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Swank on Sports
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Hillsdale Falcons High School Athletics
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Hillsdale
Edges Smithville Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Jason Snow
Hillsdale scored twice in the top of the seventh inning and held off
Smithville (6-5) in a game in the Wayne County Athletic League on Thursday.
Hillsdale (5-2,4-2) shares second place in the league with Norwayne,
two games behind Waynedale.
Coach Jason Snow says his kids hung in there and really battled to
get the win. “We had to work
hard. Smithville’s pitcher has
been pitching very well. I
thought our kids swung the bats very well.
Aiden Hoffman started for us and threw a great game and we just kept
battling. We got behind early,
took the lead, got behind again, and our kids battled in the seventh inning
to take the lead and win the game,” said Snow.
Snow says they played a lot of close games this year and that has
hardened them more for later in the season.
“We've went through a lot of it.
We have a lot of young kids playing, so it's a lot of firsts,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “We've had a lot of close games.
It's kind of a positive for us going down the road as you get closer
to the end of the year and tournament time and big games that we've gotten
bunts down, our pitchers are doing a better job of throwing into the strike
zone. We have too many miscues
defensively, but something we can clean up.
I think it's been a great opportunity for our younger kids to learn
on the job.”
The Falcons had three errors in the win over Smithville on Thursday.
So, did the Smithies.
Hillsdale will play Rittman in their league series next week.
Snow says they have been telling their young pitchers to get ahead in
the count and they did a good job of that on Thursday.
“I think our big thing is we really are harping on getting strike
one. I thought (Thursday) our
pictures did a nice job, whether it was throwing a curveball or locating
their fastball, of getting that first pitch strike.
It's so much easier to pitch from ahead.
I think that's why the last few games we have been much more
successful kind of relying on our defense to make plays,” he said. Published 4/18/25 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
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Hillsdale
Preparing Some Young Guys
Hillsdale is going to be a young ball club this year and hopefully
one that will be better in May than it is in March.
Coach Jason Snow says they are trying to figure out how all of the
pieces fit together. “We have
a lot of things we're trying to figure out.
We're very young, we only have two seniors this year.
We do have four returning starters in our program.
So, we're kind of trying to figure things out right now.
We lost our top two pitchers, so we're relying on some guys to step
in similar to what Jack Fickes and Gavin Casdorph did for us last year.
Our big thing right now is throwing strikes and that's been an issue
with us to pound the strike zone. I
think if we do that, we have some guys that have some confidence because
we've had that success and it'll give us some opportunities.
That's what we've been focusing on here early in the year and trying
to get some comfort in this with guys and get them confident in their
abilities,” said Snow.
Hillsdale has been a solid program and this has been an excellent
sports year for Hillsdale and Snow hopes that leads to confidence.
“We expect a lot. We
had a scrimmage with Ashland and we just talked about we've proven nothing.
We have confidence because a lot of these kids have been around.
Several of these guys played last year, but it's a new batch of
guys,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday evening, “We have a lot of
guys that are in new positions. In
fact, of all of our returners coming back we have one guy that's going to be
in the same position he was last year, so we're hoping that confidence and
that success carries over and can help give us a little bit of a lift this
year.”
Highland provides the opposition for the Falcons in their opener on
March 29. They play Northwestern
April 1 and 2 in their first Wayne County Athletic League games of the
season.
Snow says the scrimmages they have going into those games are going
to vital for them. “I think
it's showing our guys, some of our younger guys, it's a different level, the
varsity level. Some guys have
had taken a couple on the chin. Maybe
whether it's at their at bats or the hitters they are facing.
It's a different animal than playing JV baseball.
So, I think we're learning every day.
We have another scrimmage (Thursday) with Medina Buckeye. That'll
be a good opportunity to measure ourselves some more.
Another scrimmage next week and then we'll get ready to roll opening
day,” he said. Published 3/20/25 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
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Hillsdale
Faces Ohio’s All-Time Leading Scorer
Hillsdale takes on Cornerstone Christian in a division VII regional
semifinal at Barberton High School on Tuesday.
The winner of the game would play either Norwalk St. Paul, the
Firelands Conference champion, or Warren JFK in the regional final.
Coach Ben Ferguson says the Falcons (19-6) are playing their best
basketball right now and it began in a loss to Smithville, a regional
qualifier in division VI. “I
felt that toward the end of the year we were really starting to peak.
We ran into a tough Smithville squad we shot like 80% on us in the
first half, but even the second half of that game.
We outscored Smithville in the second half of that game.
I even took some positives on how we played in an 18 point loss, but
that was really when I saw from there on out, I really think that we've been
playing really good,” said Ferguson.
Cornerstone Christian (18-8) features Quinn “Turtle” Kwasniak,
who Saturday because Ohio’s All-time leading scorer in Patriots (84-44)
win over Berlin Central Western Reserve in the district final, passing John
Diebler.
Ferguson says he is more than just a shooter.
“He can handle the ball pretty well.
What happens is everybody spends so much effort energy and focus on
keeping them off the three-point line that he's able to get downhill just by
people being so aggressive trying to run him off the three-point shot.
When he gets downhill, he's actually what goes unnoticed is he's a
pretty good passer,” he said.
The Falcons are likely going to have to score a lot of points to win
and Ferguson says they are probably going to have to do it against a zone.
“We expect that they'll go to a zone.
We thought that Heartland Christian go to a zone, they were a little
undersized compared to us, and they played us man the whole time and we
ended up doing real well.” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night,
“We think Cornerstone will press us the whole time.
We think they're going to fall back to a zone.
We've seen it a lot this year. We
have a dominant big man and everybody likes to play zone against us.
We've really gotten pretty good with the zone offense.
It starts for us on the inside and then we can move out to some
outside shots, but I think we'll be okay.” Published 3/04/25 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale in a Groove
Hillsdale,
a winner seven of its last nine, will play at Chippewa in a Wayne County
Athletic League game on Friday night.
They are at Rittman on Saturday in “WCAL” play.
On Tuesday night, they beat Northwestern (69-52) in a league game.
Coach Ben Ferguson says they gave great effort.
“We came in and we played really hard.
It was home game and we had a really big crowd.
It's what I'll call it a crosstown rivalry.
It's our nearest geographically located Wayne County League school.
It was a nice crowd and the boys played really well.
I think their team played really hard. I
give them a lot of credit for playing hard.
A couple of their guys have big nights.
(Mason) Myers had a big night and Wahied (Fasihi) had a big night
they had 18 and 16 points. We
came away with the win,” said Ferguson.
After a late start to their season, Ferguson says they are starting
to hit their stride. “I'm
really happy. We just got a late
start due to football and at times it's physical fatigue, at times it's
mental fatigue, it's a lot of games. We're
playing three times a week. At
this point in time, I think that we're heading in the right direction
heading into the tournament,” he said.
Hillsdale (13-5,7-4) over at Chippewa (9-10,5-7) on Friday night.
Tuesday night the Chipps beat Rittman (61-30) in league play.
They also beat Hillsdale (66-57) on January 3.
Ferguson says Chippewa just couldn't miss that night.
“The last time we played Chippewa they got us at home.
It was earlier in the season. They
scored 66 points, which is quite a bit more than what we typically give up.
We typically give up under 50,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Tuesday night, “They shot really well and we shot very poorly.
I give them a lot of credit. That's
a team that really scraps and hustles. They
beat us down the floor six or seven times throughout the game and inevitably
turned into a three-point shot not even a layup, but a three-point shot.
I think they shot 67% from three against this last time.” Published 2/05/25 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
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Hillsdale
off to Good Start
Hillsdale, in a share of the lead in the Wayne County Athletic
League, plays at Northwestern on Friday in a league action.
The Falcons beat Waynedale (66-49) in their only league game so far
last Friday. On Saturday, they
downed Strasburg-Franklin (47-37) in non-league play.
Coach Ben Ferguson says they only had limited time together, but he
is pleased with what he has seen. “We've
been at it now for a couple weeks. We've
had I think nine practices and three games all within about 14 days of being
able to start the season after football.
Things are going okay, the boys like to compete and they're playing
really hard right now,” said Ferguson.
Ferguson says they have a lot of guys that are very good with ball in
their hands. “Listen we have a
team that can put the ball in the basket for sure.
We have good shooters, we have athletes, we have a dominant big man
with Brady Krichbaum and scoring right now has certainly you know come a
little easy for us,” he said.
Hillsdale (3-0,1-0) visits Northwestern (0-6,0-3) on Friday night.
The Huskies lost (64-58) to Rittman in league play last week.
Ferguson says they respect Northwestern, but he doesn't know anything
about what they bring to the table. “I
really haven't had an opportunity to take a look. I
haven't seen any film. I'm not
sure exactly what they have going on,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Thursday night, “What I will say is I have the greatest respect for every
league team and certainly every coach in the league.
So, we're going in (Friday) expecting a dogfight and we're going to
play as hard as we can from tip off until the final buzzer sounds.
We hope to get out of there with a “W.” Published 12/27/24 © Swankonsports.com Follow our scoreboard Friday night For constant updates beginning with the kick |
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Hillsdale
With Underdog Role
Hillsdale plays in its first ever state championship game on Friday
morning as they play 14 time state champion Marion Local in the division VII
final at Benson Stadium in Canton.
The Falcons (14-1) advanced to the final with a come from behind
(25-22) win over Danville last Friday.
Coach Trevor Cline says they were able to make some key adjustments.
“At the beginning of the game, the first half there, they were able
to move the ball at will. We
were having a hard time slowing down their run game and credit to our
defensive staff they made a couple of adjustments at halftime.
Danville really didn’t have an answer to it.
Partly it was just our guys to just matching their physicality
because in the first half they didn't match that and Danville was able to
bully us and we were able to find a way to slow that down in the second
half,” he said.
Marion Local (15-0) smoked previously unbeaten Columbus Grove (41-6)
last week.
Cline says they have no weaknesses.
“Marion Local, they're good as advertised.
Watching them on film, they're just extremely impressed with just how
fundamental they are. They do
make mistakes though. They're
high school players, so there are mistakes, and we have to be able to take
advantage of those. When they do
make mistakes the teams that have been able to do that have been able to
move the ball at times. Just a
very solid team when you're looking across the board on the offensive and
defensive side of the ball and even on special teams there's not really any
weak links that you can just consistently attack.
It's going to be a great opportunity for us to get to play for a
state championship and we look forward to going up against a program like
theirs,” said Cline.
The Flyers feature a very strong running game and Cline says they
can’t let them dominate the time of possession.
“You have got to find a way to get off the field against them.
They run the football so well if you can't get them in a situation to
make them punt, they're going to just take up the majority of the clock.
For us our offense is high powered.
If they're playing keep away that's going to put us in a bind.
So, it's definitely one of those things that are defense has to find
a way to get off the field because we have a lot of guys going both ways, so
if they are able to eat up the clock and move the ball slowly up and down
the field it could possibly wear our guys out because they are going to be
out in the field and having players laying on them.
So, it's definitely a thing that we need to be able to find a way to
get up off the field and get them in situations where they have to punt,”
said Cline.
There aren’t going to be many people that feel Hillsdale has a
chance in this game and Cline says they must use that to their advantage.
“We have got to put them in a situation where we put the pressure
on them because at the end of the day the only people that probably believe
that we have a chance of winning this game are people within our program and
within our community. Outside of that I'm sure everyone's picking against
us. We've been an underdog
plenty of times this year. When
we were down four against Malvern with 20 some seconds to drive the like the
field for a touchdown. I doubt
anyone outside our team really believed we had a chance,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “We've been in these situations
before, so we just have got to make sure that we do the things that we do
really well and put them in a situation where we put the pressure on them
and continue to keep it a close game and go from there.
We're looking forward to this opportunity and it's one of those
things if you are a competitor this is the type of game that you're looking
forward to playing in.” Published 12/04/24 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
Again Must be Physical
Hillsdale will play in the school’s first ever state semifinal on
Friday night as they clash with the Danville Blue Devils in division VII
action at Shelby High School.
It’s two schools that are just about 30 minutes from each other,
with each finishing as runners-up in their leagues, Hillsdale in the Wayne
County Athletic League and Danville in the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference.
Northmor, who won the “KMAC”, is also alive in division VI.
Hillsdale (13-1) overwhelmed Cuyahoga Heights (44-14) in a regional
final last week, scoring three touchdowns in the first quarter.
