Narrow losses too much for Darby to overcome
Matt Cyrus
By AARON BLANKENSHIP
ThisWeek Community NewsWednesday November 5, 2008 5:47 PM
The Hilliard Darby High School football team recovered from the losses of 16 starters and former coach Paul Jenne -- who resigned June 17 for personal reasons -- to finish 6-4 for its third winning season in its 13 years.
But those four losses were by 10 or fewer points each, leaving some to wonder about what might have been.
"A lot of people were predicting us to finish 2-8 or 3-7, so it's a positive that we had a winning season to prove them wrong," senior quarterback Brandon Bargar said. "But honestly, this is very frustrating because we feel like we're good enough to be a playoff team. We never really got outplayed, but we made too many mistakes to beat the teams that we lost to."
The Panthers beat only one team that finished with a winning record, defeating Dublin Jerome 42-28 on Aug. 29. Darby rallied from deficits of 7-0 and 21-20 to defeat the Celtics, who went 6-4 and qualified to the Division II, Region 7 playoffs. In that game, Bargar rushed for 170 yards and four touchdowns and completed five of 10 passes for 87 yards and a score.
Darby also beat Marietta 53-14 on Aug. 22, Briggs 48-0 on Sept. 5, Central Crossing 45-7 on Sept. 19, Thomas Worthington 21-7 on Oct. 10 and Westland 48-20 on Oct. 17. But those teams finished with a combined record of 12-38.
The Panthers lost to Worthington Kilbourne 28-21 on Sept. 12, Upper Arlington 24-14 on Sept. 26, Dublin Coffman 10-3 on Oct. 3 and Davidson 21-14 on Oct. 23. Those teams went a combined 33-7.
Darby turned the ball over five times against UA, and two turnovers set up touchdowns against Davidson.
Against Coffman, Darby had a potential tying touchdown overturned with less than two minutes left. The official closest to the ball signaled a touchdown on a 21-yard pass from Bargar to senior slot receiver Richard Hammons before another official ruled that Hammons didn't hold onto the ball long enough to have possession.
"We made too many turnovers to beat teams the caliber of Upper Arlington or Davidson," Bargar said. "On film, it looks like Hammons had possession of the ball long enough for it to be a touchdown, so that one was a heartbreaker."
Darby finished fifth at 3-4 in the OCC-Central Division behind UA (7-0), Davidson (6-1), Kilbourne (5-2) and Coffman (4-3) and ahead of Thomas (2-5), Central Crossing (1-6) and Westland (0-7).
"When you look at the tradition of the programs and their coaching staffs, we knew our division of the OCC was going to be the toughest around," coach John Santagata said. "The four teams that beat us were all great teams, but it didn't
help that we had 12 turnovers in those games."
The Panthers will lose 10 seniors who started multiple games on offense including Bargar, Hammons, running back Iko Bako, wide receivers Austin Jenkins, Tyler McIntosh and Jordan Rispress and linemen John Jenkins, Tony Scaggs, Nazar
Soroka and Anthony Valenti.
Bargar was 87-for-141 passing for 1,330 yards and 10 touchdowns and rushed for 893 yards and 17 touchdowns on 116 carries.He shared OCC-Central Player of the Year with Kilbourne quarterback Aaron Kingcade and UA running back Tommy
Farwick.
McIntosh had 41 catches for 510 yards and two touchdowns, Rispress had 13 catches for 217 yards and three scores, Hammons had 12 catches for 344 yards and four touchdowns and Bako rushed for 323 yards and three touchdowns on 77
carries.
Offensive players who started multiple games and are expected to return are sophomore running back Matt Cyrus, junior left tackle Evan Falardeau, junior tight end Marcus Ewald and sophomore right tackle Sufyan El-Geroushi.
Cyrus rushed for 532 yards and four touchdowns on 88 carries, and Ewald had seven catches for 130 yards and one touchdown.
