarterbacks in the Patriot Athletic Conference Stars Division has caused Anthony to be thrown against, in his estimation, only six times all season. The statistics read 34 tackles (27 solo), zero interceptions and two pass breakups, though questionable calls robbed him of a pick vs. Black River and an end zone breakup vs. Rocky River. Each time Anthony lines up on the defensive right side of the field, he replays a Carlton Jr. teaching moment.

“I can’t get rocked asleep,” he said. “Every day my brother tells me that. I can’t get too cocky about it. There’s not a lot thrown my way, but you’ve just got to able to throw your receiver off.” Anthony continues to keep his head to the ground and work toward that collegiate dream. He received his first offer, from NAIA Culver-Stockton (Mo.) earlier this month, is anticipating a visit from D-II Urbana tonight and remains in contact with D-II East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. Carlton Jr. is naturally biased but believes with all his heart that Anthony has the skills to play in the talented D-II Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Anthony, of course, isn’t getting flustered by the process because he’s also a gifted point guard and hasn’t ruled out basketball. “When he does get that exposure (camps, etc.), they’re going to see the full package,” Carlton Jr. said. Throughout his Buckeye career, Anthony has rolled with the punches because he was raised that way. Man up. No excuses. Become better.