Coach Trevor Cline says they start was key for them.
“Our players played a great game.
We got a very good start. We
knew that was going to be key to beating them is getting off to a good start
and get them out of what they like to do and that's run the football.
We were able to do that and really take care of business from the
beginning the game to the end,” said Cline.
Kael Lewis threw three TD passes, two to Hyden McFadden, and Owen
Sloan ran for 151 yards and two scores.
Cline says the whole community is pumped up about the football team
and its accomplishments. “It
is an awesome experience. This
is the first time in our program’s history that we have achieved the state
semifinals. So, it’s neat for
not only our team, but also the community too,” he said.
Danville (12-2) also had the clear upper hand in their regional final
as they blew out Beaver Eastern (40-6) last week.
Cline says again this week they will face a team that wants to be
physical and run the football. “We
played Danville a couple years ago and they're very similar to what they
were a couple years ago. They
like to run the football and we have to match physicality because if we
don't they will be able to run the football up and down the field on us,”
he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “We'll have to handle them
similar to Cuyahoga Heights. We
have to get them in second long and third and long and get them out of what
they like to do and that's run the football.
So, it's going to be an extremely physical game and it should be a
great small school football game.”
All season, teams have problems matching up with Hillsdale’s
skilled players and Cline hopes that can be an advantage again.
“Danville has a really good skill position players too.
That’s been our mismatch in a lot of games is not too many teams
have the personnel to match up with our skilled position players.
So, our goal is to put our skill position players good positions to
have success again this week. Like
I said, Danville has some very good skill position players, so we are going
to have to be creative in getting our skill position players open,” said
Cline. Published 11/26/24 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
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Hillsdale
to Play Red Hot Cuyahoga Heights
Hillsdale takes on Cuyahoga Heights in a division VII regional final
on Friday night at Orrville Red Rider Stadium.
If they win it would be the first state semifinal appearance in
school history.
They won in dramatic fashion last week when Kael Lewis found Haden
McFadden for a touchdown on the games final play, McFadden making basically
a one handed catch. Lewis
completed a similar Hail Mary pass to Brock Bower at end the first half.
Coach Trevor Cline says it was an unbelievable win.
“It was a great game. I
would say it is the most exciting game I've ever been a part of.
It was one of those things that it should have never gotten that
point. We let the lead slip
away, but sometimes that happens. Our
players were resilient and it took to the final whistle for us to be able to
finish the game off,” said Cline.
Running back Owen Sloan had a tremendous game with 285 yards rushing
and three touchdowns.
Hillsdale (12-1) meets Cuyahoga Heights (8-4) in the regional final.
The Red Wolves outlasted Warren JFK (21-18) last week.
Cline says hey have a lot of playmakers.
“They're a very good football team.
Watching them on film, they have good size, they’re physical, they
have multiple players that run the football hard.
They got off to a rough start to the year, but they have been playing
really well as of late. They had
a rough road to get to the regional finals and they had multiple upsets and
beat some very good football teams to get to the finals,” he said.
Cuyahoga Heights has a long time coach in Al Martin and they have
built a reputation of running old veer option.
Cline says they are going to see a lot of that Friday night.
“They still run the option good amount.
So, the vast majority of their run plays consist of the midline or
veer option and so they still like to do that.
They want to be able to slowly take the football down the field and
eat up as much clock as they can. They
do a good job of throwing the football too.
So, they're a run first team, but if they need to throw it they have
plenty of players that can make plays in the pass game too,” said Cline.
Cuyahoga Heights has only allowed four scores in the last two games
against very good opponents. Cline
says their defense has been the difference for them.
“I feel that they're very aggressive on defense. These
guys try to catch you by blitzing on the majority of the plays.
They just have some guys who can create mismatches with the offense,
so defensively they played really well,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Monday night, “That's been really their thing that's got them to this
point because they've held some really good football teams to low scores.
In one of the games that was 7-6 against the number one seed in the
region. So, they have played
really well down the stretch here on the offensive side, but especially on
the defensive side.” Published 11/19/24 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
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Fundamentals,
Big Plays Key for Hillsdale
Hillsdale meets Malvern in a regional semifinal in division VII on
Friday night at Massillon Perry High School.
The Falcons (11-1) advanced with a (43-14) thrashing of Windham last
week in quarterfinal play.
Coach Trevor Cline says they took control early in the game.
“I was extremely proud of our players and the way they came out and
played from the get go against Windham.
A lot of people thought that we would have a hard time slowing down
their rushing game, but that was not the case.
We were able to stop them from the get go and really they couldn't
get anything going in the running game until we started rotating in our
younger guys,” said Cline.
Quarterback Kael Lewis thew for 351 yards and three scores last week.
Lewis has thrown 27 TD passes and only six interceptions this season.
Hayden McFadden has 1116 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns in 2024.
Malvern (11-1) took out Lowellville (42-14) last week in their
quarterfinal.
Cline says the Hornets look a lot like them.
“Malvern is very similar to us.
They have a very good quarterback, they have multiple athletes out in
space that make plays, they have 1000 yard receiver.
Again, very similar to us, they have some quality wins this year,”
he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “It's going to be one of those
situations where I feel the team that's able to win the turnover battle and
be the more physical team is going to win because both teams are very
similar.”
Hillsdale has made a lot of big plays running and passing this season
and Cline says getting some of those Friday would be a plus.
“Because both teams have very good playmakers on both sides of the
ball, so whoever wins that category should win the game.
So, that's one of our focuses is trying to limit the big plays keep
everything in front of us and if they're going to score on us make sure they
have to earn it, so that's definitely true,” he said. Published 11/13/24 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
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Hillsdale
to Face Run First Windham
Hillsdale will be at home for the second straight week as they
entertain Windham in a division VII regional quarterfinal on Friday night.
In their playoff opener, the Falcons (10-1) buried Fairport Harding
(55-12) on Friday night.
Coach Trevor Cline says once they got it in gear they were pretty
good. “I thought for the most
part we played well. We didn't
get off to the best start. We
let him hang around early on, but they had a good game plan and they were
trying to eat up as much clock as they could in the first quarter to try to
keep the ball away from us, but once we were able to get going, our offense
played well,” said Cline.
Windham (10-1) outscored Southern (50-35) last week in playoff week
one.
Cline says they have an excellent run game.
“They have two 1000 yard backs.
They've been impressive team to watch on film.
They have one back that's more like the physical back and then they
have another one that's like a speed back.
They put a lot of points up throughout the entire year on their
opponent. So, we're looking
forward to the opportunity trying to slow them down,” he said.
Windham has averaged six TD’s per game this year.
Cline says they have got to keep them behind the sticks.
“With them being a run first team we have got to do a good job and
get them to play behind the chains. If
we do that we're going to put their offense in a situation they're not used
to being in.” he told Swankpnsports.com on Thursday night, “We just have
got to be disciplined and make sure on the early downs that we're doing a
good job trying to keep them in second and long and third and long because
then it takes them get out of what they like to do as an offense.”
The Falcons have some pretty good skill guys and Cline wants to put
them in position to make plays. “I
think they have multiple athletes on their defense. I
feel that our athletes if we can get them out in space, I feel that we
should be able to win a lot of those one-on-one battles.
Defensively, they just have multiple guys that I feel if you give
them an opportunity to make a play they will.
I think their defense just has a lot of good athletes on it,” said
Cline. Published 11/08/24 © Swankonsports.com Follow our scoreboard Friday night For constant updates beginning with the kick |
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Hillsdale
Opens the Playoffs on Friday
Hillsdale will be home Friday night for Fairport Harding in a first
round playoff game in division VII.
They played a Wayne County Athletic League championship game last
week against the Norwayne Bobcats. They
lost (45-21).
Coach Trevor Cline says they just couldn't make the big plays at the
right time. “We all obviously
wanted to win the league championship, be the first group that went
undefeated, but that didn't work out the way that we all were hoping for.
I was proud of our players because we got down 24-7 and we end up
making it a 24-21 football game,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday
night, “We needed to get a key stop on the following drive after making it
24-21 and we weren’t able to and things sort of spiraled out of control
where they pulled away. Our guys
played hard and we just got out played in the game.”
Hillsdale (9-1), #5 in the final Swankosports.com football coaches
poll in the small school division, hosts Fairport Harding (5-4) on Friday
night. The Skippers lost (41-25)
to Windham last week.
Cline says they have an athletic group.
“I see is they’re a younger football team just based off the guys
that they have playing, but they do have multiple guys that have had a very
good football season so far. Just
looking up their stats they have multiple guys who have thrown for a lot of
yards ran or received and got a lot of touchdowns.
So, they do have playmakers,” he said.
Cline says on defense they can’t let the Skippers get deep.
“It's one of those things where we have got to do a good job of
keeping everything in front of us because on the film they've done a nice
job of getting behind some guys on the defensive side of the ball and able
to get big plays offensively. So,
we have got to make sure that we keep everything in front of us and if we do
that we're going to be able to slow down the offense,” said Cline. Published 10/30/24 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
Wants it
Hillsdale has been one of the most competitive football teams in the
Wayne County Athletic League over the last decade, but they have not won a
conference title since 2014 and not an outright title since 2010.
They can end that drought with a win on Friday night against Norwayne.
The two schools share the lead with unbeaten conference marks.
For Norwayne it would be their sixth title in the last dozen years.
Hillsdale (9-0,6-0), #5 in the Swankonsports.com football coaches
poll in the small school division, smoked Rittman (42-7) last week.
Coach Trevor Cline says they took care of business.
“We talked to our players last week about that being a trap game
and we couldn't overlook Rittman. I
thought our players handled that really well where we went over to Rittman
and took care of business early on and then we could turn our focus to get
ready to play Norwayne,” he said.
Norwayne (8-1,6-0), #3 in our poll, beat Smithville (27-14) last
week.
Cline says they are big and athletic.
“They are another great Norwayne team.
They have good size up front and they have multiple playmakers.
I feel that their guys out in space do a great job of winning their
one-on-one battle. So, I'm
looking forward to the matchup between their good skill position players and
our good skill position players to see who can win those battles,” said
Cline.
Cline says to win a game like this you have to play a complete
football game. “You have to
play well in all three phases of the game.
Special teams play could be what ends up swinging the momentum in
your favor or out of your favorite. That's
going to be a focus this week of making sure that we have all our special
teams things cleaned up,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “I
do think we could have played better on special teams than what we have the
last few weeks. So, we'll work
on getting those fixed so if that is something that could determine a game
that we're prepared and we're ready to go out there and execute in all three
phases of the game.”
Cline says their kids will be ready physically and emotionally for
this game. “If you're a
competitor these are the games that you look forward to.
All the hard work you put in during the offseason and throughout the
season is to get ready for a game like this.
So, our players are looking forward to it.
So, if you’re a competitor this type of game that you want,” he
said. Published 10/22/24 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
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Hillsdale
Must Stop Run
Hillsdale, the co-leader in the Wayne County Athletic League, plays
at Rittman in a league game on Friday night.
The Falcons (8-0,5-0), #5 in the Swankonsports.com football coaches
poll in the small school division, plays Norwayne next week.
Last week, they routed Northwestern (36-6) in league play.
Coach Trevor Cline feels played especially well the first two
quarters of the game. “Last
week against Northwestern, I thought we took care of business, especially in
the first half,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “We got off
to a good start were able to put them away early.
In the second half there we started rotating guys in and we didn't
play as well as what I would have liked in the second half, but I felt in
first half we played really well.”
Rittman (4-4,1-4) lost (42-13) to Smithville in a league game last
week.
Cline calls the Indians dangerous.
“Rittman was picked at the beginning of the year to be one of the
top teams in the league, so they are a team that we have got to show up and
be ready to go because if not it’s going to put us in a position where
it's going to end up being a battle. I
expect it to be a good game on Friday night and we need to get off to a good
start against these guys,” said Cline.
Cline says Rittman is really going to want to run the ball and they
have to be ready to defend that. “They
have a running back that I know at the beginning of the year they were
talking about he was closing in on 6,000 yards for his career.
I know earlier this year he rushed for 400 yards in the game, so he's
a very good running back. We're
going to have to be disciplined and make him have to bounce plays instead of
running downhill on us,” he said. Published 10/16/24 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
Looking for Improvement
Hillsdale, the co-leader of the Wayne County Athletic League, will
host rival Northwestern in a league game on Friday night.