Darby will lose nine seniors who started multiple games on defense including ends Nick Primavera and Gabe Robinson, linebackers Joe Crabtree, Blake Fraley and Zach Ison, cornerbacks Austin Jenkins and Kevin Warner and safeties Nick
Martin and Harrison Reed.
Reed (76 tackles, 2 interceptions) and Fraley (50 tackles, 1 interception) were second-team all-league. Crabtree (118 tackles, two sacks) was honorable mention all-league.
Defensive players who started multiple games and are expected to return are junior cornerback Elijah Tavera, sophomore cornerback Marquis Copeland, junior tackle Nate Bucci and sophomore tackle Blake Clowes.
Junior punter Brad Stimson and junior kicker Adam Jenne are expected back as well. Stimson was second-team all-league and Jenne made all three field-goal attempts and was 26-for-31 on extra-point attempts.
Bucci had 31 tackles and 2.5 sacks, and Tavera had 22 tackles.
"Our seniors worked hard in the offseason and they were a big part of the success that we had," Santagata said. "We're losing a lot of starters and a lot of our junior varsity kids are going to go to Bradley, so we're not going to have the kind of depth that we've been used to. We're going to be starting from scratch again."
At a glance
•Record: 6-4 overall, 3-4 (fifth) in OCC-Central (fifth)
•Seniors lost: Iko Bako, Brandon Bargar, Joe Crabtree, Brian Ely, Blake Fraley, R.J. Green, Richard Hammons, Yassar Hanbali, Zach Ison, Austin Jenkins, John Jenkins, Chad Jewell, Kyle Lacey, Adam Lee, Nick Martin, Tyler McIntosh,
Cody Meister, Ray Millan, Nick Primavera, Josh Ray, Harrison Reed, Jordan Rispress, Gabe Robinson, Tony Scaggs, Nazar Soroka, Steven Southard, Anthony Valenti, Michael Volio and Kevin Warner
•Key returnees: Nate Bucci, Matt Cyrus, Sufyan El-Geroushi, Marcus Ewald, Brad Stimson and Elijah Tavera
ThisWeek Community NewsWednesday November 5, 2008 5:47 PM
The Hilliard Darby High School football team recovered from the losses of 16 starters and former coach Paul Jenne -- who resigned June 17 for personal reasons -- to finish 6-4 for its third winning season in its 13 years.
But those four losses were by 10 or fewer points each, leaving some to wonder about what might have been.
"A lot of people were predicting us to finish 2-8 or 3-7, so it's a positive that we had a winning season to prove them wrong," senior quarterback Brandon Bargar said. "But honestly, this is very frustrating because we feel like we're good enough to be a playoff team. We never really got outplayed, but we made too many mistakes to beat the teams that we lost to."
The Panthers beat only one team that finished with a winning record, defeating Dublin Jerome 42-28 on Aug. 29. Darby rallied from deficits of 7-0 and 21-20 to defeat the Celtics, who went 6-4 and qualified to the Division II, Region 7 playoffs. In that game, Bargar rushed for 170 yards and four touchdowns and completed five of 10 passes for 87 yards and a score.
Darby also beat Marietta 53-14 on Aug. 22, Briggs 48-0 on Sept. 5, Central Crossing 45-7 on Sept. 19, Thomas Worthington 21-7 on Oct. 10 and Westland 48-20 on Oct. 17. But those teams finished with a combined record of 12-38.
The Panthers lost to Worthington Kilbourne 28-21 on Sept. 12, Upper Arlington 24-14 on Sept. 26, Dublin Coffman 10-3 on Oct. 3 and Davidson 21-14 on Oct. 23. Those teams went a combined 33-7.
Darby turned the ball over five times against UA, and two turnovers set up touchdowns against Davidson.
Against Coffman, Darby had a potential tying touchdown overturned with less than two minutes left. The official closest to the ball signaled a touchdown on a 21-yard pass from Bargar to senior slot receiver Richard Hammons before another official ruled that Hammons didn't hold onto the ball long enough to have possession.
