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Buckeye Dominates Clearview In PAC (9/24/2016)
YORK TWP. — Bill Turner knows a mismatch when he sees one. When the 27-year assistant coach and 11-year offensive coordinator sees it, he exploits it. On Friday in the Buckeye football team’s final tuneup before Patriot Athletic Conference Stars Division action, Turner called one play over and over and over again. By the time the PAC crossover game with Clearview concluded, Buckeye was on the right side 42-14. Most it was because of the jet sweep, which the team ran 20 times for 268 yards. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Coach Turner for 20 years, and he’s outstanding,”
Bucks coach Mark Pinzone said. “Now, he’s crazier than a $3 bill, but he’s one of the hardest-working coaches, technicians, film-watchers and breaker-downers of film that I’ve seen. His understanding of the game is second to none.” Against the Clippers (1-4), Justin Canedy was second to none as well. With Clearview missing injured defensive end DeAri Todd, who has nine Division I offers, Buckeye (4-1) continually ran right at the spot he vacated. Canedy ran for a career-high 246 yards on 14 carries (17.6 yards per carry) and scored four touchdowns — all on jet sweeps. He had scoring runs of 40, 18, 60 and 37 yards, taking what his offensive line gave him and continually running up the sideline virtually untouched.
“He’s finally healthy,” Pinzone said. “He’s had hamstring issues throughout. We started resting him up and getting him ready. “We know he’s good. Coach Turner knows he’s good. When he’s healthy, he’s as dangerous as can be. He showed himself, he can really put us to another level. He can be a difference maker and game-changer. He’s seeing that himself and that’s the difference.”
The fact the 6-foot, 170-pound junior did things in essentially 2? quarters shows just how vital he was against Clearview. With two first-half touchdowns, Canedy had the Bucks up 28-6 at intermission. Only 15 seconds into the third quarter, he made it a 29-point game. The Clippers didn’t sit their starters — the first string was on the field for all but one play — and cut it back to a 21-point spread with 2:21 remaining in the third quarter. So Canedy trotted back onto the field and scored his final touchdown on a 37-yard scamper for the last points of the game. “I’ve never had a game quite like that,” Canedy said. “I got great blocking. You just follow them and take it right up the sideline. We kept up our technique as if (Todd) was in there. They were playing the jet off, so the daylight was there.”
Canedy’s big night opened up holes for quarterback Michael Doerge, who finished with six carries for 52 yards and a score. That kept Clearview on its heels, as the Bucks racked up 347 yards on the ground and 386 overall, picking up 9.1 yards per rush and 8.6 per play. “The jet always opens up the quarterback run stuff,” Doerge said. “I think how well we did on the edge really opened up the longer runs for us.” The win gave Buckeye its 12th consecutive regular-season win at home and geared it up for Stars Division play against Wellington as the Bucks look to defend their conference crown the next five weeks.
While Buckeye can’t go undefeated in the regular season like it did a year ago, the quest to repeat as league champs and get in the Division III, Region 9 playoffs is a real scenario at the midway point of 2016. “A big win like this will help us the rest of the season,” Doerge said. “I think everything is building. We’re getting better. The backups are coming in and getting stronger. We’ll get a lot of momentum off of this.” Contact Brad Bournival at sports@medina-gazette.com.
Dominic Monaco Sets The Tone For Buckeye (9/17/2016)
FAIRVIEW PARK — Coming into Friday night’s game, Buckeye’s Dominic Monaco had 8 yards rushing on a handful of carries at the varsity level. Making his first start against Fairview, the sophomore running back proved he can do much, much more. Monaco set the tone early and, with the help of his teammates, made quick work of the Warriors en route to a 43-7 victory in a Patriot Athletic Conference cross-division game. “It felt really good,” the lanky 10th-grader said after rushing for 153 yards on just eight carries. “We have a lot of guys down and the coaches keep saying at practice that we need more people stepping up. Without three starters — quarterback Adam Fauver and wideouts Jonathon Neel and Justin Canedy are sidelined with various injuries — Monaco was one of several underclassman that filled in.
As senior Michael Doerge (12 carries, 95 yards, 3 TDs) continued to fill in at quarterback and continued to have success breaking tackles, it was the crafty 6-foot-1, 185-pound Monaco that was sprinting on sweeps to the outside like a savvy veteran as he recorded two touchdowns. Not too shabby for his first start. “I can’t even put it into words,” Monaco said. “It’s really what I have dreamed up my whole football career and it’s finally here. It’s nice to play with my family and brothers. “You can’t see it from the standpoint that I did, but every time I got the ball, there were wide-open holes and so much room to run. That’s a credit to our line.” It took less than 4 minutes for Monaco to pick up his first touchdown, a 9-yard run that gave the Bucks a 7-0 lead. He scored again midway through the second on a short 2-yard dive but, like any player, he was disappointed in the one that got away.