The Falcons (7-0,4-0), #5 in the Swankonsports.com football coaches
poll in the small school division, share the lead with Norwayne.
They play the Bobcats in two weeks.
They pulled away in the second half last week to beat Waynedale
(34-14) in “WCAL” play.
Coach Trevor Cline says it was not their best performance.
“We played well in the second half, especially towards the end of
the third quarter, but we still didn't play as well as we are expecting.
That's sort of been how it's been the last two weeks for some reason.
We just haven't executed the way that we have been, but we're looking
to bounce back this week against Northwestern,” said Cline.
Cline says this week they have got to play better football.
“I want to see our players play to our potential. I
feel over the last couple of weeks we haven't been able to do that.
Sometimes we get into some situations where you just don't execute
the way that you expect. So,
we've had a good week of practice so we're looking forward to getting the
opportunity to show that on Friday night,” he said.
Northwester (1-6,0-4) was buried (44-20) by Smithville in a league
game.
Cline says they have to be disciplined on defense or they will get
burned in the pass game. “Northwestern
has multiple guys that can make plays. I've
been impressed with their quarterback. He
has a good arm and he finds ways to extend the play.
If we don't cover well they're going to get behind us because they do
have athletes that he is throwing too,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Thursday night, “We have got to do a good job of putting pressure on him
and when we get an opportunity to take him down in the backfield make sure
we're doing that because he has ability to extend the play.
If he does that, they're going to get some big plays on us.
So, we just need to be disciplined to make sure that we're staying on
the guy that our defensive back is supposed to be covering and staying in
our zones because if he does escape pressure, we have those guys covered
that he's going to chuck it deep to.” Published 10/11/24 © Swankonsports.com Follow our scoreboard Friday night For constant updates beginning with the kick |
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Hillsdale
Not Getting Ahead
Hillsdale, the co-leader in Wayne County Athletic League, plays at
home against Waynedale in a league game on Friday night.
The Falcons last week needed a Owen Sloan third quarter touchdown run
to beat Smithville (14-7) in “WCAL” game.
Coach Trevor Cline says it was not their best performance, but it was
a win. “Whenever we play
Smithville they always give us a great game, especially when we play over
there. We went over there last
time they took us to overtime and then this time too they played us
extremely well. We just didn't
execute very well either. This
one of our first games where we just struggled on the offensive side of the
ball. Some of that had to do
with weather and some of it just had to do with Smithville just playing us
extremely well and it was definitely a battle for us,” said Cline.
Right now, the Falcons (6-0,3-0), #4 in the Swankonsports.com
football coaches poll in the small school division, are ranked second in the
division VII computer region, but Cline says that doesn’t mean much now.
“There's a lot of outside noise with that and obviously the
computer rankings are important but not at week six of the year. So,
we just kind of focus on continue to get better and take care of business so
that we can achieve the success that we're expecting this year,” he said.
Waynedale (1-5,1-2) was smoked (45-10) “WCAL” co-leader Norwayne
last week.
Cline says they are pretty good football team.
“Waynedale is very big and physical.
I've been impressed with them on film.
For a 1-5 football team they're really good up front and they've had
multiple close games. I know
last week with Norwayne it was 10-7 at the half.
So, they are in it the third quarter at least.
So, they are a much better football team than their record shows,”
he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “I know they played Triway and
it was 41-16 and Triway is a very good football team this year too.
So, they are much better than what their record shows.
I feel that if we don't control the line of scrimmage they're going
to give us a game. I know last
year when we played them, they had us down at half, so we had to battle back
to win that game. So, they
usually play as well too, so I feel it's going to be a battle again this
Friday.” Published 10/01/24 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
Must Stay Focused
Hillsdale travels to Smithville for a game in the Wayne County
Athletic League on Friday night.
The Falcons (5-0,2-0), #4 in the Swankonsports.com football coaches
poll in the small school division, share first place with Norwayne, after a
big (35-31) win over defending champion Dalton on Friday night.
Coach Trevor Cline says it was a huge win for them.
“It was a really quality win for us.
Anytime you get a win against Dalton that's always huge for your
program. In all three phases of
the game, we played really well. It
was one of those things where whenever you can go up against team the
caliber of Dalton and compete with them and be able to come out on top it's
always huge momentum moving forward throughout the rest of the season,”
said Cline.
Owen Sloan scored the winning TD with a fourth quarter scoring run.
Quarterback Kael Lewis threw for 361 yards and four TD’s for the
Falcons.
However, Cline knows they can’t stand still.
“It was a statement win for us just because the first four games
throughout the year they were against good teams, but we were still trying
to figure out like how would we respond against a program, especially a
program that was just in the state finals the year before,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “Our players went out there and proved
that they can compete with teams like that.
You can't let your highs get too high or your lows get too low.
So, we have got to move on to our plan this week with Smithville and
make sure we put our focus that way so we're ready to go.”
Smithville (4-1,1-1) downed Waynedale (19-14) in their “WCAL”
game last week.
The last time they played at Smithville in 2022, they had to go to
overtime to win it. Cline says
they have to be focused. “It’s
another solid Smithville team. They
have good size as a team, they're physical.
That's always a tough game for us going over to Smithville playing
against them because we are going to give them our best game and they are
going to give us their best game. There's
no really give me games in the “WCAL,” he said. Published 9/25/24 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
Must be Fundamental
Hillsdale is at home with Dalton in a game that may go a long way in
determining who wins the Wayne County Athletic League this fall.
The Falcons (4-0,1-0) destroyed Chippewa (63-0) last week in their
league opener.
Coach Trevor Cline says it was kind of a business trip for them.
“We got off to a very good start against Chippewa last week and
from the get go we just took care of business and were able to get a win and
move on from that game,” he said.
Dalton (3-1,1-0), #5 in the Swankonsports.com football coaches poll
in the small school division, and defending “WCAL” champions, hammered
Smithville (46-7) last week. Their
only loss came week one to defending state champion Kirtland (55-34) on the
road.
Cline says they have a lot of great athletes.
“Dalton is still a very good football team.
They have lost key guys from last year, but they also returned a lot
of key guys too. The thing
that's makes Dalton so impressive is their skill position players.
They still have guys that when they get out in space they make plays.
Their quarterback is just sophomore from what I've been told, but
he's a great athlete. I know he
throws a nice football, but he also runs the ball really well too.
So, he is having a great year so far and he's a very good athlete,”
said Cline.
Defense has been the calling card for Hillsdale this season.
Cline says they don’t need special plays on defense, just a lot of
very good ones. “I feel the
key to slowing those guys down is just each one of our players needs to be
doing their role each play. I
feel so far through four weeks our players have done a great job of that,
but with this team we have to be able to do that because it's not, if we
have one, two guys not doing their job, they're going to turn a play that
should be a few yards into a big time play and possibly a touchdown,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “I just want to see our guys
tackle well this week and if we do that I feel we will be able to do just
fine against them, but like I said we're going up against a great
opponent.” Published 9/18/24 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
to Face Scrappy Chippewa
Hillsdale opens play in the Wayne County Athletic League on Friday
night as the visit Chippewa to take on the Chipps.
The Falcons will be going into the game (3-0) after a (42-7) win over
Loudonville last week.
Coach Trevor Cline says they played pretty well throughout.
“Yeah, we played well again last week.
Loudonville is a team that is improving week by week and our guys
were able to go out there from the get go and just play a pretty good game.
We had a little bit too many turnovers on the offensive side of the
ball, but overall though we played well,” he said.
Chippewa (1-2) earned its first win last week in beating Akron
Coventry (12-0) in non-league play.
Cline the Chipps are going to be aggressive on defense.
“Chippewa is a fast team. Coach
(Dan) Edwards is doing a good job over there.
Their numbers went up this year.
They’re just a scrappy team. You
can't overlook anyone in the “WCAL” week in and week out.
“WCAL” is a tough league. So,
we just have got to go over there and improve and get better from week to
week and be able to capitalize on their aggression.
They like to blitz and things like that.
I want to see our guys pick the blitz, so we can get big plays,”
said Cline.
This will be the third straight road game for Hillsdale and Cline
says this going to make them a well tested team.
“It's always tough playing on the road especially when you've had
three road games in a row. We're
obviously looking forward to being able to play back at our home field, but
it’s always great to be able to play on the road such early in the season
because you get to find our what your team is made of and see how they
respond to going on the road,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday
night, “That's what we've done for the last two weeks, so we're looking
forward to going over to Chippewa and playing another great game and getting
another opportunity to play another good opponent.” Published 9/12/24 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
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Hillsdale
Has to Ready
Hillsdale is down the road at Loudonville for a non-conference
rivalry game on Friday night.
Last week, they handled Lucas (26-8) loss to push their record to
(2-0) on the season.
Coach Trevor Cline was pleased with the performance.
“Our players played well last week.
Anytime you can go down to Lucas in a tough environment and come out
there with the win, especially how we played too. Defensively, we were able
to slow down their offense and our offense played pretty well.
We didn't play as well as week one, but for a road game, we played
pretty well offensively too,” said Cline.
When you play Lucas, you must be physical and Cline says they were
that last week. “That's what
we challenged our players with all week that we need to be the more physical
team and we were able to do that once we went down the Lucas.
Obviously, Lucas is going to be physical every game, but I thought
our players matched that physicality,” he said.
Loudonville (0-2) lost (42-7) to Worthington Christian last week.
However, Cline says when they play Loudonville the records don’t
mean much. “The record doesn't
matter because whenever it's a rivalry game like it is between Loudonville
and us they're going to bring their best game.
So, we have got to show up and be ready to go because the last couple
of times we went down to Loudonville they have been able to beat us,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “It's going to be a great game
whenever it’s a rivalry game like this it's always going to be a battle,
so we show up and be ready to go from the get go.” Published 9/06/24 © Swankonsports.com Follow our scoreboard Friday night For constant updates beginning with the kick |
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Hillsdale
Needs Another Good Start
Hillsdale and Lucas is developing into a good, small school football
rivalry and it renews on Friday night at Bob Wine Field in Lucas.
The Falcons routed Black River (44-12) last week.
Quarterback Kael Lewis three six TD passes, all in the first half
last week.
Coach Trevor Cline says he was very happy with how they played last
week. “As a coaching staff we
were really happy with how we played our very first game.
Whenever you can get off to a good start like we were able to and be
efficient throughout the game it's always a positive, but we also understand
that Lucas this week is going to be a great opponent.
It's going to take more than what we were able to do on last Friday
if we're going to beat them,” said Cline.
Lucas also won big last week as they drilled Smethport, Pennsylvania
(48-12) last Saturday afternoon.
Cline says with the Cubs you expect them to run the football and
that’s what they did last week. “They're
still doing a lot of the same things as when coach (Scott) Spitler was there
and the culture that has been built there at Lucas is pretty impressive
because you know that when you go up against Lucas you're going to have to
be disciplined and you're going to have to match their physicality because
Lucas very rarely beats themselves. So,
you just have got to make sure you're being disciplined about the game if
you want to give yourself a shot to beat them,” he said.
Hillsdale beat Lucas (21-17) in a regular season game last fall, but
Lucas beat them in the playoffs (28-14) in the first round.
Now, last week the Falcons scored 23 points in the first quarter
against Black River.
Cline says they need get up early again on Friday,
“It is extremely important because that's what happened in the week
11 playoff game when we played them is we had a couple bad drives early on
and we let them get up a couple scores and we were playing catch up the rest
of the game,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “When you were
going up against an offense that likes to eat up a lot of the clock and take
control of the time of possession you can't get yourself behind because it's
going to be even bigger hole to dig yourself out of.” Published 8/27/24 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
with High Hopes
Hillsdale is one of the top level teams in the Wayne County Athletic
League and they will host the Black River Pirates in a non-conference game
on Friday night on the opening week of the season.
Coach Trevor Cline says they have come together in good form this
month. “We did see improvement
with this group. One of the
things that we always talk to our players about is just making sure we're
finding ways to get better each practice and then get better each
scrimmage,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “I feel our group
of players did that this year. They've
worked hard and from our first commissioner second scrimmage we improved
tremendously.”
Hillsdale is an experienced team and Cline says they expect to win
and they approach each game with that mentality.
“We do return a lot of players who got varsity experience last year
and each year we have high expectations for our players.
It's the same thing again this year.
We expect our guys to go out there and compete and put themselves in
position to win each Friday night,” he said.
