ITCL Previews Upper Tier

Crestview Rebels 2006:  9-3, 5-2 ITCL

Columbiana Clippers 2006:  10-3,  5-2 ITCL

2007 Schedule: 08/24 (A) LaBrae 08/31 (H) Marlington 09/07 (H) Southern 09/14 (H) East Palestine 09/21 (A) South Range 09/28 (A) Lisbon 10/05 (H) Mineral Ridge 10/12 (H) Springfield 10/19 (A) United 10/26 (A) Columbiana

2006 Results: LaBrae W  45-12  Marlington W  32-0  Berkshire W  28-7  South Range L  6-7  David Anderson W  27-6  Mineral Ridge L  24-30  Springfield W  42-21  United W  34-27  Columbiana W  10-0  East Palestine W  34-14  Northwestern W  29-13  South Range L  7-21

2006 Results: Malvern W 21-19 Leetonia W 14-7 Western Reserve W  28-6 Springfield W  28-7 Mineral Ridge W  33-16 Lisbon W  34-6 South Range L  14-20 ot East Palestine W  32-0 Crestview L  0-10 United W  27-0  Windham W  41-0  Western Reserve W  14-9  Mogadore L  14-21

2007 Schedule: 08/24 (H) Malvern 08/31 (A) Leetonia 09/07 (A) Western Reserve 09/14 (H) United 09/21 (A) Springfield 09/28 (A) Mineral Ridge 10/05 (H) Lisbon 10/12 (H) South Range 10/19 (A) East Palestine 10/26 (H) Crestview

The Clippers came within 16 points of being undefeated, and winning the first ITCL Upper Tier Championship in 2007.  They also lost a heartbreaking 21-14 game against Mogadore in the Regional Championship.  Along the way the Clippers beat a very good Western Reserve team twice, and proved that a D6 team can indeed compete with the Range’s and Crestview’s in the Upper Tier of the ITCL.

The highlight of the Rebels 2006 season would probably be their dominating performance in the 1st round of the OHSAA playoffs.  Without many giving the Rebels a chance against Region 17 favorite Northwestern, the Rebels proved everyone wrong by beating the Huskies 29-13.  As head coach Paul Cusick enters his 9th season, he will look to capture the pride of that win, and use it to motivate this year’s team.      Much like South Range, Crestview will reload again in 2007 despite losing several key players due to graduation.  Some of their losses will be All-ITCL stars Andrew Kestner, Andrew Gates, Coty Bilsky, Shayn Danks, Andrew Goldberg, Eric Whittenberger, and Craig Noel.  Some other key players that are gone are Zech Parker, Dewey Buhecker, Keith Zeitler, and Travis Gustafson.  On the bright side, the Rebels will welcome back All-ITCL SB Keith Drewnoski (179 carries, 1,055 yards, 17 TD’s), QB Tony Britton, and OL/DL Nick Robinson.  They also return HB/LB Josh Orr, SB/DB Corey Hill, QB/DB Cameron Reynolds, SE Dan Netwick, OL Justin Stevens, and DL Nick Oliver.      The Rebels will open their 2007 season at Labrae on (8/24), before starting a three game home stand including two other non-conference games.  Those games will include Marlington (8/31), and Southern (9/7).  The league schedule will include road games at South Range (9/21), at Lisbon (9/28), at United (10/19), and at Columbiana (10/26).  In between those road games is a two game home stand with Mineral Ridge (10/5), and Springfield (10/12).  If the Rebels can break their “Raider jinx”, and not get surprised by anyone this year, they will have a new highlight in 2007 that may be remembered for years to come in Rebel Country.

With the loss of one of the top running backs in the ITCL in Joey Winters (1051 yards, 16 TD’s), along with All-ITCL stars Chris Dozier, Chris McIntyre, Chad Stouffer, Mackie McGarry, Cory Guy, Tony Giannone, and Anthony Malone, the Clippers have a lot of big holes to fill this fall.  Along with these All-ITCL performers, the Clippers also lose QB/WR Jarrett Welton, and TE/DE Brandon Barnhouse.  The Clippers will have a few returning players with some big game experience in QB Ryan Williams, HB Brian Warchol, FB/LB Josh Hertel, and OL/DL Ben Gerlach.  Despite the lack of experience, don’t be surprised to see Coach Spaite (who enters his 14th season) having the 2007 Clippers fired up and ready to play.      In looking at the Clippers 2007 schedule, they will open the season at home against Malvern (8/34), then the next two weeks will be difficult games at Leetonia (8/31) and Western Reserve (9/7).  As far as league play, they benefit by having South Range (10/12), and Crestview (10/26) at home.  However, the Clips will have to travel to Springfield (9/21), and Mineral Ridge (9/28) in consecutive weeks.  Look for those back-to-back tough games against Leetonia-Western Reserve, and Springfield-Mineral Ridge to be the tell tale sign of how good the 2007 Clipper’s team will be.