Ravens edge Cleveland John Hay to reach regional semifinals
By Colin Harris | Staff Writer
It wasn’t always pretty, but playoff football in Ohio is often about who is there at the end to make a play.
Ravenna senior quarterback Kyle Spellman had a rough evening under center, but he was there at the end to secure the win as Ravenna got a 13-12 victory over Cleveland John Hay in a Division III regional quarterfinal contest.
Spellman has had much better statistical performances, finishing just 6-of-16 for 102 yards passing while rushing for 27 yards. The Ravens senior had trouble securing the ball all evening, fumbling twice and getting picked off once.
But with two minutes left in the fourth quarter, it was Spellman who carried the ball four times — and picked up a first down that all but ended a timeout-less Hay’s hopes of a comeback — for 19 yards to seal the victory.
“A team like Kent Roosevelt is going to put the ball in (senior quarterback) Tra Chapman’s hands with the game on the line and we’re going to do that with Kyle Spellman,” Ravenna coach Jim Lunardi said. “Tonight didn’t go (well) for him, but he helped get us here and we trusted him at the end.”
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PTC Metro Football Report: This time around, Ravenna football coach Jim Lunardi chose to go for one
Legendary Nebraska head coach Tom Osborne is often remembered for one gutsy call that didn’t go his way.
Trailing Miami in the 1984 Orange Bowl, Osborne’s Huskers scored a late TD to cut the Hurricanes’ lead to 31-30. Rather than going for an extra point, however, Osborne elected to go for two points — and the win.
Nebraska QB Turner Gill’s pass attempt was tipped away in the end zone, however, giving Miami the win and the national championship.
The reason I mention this is that Ravenna head coach Jim Lunardi was faced with a similar dilemma in Friday night’s game against Kent Roosevelt.
After QB Kyle Spellman hooked up with Kyle Kornbau for a 16-yard touchdown in the first overtime, Lunardi elected to kick an extra point and send the game into the second OT, rather than go for two and end the game — win or lose — right then and there.
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Six area teams have eye on OHSAA football playoffs
Six area teams have unofficially qualified for the 2012 High School Football State Playoffs, while another was still awaiting its fate at press time Friday night.
Mogadore, Kent Roosevelt, Aurora and Streetsboro will host Regional Quarterfinal games next weekend, while Ravenna and Woodridge will open playoff action on the road.
The Wildcats (10-0) earned the top spot in Division VI, Region 21, and likely locked up their sixth Associated Press State Poll championship after defeating East Canton 33-12 on Friday to finish the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record. The Cats also captured AP poll crowns in 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985 and 2001.
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Kent Roosevelt 26, Ravenna 20: Tra’Von Chapman carries Rough Riders to double-overtime victory
By Ryan Lewis | Beacon Journal sports writer
KENT: The Big R Trophy is returning to Kent on the legs of Tra’Von Chapman.
Chapman ran for 162 yards and four touchdowns, two of them in overtime, as Kent Roosevelt took down rival Ravenna 26-20 in double overtime Friday night.
“It was a heart-racer,” said Chapman, who also passed for 82 yards. “My whole family is here and I think I gave them a couple of spooks. It was a great team win.”
After trailing 13-3 entering the fourth quarter, Ravenna (6-4, 5-2) fought back and forced overtime in the Portage Trail Conference Metro game on junior kicker Ben Morgan’s 24-yard field goal as time expired.
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Kent Roosevelt captures double-OT thriller over arch-rival Ravenna
By Colin Harris | Rccordpub.com Staff Writer
It’s appropriate that another game between Kent Roosevelt and Ravenna could not be resolved in regulation — or even after one overtime period.
It’s appropriate that seniors led the way for both of the Portage Trail Conference Metro Division’s historically power programs.
And it’s especially appropriate that, on the final play of the second overtime period, it was the most important senior on Roosevelt’s roster that clinched the victory.
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Mount Union’s Kehres spotlights Kent Roosevelt-Ravenna rivalry
Football Luncheon 1st row Brad Beyner – Tra Chapman – Aaron Miller – Brandon Gros – Josiah Coman – Malcoum Wilmington – Derek Derthick – Brett Fennell 2th row Austin Mastroine – Zak Janus – Trei Thomas – Dylan Fox – Andy Rodrigueuz – Kyle Spellman – Kyle Kurnbau 3rd row Andy Shaffer – Grant Mercer – Tyler Carlton – Tate Bennett – Gavin Reaser And in the middle is Chas Madonio photo by Robert J. Lucas
By Colin Harris | Staff Writer
For all of the big games that University of Mount Union coaching legend Larry Kehres has been a part of, there is one clash he’s always had to view at a distance.