Last season, the Falcons cruised past Black River (34-8) in the
opener.
Now, this year, Cline expects a battle from the Pirates.
“They’re coming off a great year last year.
They ended up going to 8-4 and making the second round of playoffs.
They return some of those players who played key roles for that team
last year. So, we're expecting
it to be a great game this Friday night.
I feel that they're setting themselves up to have another good year
too,” said Cline. Published 8/20/24 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
Expects to be Good
Hillsdale, who finished third in the Wayne County Athletic League
last season, should be in the mix again this year.
Coach Trevor Cline says the players are doing what they have been
asked to do this summer. “So
far, we've had a really good camp. Our
players have done a nice job showing up each day and working hard and being
coachable. Throughout the summer
we had good attendance when it came to lifting.
So, we have been with the guys a good amount since June when it comes
to lifting and we were able to get some camp days in throughout those couple
months there in the summer. So
far, we really like what we've seen out of our players,” said Cline.
Hillsdale was (8-4) a year ago and Cline says they have some quality
experience returning to the lineup. “We're
going to be a pretty experienced group just because we played a lot of
younger players last year. The
vast majority of our starters on offense and defense last year were
underclassmen and many of those players return,” he told Swankonsports.com
on Tuesday evening, “Then we have a lot of players who are ready to take
over those roles that some of our seniors left open once they graduated.
We lose a good senior group where we had multiple guys that were
playmakers for us, but we have players that are ready to step into those
roles and ready to do well.”
Cline says when it comes to preparing for the season, it’s a lot of
easier when you have kids that have done it before.
“It does help out with things.
We are making adjustments to some of the things that we have done in
the past with our personnel because you're always going to play the type of
offense or have the type of offense that best suits your players.
So, obviously there are adjustments that are going on, but with
having guys who played last year it does help the transition to be a lot
smoother,” he said. Published 8/07/24 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Defense
a Key for Hillsdale
Hillsdale meets Lake Center Christian on Thursday at Louisville High
School in a division IV regional semifinal.
If the Falcons (17-11) win they would play either Tiffin Calvert or
Warren JFK for the regional title on Friday.
Hillsdale has been a very good tournament team in recent years,
including a visit to the state tournament in 2019 and several additional
regional appearances.
Coach Jason Snow believes that experience helps them.
“I think our kids want to get there because they've seen the
success. Two years ago, we were
there. A lot of our seniors
currently were on the field in that game and that was in the regional
championship. The expectations
are high for our program right now. We
don't necessarily expect that we're just going to get to the regional, but
we talked about the importance of winning tournament games and how big of an
accomplishment it is to make the regional, it's not an easy thing to do.
I think our kids experience has led to a lot of confidence and
expectations for them to win,” he said.
Lake Center Christian (27-1) has been ranked at the top of the
statewide coaches poll. Their
only loss is to Berlin Hiland.
Snow says have outstanding pitching and they play very good defense.
“They've kind of got an experienced team.
The last two to three years they really were young.
They had freshman playing and those kids seniors.
They made a nice run last year. They've
got two strong pitchers, which is a key for a lot of teams.
That's going to be a big challenge for us.
They have great team speed. They
play fundamental baseball. They'll
move guys over, but they also steal bases,” he told Swankpnsports.com on
Wednesday night, “Defensively, that's one of the things we've noticed from
talking to other coaches and what we've heard is they're pretty solid in the
field. They don't give you a
lot, so you've got to find a way to break a couple runs across because they
don't give up a lot of runs.”
Snow says they have to control that run game.
“They’ll do a lot of fake building trying to get our players out
of position and we've talked a lot about making sure we know who's got the
base in a bunt situation. Our
shortstop is probably covering. You
have got to make the right throws. The
pitcher has got to give your catcher a chance.
Our best way to combat that is first of all we can't give them
anything. We've got to play a
clean defensive game. We can't
walk anybody. What has given us
a lot of success with our pitchers is playing solid defense ourselves. I
think if we can limit their opportunities on the bases that will give us our
best chance to win,” said Snow. Published 5/30/24 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
Scores Late; Beats Mapleton
Hillsdale put together a big rally on Tuesday evening and beat
Mapleton (9-6) in a division IV district semifinal play at Tri-C in the
Cleveland area.
They will play Ashtabula St. John, a (12-2) winner over McDonald on
Tuesday, in the district final.
Coach Jason Snow says down three runs going to the bottom of the
fifth they got busy with the bats. “We
fell behind 5-2 in that fifth when they had put their four run inning on us
we answered and we got it back to five even going to the sixth and that kind
of settled us down. We had some big hits. Brylan
Jarvis had a big game for us and drove in some runs.
We got a little more patient. We
made them work and drew a couple walks and found our way on base,” said
Snow.
Jarvis had three RBI.
Snow says that was an important shift in momentum.
“If we go 1-2-3 in that bottom of the fifth there and they keep the
momentum it's looking a little more challenging.
The second part of that is we got those three and then we went out
and went 1-2-3 in the sixth and came back and got a big four run inning to
pretty much put the game away in the bottom of the sixth,” he said.
Momentum can be a big factor in baseball and Snow says they able to
get rolling and the kids kind of fed off each other.
“The thing we've noticed if we get a big hit, it just rubs off on
the other kids and it's hard to stem the tide sometimes when you get
confidence in your players and they see the kid ahead them get the big hit
or draw a walk and everybody just wants to keep following up it's a good at
bat. It went well for us and we
got rolling and it just kept going and going,” he said.
When it comes to Ashtabula St. John, Snow says they know some things,
but not much about the pitcher their facing.
“We got a chance to watch them (Tuesday) and they are very
fundamental. They hit ball
pretty well in their first game, moved a couple runners over.
They do a great job of doing the little things backing kids up,
backing up throws from the outfield, they got some key bunts down in their
first game and they extended their lead,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Tuesday night, “The thing we don't know, we don't know about their
pitcher, we don't know who their next pitcher will be and what that'll bring
to us. It's pretty much like a
normal season. We'll go in and
take care of doing a little bit better job for us.
We didn't make some routine plays (Tuesday). We
gave up too many unearned runs and we've got to clean that up to give
ourselves an opportunity to get a big “W.” Published 5/22/24 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
With Huge Win Over Waynedale
Hillsdale grabbed a big win on Tuesday evening when they beat Wayne
County Athletic League co-leader Waynedale (7-3) in a league game.
They remain two games beind Norwayne in the “WCAL” standings.
The Bobcats beat Dalton (5-1) on Tuesday.
Waynedale leads them by just a game.
They play the two time defending division III state champions again
on Wednesday, this time in Apple Creek.
Coach Jason Snow says they feel pretty good about the win.
“It was big win for our kids. We've
really played well. Last week,
with Norwayne we had two one run games that we dropped to them.
This was kind of a must win if we want to have any hopes of competing
for the conference. We knocked
off their big gun. Proud of our
kids. Our younger kids are
excited and proud of our older kids for leading the way,” said Snow.
Hillsdale (8-4,6-2) put up a five spot in the bottom of the fifth
inning and Snow says that was key to win.
“We had 2-0 lead and they got a couple in the fourth.
With the weather, you could see getting dark, getting cold, getting
windy. We were hoping to be the
team that got the lead not knowing what would happen with the weather, we
did get all seven in. Our
seniors came through big for us, Owen Hoffman had a huge game offensively
with three RBIs and Gavin Casdorph got the win and hit a two run bomb in
that big 5 run inning,” said Snow.
Snow says they sort of road the backs of their seniors in that win on
Tuesday. “We all guys on the
bases and we hadn't had a lot of opportunities until that point. We got a
big sac fly that got that first run in that inning and then we just had a
couple big hits,” he told Swankonsports.com after the win, “Really our
seniors led the way. Byron
Bickel got a big base hit to give us that fifth run and that set up Gavin
for a two-run homer to close that inning out. We
were able to hang on to that win.” Published 4/24/24 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
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Hillsdale
Holds Off West Holmes
Hillsdale scored nine runs in the second inning and they held on to
beat West Holmes (10-9) in a non-conference game on Monday evening.
Coch Jason Snow says they were able to string some things together in
that second inning. “We had
combination of some key hits and took advantage of a couple of walks and
just kind of got some momentum going there and got their pitcher of the game
worked on their reliever a little bit. So,
kind of got us a big lead, of course we gave it back a few innings later
with a lot of walks. We were
able to hold on for a win,” he said.
Kael Lewis had three hits on the day for the Falcons.
The Falcons ended up giving up six runs in the fifth inning, but Snow
says they got a fine performance by the Freshman Lewis.
“It was a great experience for our younger kids.
With our league game (Tuesday) and we had a couple of younger kids
get in some tough spots. A
couple of guys got on base for us in the sixth inning and got that add on
run to make it 10-8. Kael Lewis,
our freshman shortstop, came in and he closed out the last two innings.
He walked one in the ninth and he ended up scoring, but he didn't
give up any hits. We were
pleased with our young guys and their overall performance,” said Snow.
Hillsdale plays Smithville in a couple of conference games on Tuesday
and Wednesday.
Snow says they were able to get some young kids into the game against
West Holmes and that is going to pay off.
He says its important to build confidence with this group.
“I think that gives us a little bit of a tight feel early in the
year. I know it's a non league
game, but it was our first game and it was our first experience for several
of our sophomores and freshman,” he told Swankonsports.com after the win,
“To be in a pretty tight game and come out with a win we have good feeling
going in to (Tuesday). Like we
talked previously, our big goal is we want to get off to a good start, so
this gets us heading the right direction.” Published 3/26/24 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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It’s
a Process at Hillsdale
It may a be rebuilding year at Hillsdale, but the Falcons still have
some talent.
Coach Jason Snow says they are going to have some kids that are new
to varsity baseball. “Well, we
have a lot of questions. a lot of young guys coming in.
We have three returners to give us a little bit of strength up the
middle. We have a catcher, a
centerfielder coming back, and a third baseman.
So, we have got a lot of sophomores, maybe even a few freshmen that
we're going to have to mix in this year.
We’ve been outside a lot. Only
had a chance to get one scrimmage, so we're going to have to early in the
year just kind of go by how we’re feeling comfortable and try some
different things and see what happens,” said Snow.
They open the season with a non-league game at West Holmes on Monday.
Their first Wayne County Athletic League series is Tuesday and
Wednesday against Smithville.
Snow hopes this is a team that’s going to better in May than it is
now. “We've talked about that
with some of our guys because we did have a scrimmage with Ashland and we
had six errors. Some of the
errors were guys we know are capable. First
time out on the field, first time varsity activity and hopefully get the
nerves out of the way and we settle down.
Just keep getting better each day and like you said come May maybe
we're finding the top of our game and we're a little more competitive and
maybe make a little bit of a tournament run,” he said.
Snow says they have got to find some confidence early in the season
before they get into the meat of their tough league schedule.
“The challenge is, we talked about our strengths and our weaknesses
and how we want to keep that going or at least improve so we know going into
next year with a youthful group that we have coming back that will be ready
to get right back on top,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday evening,
“That's what our goal is and do it day by day and hopefully it comes
sooner than later. We just have
got to get some confidence in some of our players.
Our big goal is we want to get off to good start so our kids feel
better about themselves and we can just keep going from there.” Published 3/22/24 © Swankonsports.com |
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Hillsdale
Has to Have Focus
Hillsdale entertains Salineville Southern on Tuesday night in a
division IV sectional semifinal.
The Falcons (16-6) have won three of their last four, including a
(72-58) win over Chippewa in the Wayne County Athletic League on Friday
night.
Coach Ben Ferguson believes they are playing pretty well heading into
the tournament. “We just came
off a nice win against Chippewa, who's really improved, I recognize that
they have a tough record in the Wayne County League, but they've really
improved the second half of the season.
We played really well at home against these guys last Friday.
I was really impressed with our team's effort and our defense
overall. So, I think that we're
heading in the right direction here getting back to some of the principles
that we set early in the season and we held strong to, which primarily
surround defense,” said Ferguson.
Southern (1-21) has struggled this season.
Their only win has come in the season opener against Leetonia (67-65)
on December 1.
Still, Ferguson says they have to have focus.
“First, I'm glad that games is at home. I
think they're about an hour and 50 minutes away, so our regular season
record earned us a 10 seed and I think they’re number 38.