Following a fumble return for a touchdown by Fairview’s Josh Filkill from 36 yards away, which cut the Buckeye lead to 14-7, Monaco raced 80 yards on the Bucks’ first play from scrimmage, but got chased down at the 2-yard line. That left it to Doerge to pick up the second of his three scores on the night on the next snap. “I wish I could’ve got that play back,” Monaco said with a laugh. “I was just trucking once I got to the 5 and just got caught. There’s nothing I can do about it. I’m just glad Doerge punched it in.” Monaco had only two more carries, the final touch leading to a 2-yard score late in the second, before the game was taken over by Buckeye backups.
Monaco wasn’t the only fresh-faced sophomore to make an impact, as Anthony Watkins had 54 yards on nine carries as the Bucks outrushed Fairview 368-27. Credit that lack of offense by the Warriors to a defense that was all over the place, including senior Cody Jackson picking up a pair of sacks and a host of others picking up tackles for negative yardage or hurrying Filkill in the pocket. Filkill finished with 35 yards on 4-for-11 passing. The Bucks had dual quarterbacks for most of the night as Doerge and teammate Eric Keller combined to go 3-for-4 passing and keep the offense moving. But it was those youngsters making key plays on both sides of the ball that helped Buckeye to its third straight win.
We’re asking sophomores to do stuff that they normally don’t do and those young men are doing a great job,” said Buckeye coach Mark Pinzone, who also credited the play of junior Turner Mitchell on the line. “It says a lot about our kids. They’re willing to step up, wanting to step up and waiting to step up ready to go.”
Contact Dan Brown at sports@medina-gazette.com.
Buckeye's Hunter Gray Among Nation's Best Long Snappers (9/16/2016)
Hunter Gray is a Division III All-Ohio tackle, nationally ranked long snapper (who knew?) and California kid with long, curly blond hair to boot. The 6-foot-2, 240-pounder is anything but shy, too, so he has no problem sticking out whether at Buckeye High or on the football field. Through eighth grade, Gray dreamed of playing for 10-time California state champion Centennial High, located two hours east of Los Angeles in Corona. A job transfer forced the family to change addresses, but Gray couldn’t be happier. Naturally life is different in Ohio. Gray prefers the change in seasons, greener scenery and laid-back people. He also loves the small, tight-knight Buckeye community and, with a charismatic personality, had little problem adjusting socially. What hasn’t changed is winning, as the Bucks are 20-4 with Gray in the starting lineup as an offensive tackle, defensive end and long snapper. “He’s a student of the game, and he works harder than anyone I’ve ever seen,” Bucks coach Mark Pinzone said. “As Hunter goes, a lot of times so does our offense. Any skill guy will tell you that.”
Gray certainly enjoys being a lineman and leader. The honor student gets genuine joy reading about how the Bucks’ skill players tore it up in the latest game, especially since guys like quarterback Michael Doerge and slotback Justin Canedy acknowledge the hogmollies blocking for them. What makes Gray especially unique is his elite long-snapping abilities, though initially he said “whatever” when in youth football his father told him the underappreciated position would “pay for your education one day.” Gray isn’t laughing now, as he has excelled at Kohl’s Kicking Camps in states such as Illinois, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Florida. The publication ranks Gray a four-star recruit — or the No. 11 senior in the country.
Long snappers rarely receive full-ride scholarships — “On the grocery lists of recruits, they’re at the very bottom,” Gray quipped — and are usually not recruited by big-time schools until after signing day. Purdue, Bowling Green and a host of Football Championship Subdivision schools, including academically prestigious Columbia, have been in contact for long snapping, but Gray is leaning toward D-II power Ashland, which wants him as a lineman, too. “It’s not an every-day thing you hear,” Gray said with a smile. “I never really had real coaching other than my dad and my teammates. Once I got into high school, people were like, ‘Yeah, you’re pretty good,’ and I started getting some recognition. “The cool thing is knowing in your head that you have a skill set that not many people can do. It’s a very rare thing, and if someone trusts you in that aspect, it’s a nice feeling.”
While Gray is playing defense part time this year — he has 11? career tackles for loss — he remains Buckeye’s go-to player on offense. When Doerge runs the ball on a counter, Gray helps create the hole by pulling playside. When Canedy takes off on a jet sweep, Gray sprints diagonally to the sideline and looks to seal defenders inside. No. 64 is a new-school high school tackle, as he excels using footwork, quick hips and leverage instead of sprinting straight ahead and hitting defenders as hard as he can. Gray also has outstanding peripheral vision, allowing him to pick up blocks 99 percent of other high school tackles can’t. A skill set like that is so unique that Ashland has talked with Gray about playing fullback. “In California, it’s a little different, too, in the way that every play you go until the end of the whistle,” he said. “You don’t just play hard. You play smart with good technique. From a young age, it was driven in my head — technique, technique, technique.”
With a big smile and positive outlook, Gray is the type of leader Buckeye needed heading into this season. The Bucks lost 90 percent of their 2015 starting lineup to graduation, yet are 2-1 heading into a game against winless Fairview tonight. All Gray knows is winning. He isn’t going to stop now. “He’s always getting guys up and he does what he can,” punter Brenden McBride said. “He’s willing to sacrifice for our team, and he’s the definition of what we want for a Buckeye football player.”
Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com
