BRUINS INVADE ON OPENING NIGHT

By Dom DiPasqua/Staff Writer

Monday night, August 24, 2015

BROADVIEW HEIGHTS – Turn on the lights and let’s get this party started! It is finally football season in the great state of Ohio. And from Portsmouth to Port Clinton stadium lights will gleam, bands will march, fans will fill the stands and the action gets underway.

Community Stadium, a ballpark that sits just off Mill Road, is the place to be and be seen Friday night when Padua Franciscan comes calling for a 7:00 pm kickoff with the Bees. The non-conference clash is the first-ever meeting between the two schools in football.

The Bruins, under longtime head coach Tony Shuman, finished the 2014 season with a 2-8 overall record. They went 0-5 in the North Coast League – Blue Division. Padua’s wins were over Brush (21-14) and arch rival Holy Name (47-21) in a NCL crossover contest. The brown and orange went 2-3 on the road last year.

Brecksville, which went 3-2 at home last autumn, is coming off its second consecutive trip to the Division II playoffs. The Bees logged an 8-3 overall slate in 2014. They went 5-1 (2nd place) in their final season in the Southwestern Conference.

Despite having a tough year Padua is known as a physical and fundamentally sound football program. Shuman, who is an alum and former player, was mentored by the legendary Tom Kohuth. It is safe to say that there is a bit of old-school football remaining in his blood. The North Coast League is widely regarded as a smash-mouth grouping of parochial schools. These are kids who, for the most part, came up through the CYO ranks and they only know one way to play – all out.

“Padua is definitely well-coached. They are a tough football team. I do know that they are somewhat big up front. And they did some nice things in their scrimmage with North Royalton,” veteran BBHHS head coach Jason Black said. “Padua is going to present us with some problems. They have athletes on the outside that we have to match-up with.”

The Bees, who will be playing their first regular season game on a new artificial playing surface, will start junior Luke Strnad at quarterback. Strnad was Brecksville’s leading rusher last season. He gained 584 yards on the ground and scored six touchdowns. He passed for well over 2,400 yards and threw 32 TD passes.

It’s not like Strnad won’t have anyone to throw to Friday night. Brecksville will start four wide receivers, led by senior Tyler Tupa. The OU recruit hauled in 81 passes and reached the end zone on 20 of them his junior year. Tupa will create a match-up challenge for the Bruins and will most-likely see double-coverage.

Defensively seniors Danny Shirilla, Niall Lewison and Ryder Seballos will do their best to make Padua’s inaugural trip to the Bee Hive a long night. Shirilla is a crafty veteran in the secondary. Lewison plays the run and the pass equally well out of his star position. And Seballos will apply pressure on the Bruins quarterback with his incredible speed off the edge.

“We will have to play consistently throughout. We play a lot of new teams this season and Padua is one of them,” Shirilla said after last Friday’s home scrimmage against Painesville Riverside. “We really have to keep doing what we were able to do in our second scrimmage. And that is keep ‘pounding the rock’, as we like to say, for the entire game.”

Black would like to see a consistent effort and energy level from beginning to end against Padua, something that was lacking in the Riverside scrimmage. “We have to keep our intensity. These kids haven’t played a 48-minute football game yet this year. So they don’t know how long that really is. You have to keep up your intensity the entire time. And go with the ebbs and flows of the game,” Black said on what the recipe for victory will be Friday. “We will have to maintain our intensity and tempo. And not get down on ourselves when things don’t go our way. There are about 100 plays in a game. Padua is going to make some plays. We need to pick ourselves up when that happens and move on to the next play. We need to keep teaching that.”

 

BEE HIVE BUZZ:

Senior wide receiver and safety Zach Venesile was named the Bees “Captain of the Week” for the Padua game. He will join Tupa, Shirilla, Seballos and Lewison for the pregame coin toss. Coach Black will announce the teams captain of the week each Monday at practice. The honor exemplifies what it means to play like a Bee; with a relentless effort, toughness and a Friday night IQ.

Congratulations to Tyler Tupa who was named an Esmark High School All-American this past week. The award recognized Tupa’s “outstanding talents, character, commitment and kindness during the 2015 school year”.

 

BRUIN HAIR IS EVERYWHERE:

Padua is a Division III school and will compete in Region 8 the next two seasons. They were in the same division and region in 2014. When the OHSAA first rolled out its new enrollment numbers in June the Bruins ended up in Division IV, Region 11. With the recent recalculations that were announced August 13 Padua finds itself back where it was a year ago.

The Padua Boosters recently raised $20,000 to help fund the Bruins athletic programs and help keep student-athlete fees affordable.

 

THIS WEEKS GAMES:

Week 1, Friday night, August 28, 2015 at 7:00 pm.

Padua at BBHHS … Into the unknown we go. Give the edge to the experienced Bees who will be motivated by having to get off to a good start against what is a very challenging schedule.  

Holy Name at Garfield Heights … You have to take Lance Reisland’s Bulldogs here.  Garfield will present too much team speed for the Green Wave, even on natural grass.

Brunswick at Highland … All eyes in Medina County will be on this one as the Hornetschristen North Gateway Tire Stadium by hosting their rivals from up the road. Too close to call for too many reasons.

Cuyahoga Falls at Kent Roosevelt … This will be a challenge trip for the Black Tigers. I’m goingwith them anyway.

Twinsburg at Copley … Look for the Tigers to get the Mike Bell era off to a fine start with a victory over the Indians. This is a match-up of Division II, Region 3 teams.

Nordonia at Mayfield … Oh my! This contest is one of the best opening night games in the area. Knights coach Jeff Fox was worried about this game last year, yet his squad pulled out a miraculous one-point win at home that launched them on their way to 13 more and a berth in the Division II state championship game. Mayfield is loaded – again. And Larry Pinto’s club will probably come out on top, especially at home. This is a key match-up of Division II, Region 3 schools. And it will feature seeding ramifications as a sub-plot, which perpetuates the old adage, “every game counts”.

North Royalton at North Ridgeville … This is a pivotal, albeit early, game for both teams. Are the Rangers a one-man team? And is that enough to de-claw the Bears? NORO needs this one and it won’t be easy. Ridgeville is the pick.

Ashland at Wadsworth … I couldn’t tell you a thing about the Arrows. Because of that I am going to keep it simple and stick with the Suburban League. The Grizzlies will grind out an opening night win.

Green at Stow-Munroe Falls … The Bulldogs have turned things around with back-to-back winning seasons. It won’t be a cinch at Green, but I think Stow comes out on top in the Battle of the Bulldogs.

Hudson at Austintown Fitch … Another week-one headliner and an inter-sectional one at that. Fitch plays a different brand of football. But I’m going with Ron Wright’s Explorers until someone knocks them off.

Joplin (MO) at Seneca (at Webb City) … The Eagles open away from home at a neutral site. They will have to “Show Me” before I can go all-in.

 

See You At The Bee Hive!

To contact: Ddipa67834@aol.com.

Follow on Twitter: @beevillesports

Follow the Lady Bees volleyball team on the worldwide web at: beesvolleyball.com.

Brecksville (2-0) hosts Cuyahoga Falls tomorrow night at 7:00 in the fabulous Bee Hive. This is the Bees first-ever Suburban League match.

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