We don't know a whole lot about them. We
have watched them on film a couple times, but we also don't see a lot of
their games or run into a lot of their competition that they play,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “We have watched them on film a
couple times. Their record is
not real strong, but when it comes to tournaments anything's possible and
this is a game that we have got to win.”
Ferguson hopes they can have a little run in the postseason and he
thinks their regular season schedule prepares them for what they are about
to embark on Tuesday. “(Southern)
is a different animal. I will
tell you what great preparation the Wayne County League is for tournament
time. The Wayne County League is
a very, very tough league. There's
a lot of great coaches, a lot of great basketball is played in the league.
So, I feel good about our chances to make a little tournament run
here. Southern doesn't
necessarily remind me of anybody you've played again, but it's tournament
time and anything can happen and we're certainly not taking anyone
lightly,” he said. Published 2/27/24 © Swankonsports.com Don’t miss a special “Out of Bounds” This Saturday night 10 PM to 11 PM Your
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Handling
the Ball Key For Hillsdale
Hillsdale will host Wayne County Athletic League leader Norwayne in a
league game on Tuesday night.
The Falcons (13-3,7-3) lost (67-63) to Dalton Friday night to fall
three games behind Norwayne.
Coach Ben Ferguson says it was a slow start that put them behind the
eight ball. “We actually
played pretty well overall. In
the first quarter we started out slow. I'll
have to check, but I think we outscored them three of the four quarters.
Just with the slow start we just never really could take a lead and
hang on to one. It's been a
little bit of Achilles heel for us even though we've been successful
throughout the season, the slow start certainly has hurt us in our
losses,” said Ferguson.
Norwayne (15-1,10-0) has pretty much dominated the “WCAL” this
season. They beat Rittman
(65-52) last Friday.
Ferguson says the Bobcats are just good all over.
“A little bit of everything, I mean they're coached well, they have
a pretty deep bench, they run eight or nine, I understand Parker Metzger may
be out (Tuesday) with a concussion, but you know they seem to still be
firing on all cylinders. They
have a great bench and I think against us last time, I think that they had
nine people score. They're very
well-rounded, they play fast tempo and overall I think it's a great team,”
he said.
Norwayne handed Hillsdale its most lopsided defeat this year, beating
them (71-26) on December 29.
Ferguson says this time they have to handle the very good Norwayne
defense a lot better than they did in December.
“It really starts with their defense.
We had 18 turnovers the first time we played and that's six more than
we're averaging for the year. We
only turned the ball over twice off of their press, but what happens is they
play at such a tempo and they chase so well that we turned the ball over 16
times in the half court offense,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday
night, “They set us up and when we weren't turning it over, we were
settling for quick forced shots and it really got away from us and that's
really indicative to the defense they play.” Published 2/06/2024 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
Doing Good Things
Hillsdale, in a share of second place in the Wayne County Athletic
League, will entertain Mapleton, of the Firelands Conference on Tuesday
night.
First year coach Ben Ferguson on the Falcons success.
“I think it's all about attitude and the expectations that we put
on ourselves starting last summer when I came in as new head coach,” he
said.
Ferguson says they want to emphasize defense.
“We wanted to change the entire way that we played.
Before Hillsdale a lot of times played more in survival mode.
We wanted to really change the pace, push the ball and all that
started with the defense. We
really went with the defense first mentality.
Last year, Hillsdale gave up 66 points a game and our goal was to
trim that down to as low as 52 points a game.
Although we're not there as an average, we have made dramatic strides
in that direction and that's been a big piece of our success is our defense
alone,” said Ferguson.
Ferguson says they also want to force the tempo.
“We're playing at a pace way faster than these boys have played
before. Number one, there's a
lot of times where our offense has started by our defense.
When we do you get the ball out of the net on a score, we get it up
the floor as fast as anybody and we think that the transition part of our
game has really helped us tremendously not just in the league but in all the
opponents that we play,” he said.
The Falcons outscored Chippewa (85-80) in a “WCAL” game on
Saturday night.
Hillsdale (11-2) is at home for Mapleton (10-4) on Tuesday night.
The Mounties lost a tough Firelands Conference game (51-46) to
Norwalk St. Paul on Friday.
Ferguson knows it will be a challenge.
“I have a lot of respect for Mapleton. I
know coach (Nick) Hickey pretty well, known him for many years. I
have a lot of respect for what he's done over there at Mapleton.
Scotty Hickey is a phenomenal player, not just on the offensive side,
but also on the defensive side. He
can shoot from anywhere. He
probably would pull up from the locker room if he was able, he's a
tremendous talent,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday evening, “He's
surrounded by a bunch of other great players. I
really like their defense. It's
going to be a tough game. You
run into two great teams here in the county, they're going to battle it out.
I like my team, I like our chances, but that's a great team over
there and it's going to be a heck of a game I'm sure.” Published 1/30/2024 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
Has to Limit Mistakes
Hillsdale entertains the Lucas Cubs Friday night in a first round
playoff game in division VII.
It’s the second meeting of the season between the two teams.
Hillsdale won (21-17) in a week two game also played at Hillsdale.
The Falcons (8-2) have won their last four, including a (20-13) win
over Rittman last Friday in Wayne County Athletic League play.
It was (13-6) Rittman at the half, but coach Trevor Cline says they
took control in the second half. “After
the first half when we were sort of getting in our own way when we got out
of our own way and started executing the second half we played well against
Rittman. Rittman is a quality
team. They've had a lot of
success this year and it was a physical game for us, but we were able to
come out on top,” he said.
Lucas (7-3) has won seven of its last eight and last Friday they
smoked Arlington (30-0) on their home field.
Cline says the Cubs are very disciplined and they are going to be
physical. “Again, this year
they’re just a very well coached team.
From watching them on film they come off as a very disciplined team.
I know they have a lot of older guys on their team playing key roles,
so they have experience. I know
their quarterback now has ten games of being a varsity quarterback. I
know last year he played a different position, but at the varsity level, now
he's got a lot of experience at the varsity level as a quarterback,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “He's done a really nice job.
I think up front they have a good line that's physical, so we have
got to be able to match that physicality and also be the team that makes the
least amount of mistakes. With
both programs being very similar and like to control the game by running the
ball, we just have got to make sure that we master physicality and we're the
more disciplined team.”
Logan Toms returned a punt 87 yards for a score for Lucas in the
first meeting.
Cline says they can’t afford mistakes in the kicking game.
“He's one of their very good athletes and in the first game against
them we ended up allowing him to
have a huge momentum play by returning a punt for a touchdown.
If it wasn't for us having a drive at the end of the game that would
have been the deciding factor for the game was his punt return.
So, we've been focusing on special teams throughout the week and
making sure that going into this game (Friday) that we eliminate any mental
breakdowns or any mistakes such as that so that we can control the momentum
of the game when we’re on special teams,” said Cline. Published 10/27/23 © Swankonsports.com Our scoreboard updated every five minutes On
Friday night at www.swankonsportshosting247.com |
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Hillsdale
Has Got to Win
Hillsdale is going to be in the division VII playoffs, but where is
about as much up in their air as possible.
They play host to the vastly improved Rittman Indians on Friday night
in action in the Wayne County Athletic League.
The Falcons (7-2,4-2) downed rival Northwestern (45-21) in league
play.
Coach Trevor Cline for the most part was pretty happy with their
performance. “We played pretty
well for the most part for four quarters.
We're still trying to put together a complete game, but I felt
against Northwestern we played pretty well.
We sometimes struggle up at Northwestern when we're playing at their
place, but I felt this year we actually played pretty good up there.
We have still got to eliminate some of the big plays.
We gave up a big touchdown pass due to just a broken coverage.
We have still got to fix some of those things, but overall I thought
we played pretty well,” said Cline.
Rittman (6-3,3-3) is going to be making its first playoff appearance
in a non-COVID year since 2005 after a (28-14) win over Smithville in
“WCAL” action last week.
Cline says they are going to be a big challenge for them.
“They are much improved team. Going
into the year, we knew that their program was moving in the right direction.
I feel coach (Tyler) Dennis has done a great job over there.
This is his second year there and he's getting the players to buy in
and work hard for him. They're
still a young team, just like we are, but those guys are starting to believe
and they have played extremely well so far,” he said.
Now with a win Hillsdale could finish anywhere between third and 11th
in their division VII region. The
top eight are home the first week and the top four the second week of the
playoffs, so the Falcons could be home twice, of course assuming they win
their first game, or on the road.
Cline says all they can worry about is winning.
“It is pretty interesting how the playoffs are playing out this
year. We're not sure where we're
going to end up yet. We just
have to worry about what we can control and that's how well we play this
Friday night against Rittman and then once Saturday comes around and we see
where we get seeded and then we go from there,” he told Swankonsports.com
on Monday night, “Obviously, our hope and our goal is to get a home
playoff game, but even with a win there's a possibility that may not happen.
So, we just have got to control what we can control and then once
everything comes out on Saturday we can go from there.
The region is pretty stacked this year and it is going to be
interesting to see how it all plays out.” Published 10/17/23 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
Needs to be Ready Again
Hillsdale is going to be in the playoffs, but they want to be at home
for the first round and to ensure that that need a win at rival Northwestern
on Friday night.
A Jack Fickes touchdown run gave them a (28-21) last week at
Waynedale in league play.
Coach Trevor Cline says he was pleased with how they responded in the
second half. “It ended up
being a tough game for us. You
expect that in the “WCAL”. Any
game will be a tough game, but especially when you're playing on the road in
the “WCAL” and when it's senior night for the opposing team like it was
for Waynedale you're going to get your best game from them. So,
they played us extremely well. We
didn’t play very good in the first half, but I was impressed we had
multiple players step up in the second half and they showed how resilient
our group can be because we were down by seven at halftime,” said Cline.
Hillsdale (6-2,3-2) is at Northwestern (1-7,1-4) on Friday night.
The Huskies lost (32-15) to Smithville last week.
Cline says they can not take a win for granted.
“It's the same thing as what Waynedale was for us last week is
whenever we go to Northwestern, they always play us tough.
They're considered our rivalry in our league, so we're going to get
their best game. I know their
record isn't very good right now, but they're going to show up and they will
be ready to play,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “Our
players need to show up and be ready to go because if not we're going to end
up being in a battle just like we were this past Friday night.
So, I expect it to be a good game. I
expect them to come out and play well and we have got to make sure that we
are playing to our potential.”
As far as being home for the playoffs, Cline says that is a big deal
for the Falcons. “For our
program, we're wanting to have back-to-back years where we host a home
playoff game. We've only done a
few times in school history, so we're wanting to be able to host another
home playoff game this year. Then
continue to have success from there. That
is definitely a goal of ours and we know that we have got to take care of
business in the next two weeks to put ourselves in that position to host a
whole playoff game,” said Cline. Published 10/10/23 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
Can’t Sleep on Waynedale
Hillsdale will take the bus to Apple Creek to face the Waynedale
Golden Bears in Wayne County Athletic League game on Friday night.
Right now, the Falcons (5-2,2-2) are number five in their division
VII region. The top eight earn a
first round home playoff game.
They beat Smithville (33-14) last Friday in a league game.
Coach Trevor Cline says they got off to a fantastic start, but they
couldn’t maintain that level of play.
“Last week against Smithville in the first quarter we got off to a
great start. We were able to get
up 23-0, but the second third and fourth quarters we didn't play to our
potential. So, it wasn’t as
smooth a game is what we were hoping for, but get off to a good start was a
good thing for us because we haven't done that a lot of times this year.
Now, we just have got to put together four quarters,” said Cline.
Cline says that consistency is something they must have going
forward. “If you're going to
be the teams that we expect to beat you have got to have four consistent
quarters. We were able to do
that at times earlier this year. We
were able to beat Lucas at home and I felt we played a good four quarters,
but we need that consistently here moving forward as we're gearing up for
the playoffs and if we want to win out like we're more than capable of we
have to show we can put together four quarters each game,” he said.
Waynedale (1-6,1-3) got thrashed (43-0) by league co-leader Norwayne
last week.
Cline says the Golden Bears are pretty good and they must be ready to
play them. “From film,
Waynedale, their overall team size is really good. I
know up front on the offensive line and defensive line.
They have a lot of big guys. I
do believe they're better than what their record shows. I
know right now they're 1-6, but for us and year in and year out in the
“WCAL” any week anyone can beat anyone,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Tuesday night, “We have got to show up be ready to go.
