Leetonia Bears Pass on Rushing History
    It seems that since the dawn of time, or in this case, the the founding of football at Leetonia High School, the Bears program has predicated itself on being a run oriented offense.  With a history of outstanding backs such as Aaron Merrill, Scotty Kyser, Nick Mango, and even back in the 1980's with the Brooks brothers the Bears have built a long tradition of winning games by running the ball and wearing down they're opponents.  However this year it has all changed.  The Bears have found a tremendous quarterback in Lance Tullis, a quality receiver in the likes of Justin Collela, and a new weapon that would make fun-and-gun coach Steve Spurrier proud.
    Obviously this is high school football, so the running game is still extremely important to the Bears and coach Matt Altomare arsenal, but they have put the ball in the air much more than any time in recent memory.  Bears QB Lance Tullis has completed 78 of 124 passes for 1,194 yards and 10 touchdowns.  Those numbers represent the second most passing yards and touchdown passes in the league.
     On the receiving side, Colella has 22 receptions on the year for 567 yards and 6 touchdowns.  All of those marks are second among the league leaders.  Kyle Gary has added 8 receptions for 124 yards, Seth McNally has 10 receptions for 115 yards, and Cody Stokes has 107 yards on 7 receptions to give the Bears numerous receiving weapons for their quarterback.
     Sometimes those numbers can be mis-leading if a team is constantly passing in games as they try to come from behind, but for the Bears it has been something that has allowed them to be balanced, and keep oppossing defenses on their heels.  Through the first nine weeks of the 2009 season the Bears have recorded a 5 and 4  record, outscoring their opponents 206 to 110.
    Coach Altomare doesn't neccessarily look at the passing game as something that is planned, but something the Bears have been able to do based upon what the defenses have given them.  Altomare looks at the ability to pass as a key to being balanced, not really looking at his team as a passing offense. "I'm looking at our stats right now, and we have 1260 yards passing, and 1230 yards rushing.  So that's about as balanced as your going to get."  But Altomare would admit that this has been an unusual year in Leetonia, "This is the first year that I can remember in a long time that we have had more passing yards than rushing yards."
     With the Bears running the wing-t offense for years, great running backs are a bi-product of the offensive scheme.  However Altomare would point out that they had a very good passer just as recently as last year.  "A lot of people don't know, but Josh (Selway) threw a real nice ball.  Josh in any other system would have definetly been a 1200 yard passer.  He ended up with about 2,000 yards passing.  His passing was overshadowed by his running."
     The 2009 season in Leetonia may be remembered as a season that saw the Bears break from tradition, but it will always be a hard-nosed football program.  The tremendous athletes that coach Altomare had this year gave him an opportunity to show off those talents.
Photo courtesy: The Vindicator