A CAPSULIZED LOOK AT THE BEES 2014 OPPONENTS
By Dom DiPasqua/Staff Writer
Thursday night, July 17, 2014
BRECKSVILLE – The 2013 season was one for the ages on Mill Road. Brecksville-Broadview Heights rattled off ten victories and, at one point, had won an incredible eight straight games en route to a 10-2 overall slate. Records, both team and individual, were were left in the Bees wake like flotsam on the Cuyahoga.
Brecksville claimed the outright Southwestern Conference championship by going 6-0 in the loop. It’s margin of victory in league games was 26.5 points.
The Bees only regular season defeat was by one point, 15-14, on an unseasonal cool night at Hudson in week three. They wouldn’t lose again until the Madison Blue Streaks nipped them, 22-21, on a frosty night in Mentor in a second-round Division II playoff game.
Here is a look at this years opponents and a recap of last years games. Brecksville will face the same foes on the same weeks this fall, only the venues will be opposite of what they were in 2013.
The 2014 BBHHS Schedule:
WEEK ONE ….. Friday, August 29 at Holy Name (at Serpentini Stadium in North Royalton) … 7 pm.
Head Coach: Dan Wondolowski (2nd year)
Last Year: The Bees got out of the gate in remarkable fashion on a hot late summer night in front of a nice crowd at Community Stadium by pasting Holy Name, 48-14. Brecksville, who in its previous two campaigns, was a pass first, pass some more club, ran all over the Green Wave, gaining 340 yards on the ground. That total is the fourth highest single game total in the modern history of the program. The Bees amassed 23 first downs, the second most in a game and spoiled the head coaching debut of the Namer’s Dan Wondolowski.
This years game will the Bees first-ever appearance at the Bears new stadium. In a rare scheduling twist they will return to the impressive edifice in week two to take on its landlords.
WEEK TWO … Friday, September 5 at North Royalton … 7pm
Head Coach: “Papa” Nick Ciulli (11th year)
Last Year: In 2012 North Royalton put an early damper on Brecksville’s season by winning a high-scoring affair played on a sultry Saturday afternoon at Cleveland Browns Stadium. The Bears came to Broadview Heights in 2013 with the fabled Golden Shoe Trophy and headed back home on Route 82 without it.
The Bees were dominant in a 28-0 white-washing of their arch rivals in front of a capacity crowd at The Bee Hive. Brecksville didn’t have to show much in its opener against H-N, but they took off all the wraps against that school from Ridge Road in upping their slate to 2-0.
WEEK THREE … Friday, September 12 vs Hudson … 7pm (Elementary School Night)
Head Coach: Ron Wright (4th year)
Last Year: In a splendidly played game played before a huge crowd that sat through a first half drizzle the Explorers came back to snag a 15-14 non-conference victory by scoring on a late two-point conversion in the evenly played tilt.
Hudson was a second-round playoff team in Division I last year and it returns almost all its skill position players, including outstanding senior quarterback Mitch Guadagni. Guadagni has already made a verbal commitment to Toledo. He will undoubtedly be the best quarterback the Bees face this season.
WEEK FOUR ….. Friday, September 19 vs Olmsted Falls … 7pm
Head Coach: Tom DeLuca (2nd year)
Last Year: In 2012 BBHHS traveled to the township and hung 50 on the Bulldogs in the rain. Because of the contraction of Berea and Midpark high schools, which made the Southwestern Conference a seven team circuit, the schedule was imbalanced. The way it worked out was the Bees would have to go to Harding Stadium again in 2013. No one told Coach Black and his improving 2-1 team that they would have to head to West Bagley Road twice.
Early in the third quarter the heavens opened up. A lightning storm ensued and the game was delayed for hours. With no one but players and coaches remaining in the ballpark the game was officially suspended at around 11 pm.
The Bulldogs and the Bees were summoned back to the water-logged field the next day. Play resumed when and where it was stopped the night before. The odd 3:00 pm re-start was played in front of family members and a few students with nothing better to do. It mattered little as Brecksville opened SWC play with a solid 35-3 win.
WEEK FIVE … Friday, September 26 vs North Olmsted … 7pm (Homecoming)
Head Coach: Tim Brediger (2nd year)
Last Year: After a slow start the Bees made a key adjustment as the second quarter opened. They spread the field and let All-Ohio quarterback Timmy Tupa take over. Tupa’s performance was jaw-dropping. His two long second quarter touchdown romps broke the game open and Brecksville cruised to a 42-10 triumph over the Eagles.
The Bees defense, a group that opened some eyes in the shutout of North Royalton, kept outstanding North Olmsted senior quarterback Brad Novak in check. Word got back to this corner months later that Novak said he had never been hit in a game like he had that superb fall evening on Burns Road.
WEEK 6 … Friday, October 3 at Amherst Steele … 7pm
Head Coach: Bill Fishleigh (1st year)
Last Year: The Comets didn’t know what hit them. Brecksville clicked on all cylinders in a 48-7 victory. The Timmy Tupa to Tyler Tupa combo was money in the bank. Carlo Milano ran like a beast and the Bees scored their first defensive touchdown in eons when senior nose guard Eli Sorna fell on a fumbled snap in the south end zone.
This falls game with Steele will be the Bees first SWC roady of the year and their final trip to Memorial Stadium before leaving the conference for the Suburban League in 2015.