"We made too many turnovers to beat teams the caliber of Upper Arlington or Davidson," Bargar said. "On film, it looks like Hammons had possession of the ball long enough for it to be a touchdown, so that one was a heartbreaker."
Darby finished fifth at 3-4 in the OCC-Central Division behind UA (7-0), Davidson (6-1), Kilbourne (5-2) and Coffman (4-3) and ahead of Thomas (2-5), Central Crossing (1-6) and Westland (0-7).
"When you look at the tradition of the programs and their coaching staffs, we knew our division of the OCC was going to be the toughest around," coach John Santagata said. "The four teams that beat us were all great teams, but it didn't
help that we had 12 turnovers in those games."
The Panthers will lose 10 seniors who started multiple games on offense including Bargar, Hammons, running back Iko Bako, wide receivers Austin Jenkins, Tyler McIntosh and Jordan Rispress and linemen John Jenkins, Tony Scaggs, Nazar
Soroka and Anthony Valenti.
Bargar was 87-for-141 passing for 1,330 yards and 10 touchdowns and rushed for 893 yards and 17 touchdowns on 116 carries.He shared OCC-Central Player of the Year with Kilbourne quarterback Aaron Kingcade and UA running back Tommy
Farwick.
McIntosh had 41 catches for 510 yards and two touchdowns, Rispress had 13 catches for 217 yards and three scores, Hammons had 12 catches for 344 yards and four touchdowns and Bako rushed for 323 yards and three touchdowns on 77
carries.
Offensive players who started multiple games and are expected to return are sophomore running back Matt Cyrus, junior left tackle Evan Falardeau, junior tight end Marcus Ewald and sophomore right tackle Sufyan El-Geroushi.
Cyrus rushed for 532 yards and four touchdowns on 88 carries, and Ewald had seven catches for 130 yards and one touchdown.
Darby will lose nine seniors who started multiple games on defense including ends Nick Primavera and Gabe Robinson, linebackers Joe Crabtree, Blake Fraley and Zach Ison, cornerbacks Austin Jenkins and Kevin Warner and safeties Nick
Martin and Harrison Reed.
Reed (76 tackles, 2 interceptions) and Fraley (50 tackles, 1 interception) were second-team all-league. Crabtree (118 tackles, two sacks) was honorable mention all-league.
Defensive players who started multiple games and are expected to return are junior cornerback Elijah Tavera, sophomore cornerback Marquis Copeland, junior tackle Nate Bucci and sophomore tackle Blake Clowes.
Junior punter Brad Stimson and junior kicker Adam Jenne are expected back as well. Stimson was second-team all-league and Jenne made all three field-goal attempts and was 26-for-31 on extra-point attempts.
Bucci had 31 tackles and 2.5 sacks, and Tavera had 22 tackles.
"Our seniors worked hard in the offseason and they were a big part of the success that we had," Santagata said. "We're losing a lot of starters and a lot of our junior varsity kids are going to go to Bradley, so we're not going to have the kind of depth that we've been used to. We're going to be starting from scratch again."
At a glance
•Record: 6-4 overall, 3-4 (fifth) in OCC-Central (fifth)
•Seniors lost: Iko Bako, Brandon Bargar, Joe Crabtree, Brian Ely, Blake Fraley, R.J. Green, Richard Hammons, Yassar Hanbali, Zach Ison, Austin Jenkins, John Jenkins, Chad Jewell, Kyle Lacey, Adam Lee, Nick Martin, Tyler McIntosh,
Cody Meister, Ray Millan, Nick Primavera, Josh Ray, Harrison Reed, Jordan Rispress, Gabe Robinson, Tony Scaggs, Nazar Soroka, Steven Southard, Anthony Valenti, Michael Volio and Kevin Warner
•Key returnees: Nate Bucci, Matt Cyrus, Sufyan El-Geroushi, Marcus Ewald, Brad Stimson and Elijah Tavera