Division II Football Overview: D-II sporting a new look this season

Avon (12-1)

Avon was the No. 1 seed in Region 10 of Division III last year and won a pair of playoff games (over Defiance and Tiffin Columbian) before falling to Sunbury Big Walnut in the regional finals.

This year, the Eagles move up to Division II and they will do so without graduated quarterback Ryan O’Rourke (who will play college football at Slippery Rock) and graduated strong safety Garrett Gronowski (Eastern Michigan). The latter had two interceptions in the 2009 Ohio North-South Classic and was named MVP of the game.

However, despite those losses, Avon returns a solid squad and could be in the mix for a playoff bid. The team will be led by Zak Wearsch who is entering his third season as a starter. But this year he will have a much-larger role as the main ball carrier at tailback. In 2008 playing fullback, he had 295 rushing yards (4.3 yards per carry) and two touchdowns. He also had 14 receptions for 178 yards (12.7 yards per catch) and five touchdowns.

Jake Shagovak returns as the starting center and might also play some defensive line this season. Josh Conrad is a three-year starter and last season he had 64 tackles, four tackles-for-loss, one sack and one forced fumble. Brandon Mahaffey is a returning starter at cornerback where he had two interceptions last year. He will also play wide receiver this year. SS Patrick Furnas was the fourth-leading tackler on the team last year (66) including seven for loss. He also had a sack, a fumble recovery and an interception.

Head coach Mike Elder is not sure who will replace O’Rourke as the starting quarterback.

“We have four guys competing for the spot,” he said.

Avon Lake (8-3)

Avon Lake was the No. 5 seed in the Region 6 playoffs last year and lost at Medina Highland in the first round. The Shoremen return an impressive group of players and should be better this season.

OL Christian Pace is a verbal commitment to Michigan. He is ranked as the 17th-best senior in the state by Ohio High, making him the highest-rated Division II player in the state.

OL/DL Dan Schneider is ranked No. 40 in the state by Ohio High and was a second-team All-Ohio selection last year. He has scholarship offers from Air Force, Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Colorado, Florida State, Indiana, Louisville, Miami U., Ohio, Pittsburgh and Toledo. Ohio State is also taking a close look at him.

Mike Mansnerus returns as the bell-cow tailback. Last season, he piled up 1,700 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns in just eight games. OT/DE Brian Mihalek is the top player in Avon Lake’s junior class and he will be a two-way starter.

“He has great tools,” head coach Dave Dlugosz said. “Good size and good speed (4.8 in the 40).”

FB/LB Nick Marinkov returns as a two-way starter and he is a strong and quick player that “plays downhill and has great hands out of the backfield.” DL Jon Rodgers is coming off an injury and Dlugosz is happy to have him back due to his good size and athletic ability. Jordan Market and Kevin Morissette are returning starters that bring leadership to the secondary. The latter also plays offense as a wideout.

Dlugosz is entering his 17th season at Avon Lake and has a career record of 168-32. The Shoremen won a state championship under his watch in 2003.

Lexington (11-1)

The Minutemen were the No. 3 seed in Region 6 last year and their only loss of the season came at the hands of eventual Division II state champion Sylvania Southview in the regional semifinals. This season, they have larger plans in mind.

Courtney Avery has verbally committed to Michigan and is ranked as the No. 28 senior in the state by Ohio High. He will play corner in college and he previously committed to Stanford before switching to UM. Avery has been Lexington’s varsity starting quarterback since the first game of his freshman year and he was named first-team All-Ohio as a defensive back last year. He was also stellar as a quarterback in 2008 when he threw for 2,600 yards with 26 touchdowns and just three interceptions (and completed 71 percent of his passes). Avery was named the Ohio Cardinal Conference offensive player of the year.

Kevin Smith returns to lead the defense from his linebacker spot and he had 80 tackles and seven sacks last year. He was named honorable mention All-Ohio, first-team all-district and first-team all-league. OL/DT David Willis is entering his third season as a starter and he was named honorable mention all-district and second-team all-league. Zach Myers and Willis are very comparable players. They are similarly-sized linemen that start both ways and they claimed identical postseason awards last year (HM all-district, second-team all-league).

Terrance Cyphers plays next to Smith at linebacker and was nearly as productive last year. Cyphers had 78 tackles, five sacks, one interception and was named second-team all-league. Tyler Hamman is steady at strong safety and last year he had 65 tackles, one interception and was named second-team all-league.

As if they weren’t already stockpiled with talent, the Minutemen also welcome in a pair of talented transfers from Mansfield Senior in Shaquille Jefferson and Kenya Coombs. Jefferson is the younger half-brother of former Ohio State safety Jamario O’Neal and has scholarship offers from Bowling Green and Central Michigan. Coombs was a starter at quarterback and wide receiver at Mansfield, but he won’t play any QB for Lexington unless something unfortunate happens to Avery.

Maple Heights (6-4)

The Mustangs barely missed the playoffs last year when they finished ninth in the Region 5 computer standings (the top eight teams get in). This season, they move over to Region 6 and will likely be a postseason contender once again.

OL/DT Dominic Flewellyn is ranked as one of the top 150 seniors in the state by Ohio High and he has scholarship offers from Bowling Green and Toledo.

Devonte Ransom is an explosive tailback and he rushed for over 1,000 yards in just five games last season before going down with a season-ending injury. The good news for Ransom is that he doesn’t have just one standout offensive lineman leading the way for him in Flewellyn. Maple Heights also has Donauon Garner who is ranked as one of the top 10 junior offensive linemen in the state by Ohio High.