The road trip rule of thumb is never eat a gas station hot dog after 5pm. But it is okay, and more than encouraged, for Beeville faithful to make their last pilgrimage to Hot Dog Heaven at the corner of Cleveland and Washington streets for a pregame gut bomb.
WEEK 7 … Friday, October 10 vs Avon Lake … 7pm
Head Coach: Dave Dlugosz (1st year)
Last Year: Motivated by the pregame antics of the Shoremen that backfired, Brecksville took it to the hosts early and played a solid game throughout in snaring its first-ever win at the War Memorial, 24-14. The final score was not that close. Larry Laird coached A-L last season. He has since taken his talents south to Strongsville, where he replaced longtime Mustang head coach Russ Jacques.
Back in the saddle on Avon-Belden Road is the winningest coach in SWC history in Dave Dlugosz. So please excuse the (1st year) moniker above as being for editorial accuracy purposes only. Dlugosz’ Shoremen have won 24 league titles. Following the 2012 campaign he retired but remained with the squad as an assistant coach. When Laird took the Strongsville job, Coach Dlugosz re-assumed his rightful position on the sideline. And that will be just one of the many sidebar stories heading into this years clash at the Bee Hive.
WEEK 8 … Friday, October 17 at Lakewood … 7pm
Head Coach: Mike Ribar (1st year)
Last Year: With the SWC and the neighboring West Shore Conference both sitting with seven teams, the powers that be inside both loops came up with the brilliant idea of having a crossover game for two seasons. Brecksville was matched up with Lakewood.
Records fell by the bushel full as the Bees ran roughshod over the Rangers in a 49-14 victory at home. The 49 points were the fifth highest single-game total in school history. And Brecksville rushed for 337 yards with Milano and Timmy Tupa leading the ground assault.
This year BBHHS will make its way to the corner of Bunts and Madison where the hot dogs are hot and the Pepsi is cold. Tailgating real estate is severely limited at Lakewood unless you just want to pull into someones drive and set up camp. With that in mind plan on heading to the Mad House on Madison early so you can partake in little pregame refreshment at one of the numerous establishments that can be seen outside the south end of the venerable ballpark.
WEEK 9 … Friday, October 24 vs Berea-Midpark … 7pm (Senior Night)
Head Coach: Ray Hradek (2nd year)
Last Year: By week nine last season the freshly minted Titans had matured beyond the merger adjustment period and gave Brecksville a tussle. The Bees would overcome a first play touchdown by B-M to register 27 unanswered points. Senior defensive end Troy Lang scored a touchdown on a blocked punt and the win kept Jason Blacks record, as both a player and coach at Finnie Stadium, spotless.
Ray Hradek is another one of those wily veteran coaches whose (2nd year) tag is a misnomer. Hradek has been around as a coach at; Midpark, Brunswick, Baldwin-Wallace and Independence. He now has well over a year under his belt with the Titans. And that makes them a team to be reckoned with this season.
WEEK 10 … Friday, October 31 at Westlake … 7pm
Head Coach: Mark Campo (6th year)
Last Year: The Bees put the crowning achievement on their record-breaking season with a 39-14 victory over the Demons on Senior Night at the Hive. The win locked up a first-round home playoff game and sent the seniors into the post-season and the programs historical annals by tying for the second best regular season record in school history.
Brecksville will be playing in its Southwestern Conference swan song when they travel to Hilliard Boulevard to pull down the curtain on the ’14 regular season. The weather at Lou Duchez Field has been nothing but devilish the last three times the Bees played in the slop at Westlake. In Dick Goddard is true to form, bring your umbrella and rain slicker.
Bees Notebook:
The composite record of Brecksville’s regular season opponents in 2013 was 43-60. This season, seven of the ten teams on the Bees ledger will be coached by guys in either their first or second year at their respective schools. The two big outliers here however are Dlugosz and Hradek. This will be Jason Black’s sixth year as head coach at Beeville.
In the Division II playoff opener, played at Community Stadium on November 8, Timmy Tupa ran for 187 yards against Painesville Riverside, which is the fifth best single game performance in school history. Matt Galland, now at Air Force, holds the school record with a 250-yard outburst against North Olmsted in 2010.
In the Bees second-round playoff game against Madison a week later, senior linebacker Colton Czack was all over the field, coming up with 19 total tackles against the rugged Blue Streaks.
Brecksville won its sixth league championship in the modern era of the program in 2013. The modern era is considered from 1983 to the present. In that ’83 season the Bees went 13-0 on their way to a Division II state title. The quarterback on that team? None other than current offensive coordinator Tom Tupa.
Timmy Tupa graduated with 244 career points and 34 career touchdowns. Both school records by a wide margin. Timmy Football tallied 152 points during his incredible 2013 campaign.
In an ironic twist Tupa, now at Navy, will get to see his dads’ alma mater up close and personal when the Midshipmen open the 2014 season by playing Ohio State. The Saturday, August 30 game will be played in Baltimore at the home of the Ravens, M&T Bank Stadium. The noon kickoff will be televised by CBS.
Congratulations to former Bee Grant Cunningham who made the Ohio University football team as a walk-on defensive back. Grant is a sophomore academically and will have four seasons of athletic eligibility.
The high school nickname of the day is the: Abington (PA) Galloping Ghosts.
See You At The Bee Hive!
To contact: Ddipa67834@aol.com.
Follow the Lady Bees volleyball team on-line at: beesvolleyball.com.
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