I do think they're much better than what their record is.
Just watching on film, like I said they do have good size, but also
offensively they have playmakers that can beat you over top if you get
undisciplined and fall for some of their double moves that they run with
their routes. So, we need to
show up and we need to be ready to go and play to our potential.” Published 10/04/23 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
Has to be Ready to Play
Hillsdale will be at home for the Smithville Smithies in play in the
Wayne County Athletic League on Friday night.
They got thumped (50-7) by league co-leader Dalton last week.
Coach Trevor Cline says he believes they learned something from last
week. “Last week, Dalton
showed up and out played us in every phase of the game.
Obviously, you hate to lose a game that way, but you can always find
things to improve on from games like those.
Also, you find out what type of players you have too.
This week is a great week to see okay how do our players bounce back
from a game like that? I know I
feel that they will rally around one another and go out there and play well
this Friday. I feel we've had a
good week of practice so far to set us up for success going into this Friday
night,” said Cline.
Cline says they have seen some leaders step up this week.
“It's easy to be a leader when everything is going well, but when
you have a rough game and you deal with the adversity like we did last week
and also the Norwayne week too you find out who your true leaders are.
We have had some solid players step up and look to help lead the team
in a positive direction. So,
we're going to continue to need that because at some point during the year,
it doesn't matter how great your football team is, you're going to deal with
adversity at some point and you need a couple leaders that will be able to
keep all the guys moving in the right direction continuing to improve,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “At the end of the day, what
you're looking for is from the beginning of the year to the end of the year
just keep making improvements each week so when you get into the playoffs
you're ready to make a deep run and be able to reach your full potential.”
Hillsdale (4-2,1-2) holds out the welcome mat for Smithville
(4-2,2-1) on Friday. The
Smithies beat Waynedale (21-7) last Friday.
Cline says the Smithies are a tough, physical football team.
“Smithville is a good football team.
From the film there are very physical team.
They want to line up and try to run you over.
So, we're going to be able to match that physicality if we want to be
able to have this success that we're able to have on this Friday night. Overall,
they have got good size, but they're the type of team that they're going to
show up for four quarters and push around the field and really be the bully
of the game. So, we're going to
have to be able to step up and be ready to take on that physicality,” he
said. Published 9/28/23 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
Needs Complete Game
Hillsdale
is at Dalton to lock horns with the Bulldogs in a huge game in the Wayne
County Athletic League on Friday.
Dalton shares the league lead with Norwayne and Hillsdale is a game
back. The Falcons likely need to
win to have a chance at the conference title.
Last week, Hillsdale (4-1,1-1) demolished Chippewa (40-0) in a
conference game.
Coach Trevor Cline says they needed that to get back headed in the
right direction. “Last week
was a good bounce back win for us after having a rough game against Norwayne.
It's always good to get back on
the right track and that's what we were able to do last week is play well on
offense, defense and special teams and get going back in the right
direction,” he said.
Dalton (3-1,2-0), #2 in the Swankonsports.com football coaches poll
in the small school division, beat Smithville (35-0) last week.
Cline says this is a typical Dalton team. “Dalton
is a very good football team coach (Broc) Dial runs a great program over
there and year in and year out they are a tough football team and that's the
same thing again this year. They're
a tough football team, there's really not a weakness on their team and it's
going to take a complete game like we had last year against them to be able
to beat them,” said Cline.
Now, last year, Hillsdale went to Dalton and beat a Bulldog team that
would share the league title and win two division VI playoff games.
The Falcons won (27-12) last season.
Cline hopes that gives them a boost of confidence.
“It's always good when you know that you've had success against the
team before and that helps with the whole confidence piece.
Dalton had a great football team last year and we were able to beat
him at our home field, so that's always good for the players knowing that
they can be beaten if you show up and play a great game you're able to beat
them,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “That's what it's
going to take for us to be able to knock off this time too.
I would say seven years or so we've had great games with Dalton.
Some of them have went our way and some of them haven’t, so it's
always a great game when us and Dalton play one another.” Published 9/19/23 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
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Hillsdale
Will be Back
It was a subpar performance for the Hillsdale Falcons last week, but
they are ready to bounce back as they host Chippewa Friday night in a game
in the Wayne County Athletic League.
They were hammered (49-14) by Norwayne in a league game last week.
Coach Trevor Cline says the Bobcats are a tremendous team, but they
certainly did not execute like they can.
“They had two quick pick sixes on the first two drives.
They're a very good football team but, we didn't play our best game.
We can play a lot better than what we did on Friday.
I know our players will bounce back and they will learn from the loss
and continue to improve and move forward,” he said.
Cline says they don’t want a repeat performance, so it is important
that they learn something from that loss.
“You never want to lose. If
your competitor you want to win every game that you're in, but you also
understand that that's not always realistic and Norwayne got the best of us
on Friday night. As long as our
guys learn from that game and the things that went wrong for us, we’ll be
just fine. I feel our players
will do that. I know last year
we had a tough loss against Norwayne and that was sort of our turning point
in this season. I expect the
same thing with this year's group too,” said Cline.
Hillsdale (3-1,0-1) is at home for the Chippewa Chipps (1-3,0-1) on
Friday night in league play. Smithville
scored twice in the fourth quarter to beat them (20-6) in their league game.
Cline says they don’t have a lot depth and the Falcons need to use
that to their advantage. “Watching
them on film over the weekend they have athletes that can make plays.
They're big thing is they don't have very many guys, so over the
course of the game and their first four games so far they started wear
down,” he told Swankonsports.com on Sunday night, “We have got to be
able to do that too. Just be
physical with them up front and as the game goes on we need to be able to
wear them down and then be able to continue to execute on offense and
defense and special teams.” Published 9/11/2023 © Swankonsports.com Join us this week at the Bellville Street Fair Come say hi at our booth |
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Hillsdale
and Norwayne in Key “WCAL” Battle
It looks like Hillsdale and Norwayne are going to be two of the
competitors for the title in the Wayne County Athletic League this year.
They meet Friday night at Norwayne.
Hillsdale (3-0) belted Loudonville (31-3) last week.
Coach Trevor Cline says after a little bit of a low start, they
played pretty well. “Last
week, we played well after the first quarter.
Defensively, for the most part we played well the whole game except
for probably the first and second drive.
As a whole from the second quarter on we played really well.
We had a slow start, but once we got it going we were able to really
get after it,” he said.
Jack Fickes threw four TD passes last week for the Falcons in their
win over Loudonville.
Cline says they have the ability to throw the ball too.
“We knew our quarterback throws the ball really well.
We have plenty of athletes when they get out of space they can make
plays, but so far this year we had not had a team that forced us to throw
the ball. We have been able to
run the ball really well. At the
beginning there, Loudonville put us in situations where we had to throw the
ball around and Jack did a really nice job of making that correct reads and
then getting the ball out for athletes and let them create plays out in
space,” said Cline.
Norwayne (3-0), #1 in the first Swankonsports.com football coaches
poll in the small school division, beat Heath (38-35) in a non-conference
game last week.
As they almost always are, Cline says Norwayne is a very good team.
“Norwayne solid on offense, defense, and special teams.
It's another year of a really good Norwayne football team and it's
another year of where I feel they will be one that teams competing for a
league title. So, just another
year of great athletes. I know
they lost good athletes to graduation, but the kids that have stepping in
have taken over their roles and have done a really good job.
So, we're looking forward to that game (Friday) night,” said Cline.
A couple a keys to a Hillsdale win, Cline says they have to possess
the ball and they must win the turnover battle.
“I think one of our best things will be is our offense can be our
best defense. So, I think we
need a good job of taking care of football and controlling the time of
possession. The other thing that
Norwayne has done a really good job of this year is they've created a lot of
turnovers so if we are going to put ourselves in position to win that game
(Friday) night, which we're more than capable of doing, we have to be able
to win the turnover battle,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night,
“One kid on their team has somewhere from five to seven interceptions
already, so they have done a really good job of creating turnovers.
We have got to make sure that we win that turnover battle and limit
their turnovers so they're not setting up themselves for easy scores.” Published 9/08/23 © Swankonsports.com Our scoreboard updated every five minutes On
Friday night at www.swankonsportshosting247.com |
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Hillsdale
Meets Rival Loudonville
Hillsdale plays at home against rival Loudonville in non-league play
on Friday night.
Last Friday, quarterback Jack Fickes scored with 1:58 to play to lift
the Falcons over Lucas (21-17) in dramatic fashion.
Fickes has three TD runs on the night.
Coach Trevor Cline says they were able to execute when the pressure
was on during that final drive. “Our
players were able to get things done down the stretch, really throughout the
whole game they played well, but they were able to step up on that final
drive and continue to execute when the pressure was on them.
Whenever you can beat a program like Lucas, that's always a great win
for your program,” he said.
Loudonville (1-1) did not play well in a (49-7) thrashing at the
hands of Utica last Friday.
However, Cline believes the Redbirds are a better team then they
showed last week. “I feel
Loudonville is a very good football team. I
believe the score last week doesn’t truly show how good of a football team
they are. It was just one of
those games from watching film that about everything that could go wrong
went wrong for Loudonville,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night,
“I expect them to bounce back this week and for this to be a battle.
It's also a rivalry game where I know their community and our
community look forward to it each year and it's a big game.
So, they're going to bring it. It's
going to be a great game for both programs.”
Last season, Loudonville upset Hillsdale (14-0) on week three.
Cline says their kids remember that for sure.
“In games like this you always have got to be prepared for tricks
because you never know what they might pull out against us to give
themselves some momentum. It's
one of those games that I know they got the best of us last year where they
were able to beat us 14-0 that was an embarrassing loss for us because they
handled us for four quarters. I
know our guys have been working hard all offseason to get an opportunity to
play them again this year,” said Cline. Published 8/29/23 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
With Tough One With Lucas
In a battle between two of the better small school football programs
in the area, the Hillsdale Falcons host the Lucas Cubs in a non-conference
game on Friday night.
Lucas won last year’s game (14-13) and the Cubs won (14-12) in
2021.
In their opener last Friday, Hillsdale smoked Black River (34-8) in a
non-league game.
Coach Trevor Cline says they played pretty well all night, with
expectation of the first quarter on offense.
“We played well throughout that game last week.
We got off to a little bit of a slow start, but the second through
fourth quarters we played well offensively and defensively.
Defensively, we played well the whole game, but offensively, we got
off to a little bit of a slow start and then once we got going, we were able
to start executing,” said Cline.
Jack Fickes started his first varsity game at quarterback and turned
in a fine performance. He threw
for two scores against Black River and ran for 60 more.
Cline says the position is not unfamiliar to him.
“Jack played receiver for us last year, but growing up throughout
the years he was always the quarterback of his class and he always did a
really good job as quarterback. So,
he was ready to transition back to quarterback and he hit the ground running
week one,” he said.
Lucas lost a tough one last week, when Clear Fork outlasted them
(17-14) in double overtime.
Cline says Lucas, who has 10 starters back on offense, continues to
run that double tight, double wing offense.
He says they are physical and carry out their assignments well.
“It’s your typical Lucas football team.
They're a hardnosed football team, physical, they're fundamental and
I expect them to have another great year this year,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “They have a great tradition going on
down there and it's going to be a great game for us on Friday and I believe
it will be a battle for four quarters.” Published 8/22/23 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
Has to be Ready for a lot
Hillsdale is set to begin the 2023 football season on the road at
Black River in non-conference play on Friday night.
Coach Trevor Cline says his players are ready to face someone in
another color jersey. “They're
looking forward to playing against someone other than obviously competing
against their own teammates at practice.
They have had a couple scrimmages where they went up against some
other teams, but this is where you're keeping score and where all starts
count. So, we're definitely
looking forward to this week and they've put in the work the off all season
to get ready for week one here,” he said.
Hillsdale hammered Black River (34-6) last year.
Cline says the Pirates will be a physical team and a challenge for
them. “I feel Black River from
what we've seen on film they are a physical football team. They return
multiple guys from the previous year. I
felt that their backs did a good job of running hard. I
know watching the Mapleton scrimmage and they break a lot of tackles and get
out in space and make plays. So,
I feel for us it's going to be a physical game,” he told Swankonsports.com
on Wednesday night, “I know that in the scrimmages they were playing one
of their younger quarterbacks, but there's rumors out there too that their
previous year starter might be playing.