As Kent Roosevelt and Ravenna prepare to lock horns this Friday, Kehres joined a collection of over 100 city leaders, school administrators, players, cheerleaders and band members of the two schools convened for the annual Captains Luncheon, which was hosted by NEOMED and co-sponsored by Robinson Memorial Hospital and Brimfield Insurance.
Now in its 14th year, the event showcased Friday’s meeting between the two schools, who enter Friday’s game with playoff seeding and league title implications riding on the game’s outcome.
Kehres’ resume speaks for itself: since taking over as head coach at the University of Mount Union in 1986, Kehres has posted a 324-24-3 record and captured 10 Division III national championships.
Last week, Kehres passed University of Alabama head coach Paul “Bear” Bryant for fourth place on the all-time win list in NCAA football.
But despite all of his success as a coach, he has never earned a victory — as a player or on the sidelines — in a game quite like Roosevelt vs. Ravenna.
“I grew up a little jealous of those Friday night lights,” Kehres, a graduate of Southeast High School, said. “Rivalries are cool — it’s the schools that don’t have rivalries that wish they did.
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PTC Metro Football Report: Three teams already have ticket punched for postseason
More than one time this season I have said that I thought two Metro Division teams would qualify for the state playoffs. That’s just the way it’s historically been in the league.
Apparently past history is not always an indicator of future success, especially in the Metro Division.
Last Friday’s upset win by Streetsboro over Ravenna actually did little to change the playoff scenarios in the division. Roosevelt and Streetsboro are still locks — although the Rockets all-but locked up a home game — and Ravenna is still a sure bet for Week 11 as well.
Ravenna is currently third in Division III, Region 9 and controls its own destiny. What that means is if they win on Friday against Kent Roosevelt, they will secure a home playoff game.
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Hall of Fame coach Campana walked both sides of Kent Roosevelt-Ravenna football rivalry
By Colin Harris | Staff Writer
When Kent Roosevelt and Ravenna meet for the 92nd time this Friday, no one in the stands at Roosevelt Stadium will have had a bigger impact on the historic rivalry than Tom Campana.
The legendary Roosevelt head coach is best-known for his tenure with the Rough Riders, where he helped build one of the state’s premier programs during his career that lasted from 1959 through 1970.
But all of the success Campana experienced against countless opposing coaches and teams could take a backseat to his memories — on both sidelines — of Portage County’s premier rivalry.
“This rivalry between Kent and Ravenna has always been a classic,” Campana said. “It’s intense and has always been a game that not only players, coaches and administrators enjoy, but both towns look forward to as well.
“The way the kids perform and approach the game — it’s just a classic.”
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Ravenna 39, Norton 6: Kyle Spellman crowned homecoming king, leads Ravens past Panthers
Ravenna quarterback Kyle Spellman (left) runs for a first down past Norton’s Jake Fling during the second quarter of their game Friday at Ravenna Stadium. (Karen Schiely/Akron Beacon Journal)
RAVENNA: Kyle Spellman had a memorable Friday night.
At halftime, Spellman, a Ravenna senior, was named homecoming king after returning to play quarterback for the first time since the season opener.
Spellman ran for two touchdowns in the second half and threw for another as the Ravens defeated Norton 39-6 in a Portage Trail Conference Metro Division game on homecoming night at Gilcrest Field at Ravenna Stadium.
Spellman, who unofficially had 56 yards on eight carries and completed 8-of-14 passes for 74 yards, could not stop smiling after the victory and the coronation.
“It felt really nice and [I] had fun most of all. The line blocked well for me and the receivers caught it for me,” said Spellman, who broke the fourth metacarpal on his right hand earlier this season.
As for his ascension to royalty, Spellman said: “It felt real nice. I was real happy.”
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Spellman returns to QB Ravens to rout of Panthers
It was Ravenna’s Homecoming. Kyle Spellman was the king, and it was his first night at quarterback in six games because of a broken hand suffered in the Ravens’ season-opening victory over Tallmadge.
The night continued to be memorable, as the Ravens (6-2, 5-0 PTC Metro Division) dominated Norton (5-3, 3-2) for a 39-6 win Friday.
“I had fun out there tonight,” said Spellman. “My hand didn’t hurt at all.”
All Spellman did was run for 55 yards, score two touchdowns, and pass for 80 yards on a night that the Ravens didn’t need to pass much.
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