The top returning defense player is Todd Blackman who head coach Todd Filtz calls “an athletic linebacker and a playmaker.”

Taking over at quarterback is the diminutive but quick Washington who is a transfer from the Ginn Academy in Cleveland.

Overall, the Mustangs are eager to rev it up for the 2009 season.

“We’re expecting a lot more this year,” Filtz said. “Last year was our first year taking over as a staff. We actually had enough playoff points to make the playoffs last year, but something out of our control took that away from us. East Liverpool had to forfeit two games which took away points from us (Maple Heights beat East Liverpool). We were seventh and we would have played Shaw in the first round of the playoffs. We found out the Monday before our last game that (East Liverpool) had to forfeit and that it would cost us computer points. So, that was a tough pill to swallow for our team last year.

Normandy moves over from Region 5 where it finished in 14th place last year. However, with almost the entire team returning, the Invaders believe it will be tough to keep them from entering the playoffs this year.

Jake Squirek is one of the top 150 seniors in the state according to Ohio High magazine and is the son of former NFL linebacker Jack Squirek. Last season, he had 1,500 rushing yards (seven yards per carry) and 16 touchdowns. He also returned an interception 50 yards for a touchdown.

Casey Pierce returns at quarterback and he was solid in his first year in the role in 2008 with 600 passing yards, 300 rushing yards and a total of 10 touchdowns (seven passing, three rushing). Mike Travvagliante returns as a two-way starter and he had 450 rushing yards last year.

Mike Samjilenko is extremely strong, plays low and returns to anchor both lines. Also returning as a productive starter on both lines is Ryan Fitzsimmons.

Mike Louis is the team’s No. 3 running back and he had around 300 rushing yards last year. But more importantly, he is the Invaders’ “shutdown corner” according to head coach Rich Turner.

Normandy went into battle last year with an inexperienced team for the most part. But with a talented group returning, the Invaders hope “D Day” in 2009 will be in reference to them playing the first weekend of December.

“We have pretty much the team we had last year," Turner said. "We had a brutal schedule last year and we played four teams that got to the second round of the playoffs and five playoff teams overall. Our schedule gets a little easier this year. We don’t play Massillon this year. But we do open the season with four playoffs teams with Madison, Poland, Brecksville and Twinsburg. That is definitely the meat of our schedule. We should know how good we are after that stretch."

Toledo Central Catholic (10-1)

The Irish rolled through the regular season undefeated and were the No. 1 seed in Region 6 last year, but fell in the first round of the playoffs at home to Powell Olentangy Liberty (which moved up to D-I this year). This season, TCC is loaded with talent as usual.

TE/DL Jamaal Tarrent is ranked as one of the top 150 seniors in the state by Ohio High and has a scholarship offer from Akron. Last season, he had 36 tackles, 15 tackles-for-loss and nine sacks.

Chris Boles is ranked as one of the top 30 juniors in the state by Ohio High’s Mark Porter and he is one of two main starters back on the offensive line.

Dempsey is also high on Kyle Cameron who is ranked as one of the top 50 juniors in the state by Ohio High.

Dave Walender returns as the starting quarterback and he threw for 1,147 yards (53 percent completion) with 12 touchdowns and five interceptions last year. Three of his interceptions came in the final game of the season when Central Catholic was upset in the first round of the playoffs.

Nate Hobbs is a talented athlete that will play all over the field. He is even Walender’s backup at quarterback.Last season, Hobbs had 29 receptions for 546 yards and five touchdowns. He added 12 carries for 62 yards and another touchdown. The bad news for the Irish was that Hobbs missed the final three games of the season due to injury (including the playoff game).

Messer returns to lead the secondary and he had 56 tackles from his strong safety spot last season.

Central Catholic also has a solid kicker in Kyle Burkhardt (5-of-9 on field goals with a long of 48; 30-for-30 on extra points).

“We have a nice group of kids coming back,” head coach Dempsey said. “We need our tailback situation to sort itself out and we have about five candidates, but no one with varsity experience for a season, or even a game. We have to throw the ball better this year and we have our quarterback and receivers back. We need to mix in the pass to help our running backs develop. We have a solid foundation on the offensive line, but we can’t afford any injuries.”

The Bearcats are moving down from Division I this year. Last season, they finished in 14th place in Region 1.

The Blue Devils must replace graduated quarterback Eric Page who was Ohio’s Division II co-offensive player of the year last season.

The Panthers finished 11th in Region 6 last year and their only losses came at the hands of Holland Springfield and eventual state champ Sylvania Southview.

The Bulldogs placed No. 10 iin Region 5 last year and they’ll see if their bark is any bigger in Region 6. But they have to replace a talented class that graduated.

The Knights placed No. 17 in Region 6 last year, but they have a solid group returning led by defensive end Chris Rock (6-5, 245, Jr.). He is ranked as the No. 2 DE in the state by Ohio High in the 2011 class and that’s no joke.

            Berea (5-5), Bowling Green (5-5), Cleveland Collinwood (1-9), Cleveland JFK (6-4), Cleveland South (7-3), Grafton Midview (5-5), Lorain Southview (1-9), Mansfield Madison (2-8), Mansfield Senior (2-8), North Ridgeville (6-4), Norwalk (0-10), Rocky River (6-4), Sandusky (4-6), Sylvania Northview (2-8), Toledo Rogers (3-6), Toledo Scott (2-8), Toledo Woodward (0-10), Westlake (2-8).