I believe he's dealing with a knee injury that he's trying to get
through. So, I know that we have
got to prepare for both quarterbacks, but overall they're a good football
team.”
Not being sure of who they will see at quarterback, Cline says they
have to be ready adapt during the game.
“Going into opener obviously you have a couple scrimmages of film,
but you don't have three actual games of film of what they're doing.
In scrimmages they are trying some things.
So, it does make it difficult when you have to prepare for two
quarterbacks. I hope for the
kid’s sake, from what I have been told, he was dealing with an injury.
I hope for the kid’s sake he can play because he is a senior and
because you would hate to see a kid miss his senior year due to an injury.
So, for the kid’s sake I hope he plays.
We just have got to be prepared for both of them.
They both do a nice job and we just will have to be ready for
whatever they throw at us.” Published 8/17/23 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
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Hillsdale
Ready to Get Going
Hillsdale hopes to challenge again in the always tough Wayne County
Athletic League.
They start the season next Friday at Black River in non-conference
play.
They scrimmaged Canton Central Catholic Thursday morning and coach
Trevor Cline says they learned some things, like always.
“Over the last eight plus years, we've scrimmaged Canton Central
Catholic and that's always a great scrimmage for us because we know year in
year out Canton Central Catholic puts together a great football team.
It was a great competition again (Thursday).
Obviously, there's still plenty of things that we need to work on,
but it's always good when you're going up against a great opponent.
Obviously, it's good to find out where you're at and then obviously
fix the places you need to fix and then just keep finding ways to get
better,” said Cline.
Cline says one of the keys to coaching is always finding things that
can be sharpened, teaching opportunities.
“You always want to find things and just find ways to improve.
You don't want your players to get satisfied with just being good
enough. When there are things in
scrimmages that don't go your way and you have got to find ways to fix them
it gives kids or gives the players more things to want to work towards to
get better, “ he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “That's why
we have plenty of things that we could take from (Thursday’s) scrimmage
that we can learn from and then make improvements too and be better because
of it.”
Cline says with their two scrimmages out of the way, the players are
clearly ready to play that season opener.
“They're looking forward to week one.
I know talking to our players after the scrimmage once we told them
here moving forward they're going to be keeping track of the score obviously
their eyes light up because they can't wait till week one comes around.
This is what they've been working for as soon as last season ended to
get ready for this season, so they're ready to get going week one,” he
said. Published 8/11/23 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
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Hillsdale
Hammers Rittman; Plays Dalton Again
Hillsdale slugged Rittman (13-5) in a division IV district semifinal
on Tuesday evening at Medina High School.
The Falcons lead (8-0) after four innings, but Rittman put up five in
the fifth.
Snow says they want get a good start.
“A big key was we wanted jump out early.
We got we got off to an 8-0 start.
We had some flaws in the fifth inning, had a couple walks, a couple
errors and next thing you know Rittman worked themselves back to 8-5 game.
We answered to the bottom of the fifth with five runs and kind of put
the game away. We hit the ball
extremely well (Tuesday) and got through to get a chance to play for a
district title,” he said.
Nick Kandel had four hits and Braylen Jarvis has three hits.
David Parker had three RBI on the day.
Snow says it was huge that that were able to respond like they did
after Rittman scored. “Jake
Hoverstock threw for us (Tuesday) and he was rolling pretty good.
He kind of got himself in a little trouble with a couple walks and we
were at the point then now what are we going to do here? Are
we going to go with the Kandel kid to pitch an inning or two or go to our
bullpen and that answering kind of helped take care of that problem for
us,” he said.
Hillsdale will play their old nemesis Dalton in the district final on
Thursday back at Medina. They
rallied to beat Columbia (4-3) on Tuesday in the other semifinal. The
Bulldogs beat them twice in the regular season.
Snow says they look forward to the opportunity.
“Both of us will have our lefties pitching.
They're a solid defensive team, run the bases well, they'll move
runners up. I was 4-0 and 3-2 in
eight innings. It's kind of been
our nemesis the last few years,” he told Swankonsports.com after the win
on Tuesday night, “We've always had some challenging games with them, so
our kids are excited to have an opportunity to go one more time with them
and see if we can knock them off and advance in the tournament.” Published 5/24/23 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
midnight “Sports
Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1 PM |
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Hillsdale
Wins When they Have to
Hillsdale got a critical (2-0) win over Waynedale on Tuesday evening
to remain in the chase in the Wayne County Athletic League.
They are in a three way tie with Waynedale and Dalton a game behind
Norwayne here on the final week of the regular season.
Norwayne beat Dalton (4-2) on Tuesday.
The Bobcats can win the league outright if they can beat the Bulldogs
again Wednesday.
Coach Jason Snow says it was a game they absolutely had to have.
“We got ourselves a little corner with a couple of our last two or
three league games, but we knew that we had to win these two and get a
little help to get a share of the league.
We went out (Tuesday) and we talked a lot about our remaining
schedule of Waynedale and then we have Triway, then we have Lexington.
One, they're big league games, those two (against Waynedale), but
it's also great preparation with the competition we're going to play this
last week before the tournament gets going,” said Snow.
Nick Kandel was outstanding for the Falcons in this big game.
Snow says he almost had a no hitter against the Golden Bears.
“Nick was phenomenal. He
had a little trouble in the first inning and had to work out of a jam and
then he sailed. He had a no
hitter going to the seventh with two outs and they got a ground ball and
went through the left side for a base hit,” he told Swankonsports.com
after the win on Tuesday night, “I know he was a little disappointed.
You get a team like Waynedale when you have an opportunity to pitch
your team to a great win and get that no hitter would be a nice little plug
for him. He gave us a great
effort and it was an all around team game.
We played some great defense and had some good execution offensively
to get a couple runs,”
Kandel and Jax Rogers had RBI hits for the Falcons (16-5,10-3), #5 in
the Swankonsports.com baseball coaches poll in the small school division.
Snow says they had some opportunities early against Waynedale starter
Trey Barkman and they finally got on the board in the fifth.
“We had the same situation in our first inning.
We got a guy on base, got a walk, and got a lot of pitches on Barkman
early in the game and same thing. We
had a couple opportunities, hey if we get a big two out hit, and we scrape a
run out, but it took us till the fifth before we finally broke through and
luckily we were fortunate enough to hold on,” he said.
Hillsdale will be at home for Waynedale (13-7,10-3) on Wednesday.
Snow says really the assignment is the same.
“We talk a lot about it, it was exciting for our kids.
One, just beating quality teams is a positive for your program and
our kids. We know we've got to
ratchet it up (Wednesday). We
face their lefty and he is pretty much giving the same kind of stuff that we
just saw and we just have got to find a way to play great defense, keep
their score down and see if we can chip in and get a couple runs and see if
it's good enough to win a game,” said Snow. Published 5/10/23 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
midnight “Sports
Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1 PM |
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Hillsdale
Gets Better
After two tough losses in the Wayne County Athletic League this week,
the Hillsdale Falcons crushed Plymouth (10-0) in a non-conference game on
Thursday evening.
Coach Jason Snow says they came out of the game feeling pretty
positive. “It was a good win
for us. We had a couple tough
losses to Dalton earlier in the week and struggled with our bats.
So, it was good for us to get a little bit of confidence (Thursday)
night and get back into doing what we do best.
I was really pleased that one of our juniors, Gavin Casdorph, threw a
complete game for us in just his second outing.
He threw seven innings and we have a league game to make up (Friday)
at Chippewa. So, big win for us,
a positive day for us, it was our senior day, so our seniors got opportunity
to play and played well,” said Snow.
Hillsdale lost Tuesday and Wednesday to Dalton (4-0 and 3-2) and Snow
says they just make some mistakes that they weren’t able to overcome in
those games. “Credit Dalton,
they played very well, pitched very well. Earlier in the year our offense
was really hitting well and you made a mistake here and there and you kind
of covered it up,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night after the
win, “The mistakes we made against Dalton we paid for.
When you score none in one game and score two in the other you have
got to play mistake free baseball and we didn't and to their credit they
did. So, (Thursday) night’s
win helped us to get ourselves back into the positive flow and we have got a
big week coming up with Chippewa (Friday) and Norwayne next week.”
Right now, Norwayne has one loss and Hillsdale, Waynedale and Dalton
all have two. The Falcons
(12-4,7-2), #2 in the Swankonsports.com baseball coaches poll in the small
school division, plays Norwayne twice next week and Waynedale the week
after.
Snow says everything is still on the table.
“We've got a couple losses, as do Waynedale and Dalton, and
Norwayne’s got one. So, we
kind of control our own destiny. It's
an uphill battle here because Norwayne and Waynedale are two very good teams
and we are going to have to be ready to play.
Hopefully, the ball bounces our way and maybe we get a couple breaks
and can see what we can do next week,” he said. Published 4/28/23 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
midnight “Sports
Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1 PM |
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Fickes
Big Hit Lifts Hillsdale
Jack Fickes’ three run double in the bottom of the sixth inning was
the key blow in Hillsdale’s (5-3) win over Northwestern in Wayne County
Athletic League play on Tuesday.
Coach Jason Snow says they were able to get the bases loaded in the
sixth and then take advantage. “It
was a good win. It was one of
those games that you know you like it not to be that close, but it was good
for our kids. We had to compete.
We were put in tough situations and came up with a big hit.
We got the bases loaded late in the game with a 2-2 score and Jack
Fickes got one in the gap and cleared the bases to give us that 5-2 lead,”
he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night after the win, “So, pretty
pleased with our guys overall making our routine plays and pitchers you know
Nick Kandel gave us a great start for five innings and David Parker closed
it out for the win.”
Kandel struck out 10 in five innings.
Snow says earlier in the game they are had a chance to get some big
hits and did not, but Fickes was up to the challenge in the biggest moment
of the game. “We did have
situations and we kept saying gosh we can't get that hit to breakthrough and
kind of stretch the game out. We
finally did late in the game get that done.
Jack was a kid that was a big hitter for us last year, hit .420 and
drove in quite a few runs for us. He's
hitting leadoff now, he had struggled his first three at bats and came up in
a key spot and hopefully that's just something we carry over to (Wednesday)
and see if we can get win number two,” he said.
The teams do meet again on Wednesday at Northwestern.
Snow says they need to come through in those clutch situations.
“I think for us coming in with Nick on the mound, those are big
games that we've got to win those games.
In a lot of our league games, we really rely on getting that first
one and I don't want to say you can go and relax.
We had our hands full and we know (Wednesday) that Northwestern’s
going to bring it we're going to have to compete for seven innings. We're
going to have to find a way to get some big hits. We
didn't really get too many clutch hits (Tuesday).
We left some guys on the bases and hopefully as the season goes on
and we get more opportunities and we'll get better,” said Snow. Published 3/29/23 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
midnight “Sports
Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1 PM |
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Hillsdale
Developing into Strong Team
Hillsdale always seems to be in the race in the Wayne County Athletic
League and that should be the case again this season.
They get their first tests next Tuesday and Wednesday against
Northwestern in league play.
Coach Jason Snow likes the way they have been progressing heading
into the season. “I sure have,
I think our pitchers are getting their arm strength build up. We've
been fortunate to have three scrimmages, so we've gotten quality time for
our pitchers. We have been
facing quality pitching. We are
seeing some things we have to get better at and hopefully our team is ready
to go next week when we start on Tuesday with the league play with
Northwestern,” he said.
Snow says they have to cut down on their strikeouts and he wants
their pitchers to gradually be able to throw more innings.
“We've struck out a little more than I’m pleased with, especially
with guys on base. We really
want to work on finding a way to get the ball, get those runners in from
third base with less than two outs. That's
kind of been weakness this far,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday
night, “Our pitchers overall getting their innings up early in the year.
Right now, we are relying on five varsity guys and we've got five
games that first week, so we're going to have to dip down and use some of
our JV guys. I'm really looking
forward to getting to the middle of the season where our arm strength is
built up and we can rely on some guys to get us five or six innings more
consistently.”
Snow says he believes the Falcons have the potential to score some
runs, but they have to be more consistent in the way they handle the bat.
“I think right now our guys in the middle of the order have played
for us, but they've been at the bottom and so they are in a different role
of being expected to drive runs in. Maybe
facing a pitcher maybe he looks at them in their spot the order and they get
a little more off speed pitches and they have to learn to stay back and keep
their hands back where maybe batting the bottom they're getting a few more
fastballs. So, I think we're
going to be fine. We have some
good power, we have some good average hitters, we just have got to work on
our middle and bottom of the order to be a little more consistent right
now,” said Snow. Published 3/24/22 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
midnight “Sports
Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1 PM |
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Hillsdale
Must Slow Down Danville
Hillsdale will be down at Danville in a division VII regional
quarterfinal on Friday night.
Last week, the Falcons destroyed Conotton Valley (62-24) in their
first round game.
Coach Trevor Cline says their offense was very productive.
“Our offense played really well last week.
We didn’t have to punt the football once and we were able to do for
the most part anything that we wanted. It
just came down to our line controlling the line of scrimmage.
Our slots and tight ends and wide receivers set the edge and we were
able to run the ball extremely well. When
opportunities came up in the pass game, we were able to take advantage of
those too,” said Cline.
Hillsdale (7-4) plays Danville (9-2), the runner up in the Knox
Morrow Athletic Conference, on Friday night.
The Blue Devils whipped Windham (41-18) last Friday night.
Cline says this team is experienced and physical.
“Danville is a very good football team.
You can tell they are a physical football team.
They have a lot of athletes on their team.
Their line is big up front. They
have a lot of seniors on them. They
are an experienced team and overall they are a very good football team,”
he said.
Danville can run it and throw it will be a tough challenge.
Cline says they can’t allow explosive plays in either the run or
pass game. “We are going to
have to be able to slow down their rushing attack.
They a running back, #11, I believe his name is Max Payne.
He has had a great career down at Danville, so we are going to have
to slow him down and get him to run east and west instead of north and
south. When he runs downhill, he
runs the ball well,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “We are
also going to have to be able to slow down multiple receivers because this
year their quarterback has thrown for 15 touchdowns, so they have been able
to get out in space and make plays. So,
we just have to be disciplined and keep things in front of us and make them
have to earn each one of their scores.” Published 11/01/22 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” after Friday night games
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Hillsdale
Must be Disciplined Hillsdale hosts
a division VII playoff game on Friday night as the Conotton Valley Rockets
come to town for a first round game. After losing
(17-12) to Northwestern on week nine and falling out of a share of the lead
in the Wayne County Athletic League, the Falcons responded with a (42-7)
rout of Rittman. Coach Trevor
Cline says it was a win to rebuild some confidence.
“Last week was a good bounce back week.
Obviously, the week before was a shot at a “WCAL” title and that
one hurt, but being able to bounce back and get win the next week is always
good to get momentum going into the first week of the playoffs.
So, our guys did a good job of bouncing back,” he said. Hillsdale (6-4)
hosts Conotton Valley (6-4) on Friday night.
The Rockets own a four game winning streak, including a (44-19) win
over Madonna, West Virginia last week. Cline says they
are coached by legend Don Hertler Jr. and they have some size on their
roster. “They are a well
coached team. Their coach is a
hall of famer in Ohio high school football.
You know they are going to be a well coached team.
They have multiple seniors that have experience on their team,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “They have really good size up
front. They have some good size,
so they are going to show up on defense, so we are going to need to do the
same thing if we want to put ourselves in the position to compete with them
on Friday.”
Conotton Valley is an outstanding play action team, according to
Cline, and he says on defense they must be disciplined.
“Our defense is going to have to show up and do a great job of
being disciplined because they like to run the ball, but they come at you
and they see you start to get nosey and they try and beat you over the top
and they have been able to do that to a lot of teams this year.
So, we just have to make sure we are being disciplined and remaining
in coverage,” said Cline. Published 10/26/22 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” after Friday night games
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Hillsdale
Looking Forward
Hillsdale likely will not get a piece of the Wayne County Athletic
League title this season, but to have any chance they have to win at Rittman
on Friday night in league action.
They would also need Dalton to lose at Chippewa and Northwestern to
lose to Waynedale, neither is likely.
The Falcons (5-4,4-2) lost (17-12) to Northwestern last week to fall
out of share of first place.
Coach Trevor Cline says sputtering offense in the first half led to
their downfall. “I was proud
of how our kids battled in the second half, but just dug ourselves too big
of a hole in the first half. Against
a good team trying come back from that it always makes it tough.
Friday night, we sort of like the rest of the year where we struggled
on the offensive side of the ball. We
just had too many turnovers. If
you want to be a team that is in first place in the league, you can’t have
the turnovers like we did,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night,
“Like I said, I was proud of our guys because they played right to the
very end and gave themselves a shot. It
came down to the very last play where we threw a football into the end zone
and it got knocked out. We just
came up a little bit short, we are going to bounce back this week.”
Cline says they need to be focused on what is ahead not what happened
last week. “We talked to the
players (Monday). Yes, we wanted
to win a “WCAL” championship, that is one of our goals every year, but
we have to be able to bounce back and put that behind us and move on from it
because there is no going back at this point, we can only move forward.
Bounce back this week and get a win and carry that momentum into the
first week of the playoffs. It
looks like we are going to get a home playoff game too.
That is a special accomplishment for the players,” said Cline.
Rittman (2-7,0-6) lost (52-0) to Smithville last week in “WCAL”
action.
Cline says they are counting on a lot of young kids this year.
“Rittman is a very young team.
On film, you can tell that they play hard, but they are a very young
team. I know last year their eighth grade group that are freshmen this year
was a petty good group and they are asking a lot of those guys to play and
the same thing with their sophomore group.
Their coach does a good job of getting them in position.
We need to show up and be ready to go so we can play to our
potential,” he said. Published 10/18/22 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” after Friday night games
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Hillsdale
Must Contain Northwestern Pass Game
Hillsdale tangles with Northwestern on Friday night in a game between
two of the four leaders in the Wayne County Athletic League at Hillsdale.
Norwayne and Dalton, the other two leaders, also play on Friday
night.
The Falcons (5-3,4-1) blanked Waynedale (36-0) last Friday.
Coach Trevor Cline says they weren’t great, but good enough to win.
“Anytime you get a win that is always a positive thing ad that was
what we were able to do last week. Our
kids are playing good football right now.
There are still many areas to improve, but whenever you can win four
games in a row it is always a positive thing. We’ve had another good week
of practice and we are looking forward to Friday night,” he said.
Northwestern (6-2,4-1) downed Smithville (22-7) last week in a
“WCAL” game.
Cline says they are athletic and experienced.
“They have a lot of seniors out there playing and this senior class
has had a lot of success. I know
last year they didn’t do as well as I am sure they had hoped, but they
still have athletes all over the place and a lot of these guys have played
since their sophomore year. They
had a lot of success as sophomores. So,
there is a lot of talent in their skilled positions.
They have a lot of athletes and their line is good size and they play
well. They really are solid on
offense and defense and special teams at each position,” said Cline.
Cline says a big key for them Friday night is the be able to contain
the Huskies passing game. “We
are going to have to slow down their passing attack.
Ethan Siders, their quarterback, has had a great career for them and
he has had a great year so far. He
does a great job if he is getting pressure, he is able to buy some time for
himself and he keeps his eyes downfield when coverage breaks down, he is
able to make a big play,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night,
“We are just going to have contain him in the passing game and also the
running game. They have multiple
athletes and if they get out in space, they can make plays.
They are a very solid football team.
One of the better football teams we have faced this year.
The biggest thing we are going to have to be disciplined.
We are going to have to make sure we don’t allow our coverage to
break down because he will find the opening and take advantage of it.” Published 10/13/22 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” after Friday night games
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Hillsdale
Has to Contain Big Play
Hillsdale, one of four leaders in the Wayne County Athletic League,
plays host to the Waynedale Golden Bears in a league game on Friday night.
Right now, they share first place with Norwayne, Dalton and
Northwestern.
Last week, they had a game winning field goal at the end of
regulation nullified by penalty, but beat Smithville (28-21) in overtime.
Coach Trevor Cline says they battled to get the win.
“Anytime you can win on the road in the “WCAL” it’s a big win
and that is what it was against Smithville last week.
They were a 5-1 football team and we were able to go over there and
come out with a win in overtime. We
didn’t play our best game of the year, but our kids battled throughout the
whole game and put ourselves in position to win in the end,” he said.
Hillsdale plays Northwestern next week.
Cline says they have to have focus on Friday.
“That is the thing that is so neat about the “WCAL”.
Week in and week out you know it is going to be a battle.
It is week eight and there are four teams that are tied in first.
Obviously, we have to make sure we take it one game at a time,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “Waynedale is a very good
football team, even though their record is 2-5.
They have athletes and if you don’t show up ready to play, they are
going to put you in a tough spot and it could be an upset.
So, we have to make sure that we are ready to go so we can continue
to stay in the race for the “WCAL” title.”
Hillsdale (4-3,3-1) entertains Waynedale (2-5,1-3) on Friday night.
The Golden Bears were smoked by Norwayne (48-16) last week.
Cline says they have some very good athletes.
“They just have very good athletes.
Offensive line wise they are big up front, but their athletes out in
space make plays. That is the
thing with them, they have been able to beat teams over the top, so we have
to make sure we are disciplined on defense and keep everything in front of
us and make them have to earn all of the scores they are going to get.
Obviously, the goal is each week to shut down offenses.
We don’t want them to get scores.
We just have to make sure they are earning their drives.
Some of their guys have played for multiple years, and some since
their freshman year, so we just have to make sure we show up ready to play
for all for quarters,” said Cline. Published 10/07/22 © Swankonsports.com Score updates every 5 minutes on Friday night On our scoreboard at |
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Hillsdale
Must be Physical
Hillsdale coming of its biggest win of the season travels to
Smithville for another game in the Wayne County Athletic League on Friday
night.
Last Friday, they beat Dalton for the first time since 2018 as they
stuffed the Bulldogs (27-12) in “WCAL” action.
Coach Trevor Cline says they were very good in all phases of the
game. “That was a big win not
only in the league, but playoff point wise.
So, anytime you come out with a win like that you are happy.
After watching film, it was the same thing for the most part from
what we saw Friday night meaning our offense, defense and special teams all
played well. Our guys understand
don’t be satisfied with just that win, but we want to keep playing well
the rest of the year,” said Cline.
Hillsdale’s defense has been solid all season, but on Friday night
Cline says the offense was up to the task and they were able to keep the
ball away from the explosive Dalton offense.
“I feel that our defense has played well this year, but our offense
just has not been consistent and we have not done a good job with time of
possession. We were able to do
that on Friday and our offense was our best defense because Dalton’s
offense is pretty potent, so keeping them off the field, I think they only
had four possessions in he first half,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Sunday evening, “That is always a positive and it just gives our defense
time to rest. If our offense can
have consistent long drives and those drives end in scores it is always
going to be a positive.”
Hillsdale (3-3,2-1) will be at Smithville (5-1,2-1) on Friday.
The Smithies blanked Waynedale (28-0) last week.
This is a key game with both schools trailing Northwestern by a game
in the league standings. Cline says the
Smithies are talented and they are physical.
“Smithville is a very good football team.
They have size and they are extremely physical.
So, we are going to have to show up and play probably our most
physical game of the year if we want to go out there and put ourselves in a
position to beat them. It is
just like any week in the “WCAL” the game could go either way.
You know it is going to be a battle, so you have to show up and be
ready to go for all four quarters,” he said.
When it comes to the “WCAL” it is a physical league and Cline
says the team that is most physical it going to win more times than not.
“In the league it is physical week in and week out.
It doesn’t matter if it is the best team in the league or the team
that is not at the top, they are going to be physical.
Every week you have to show up and be ready to get after it.
If you not, you are going to get out hit and you may end up losing a
game that you shouldn’t. Smithville
with their new coaching staff the last couple of years they have been
extremely physical, so we have to show up and be ready to be the more
physical team,” said Cline Published 9/26/22 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” after Friday night games
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Hillsdale
Has to Keep the Ball
Hillsdale has another tough challenge this week as they entertain the
Dalton Bulldogs Friday night in a Wayne County Athletic League game.
They broke a three game losing streak with a (47-14) win over
Chippewa in a league game last week.
Coach Trevor Cline says they were able to get some confidence back.
“Last week we played well. We
needed a game where we started to get our confidence back.
Get our offense, defense special teams moving in the right direction.
That is what we were able to do last week.
We still have plenty of room to improve obviously.
We have a big game this week where we need to make improvements to be
able to put ourselves in a position where we can compete in that game and
win it,” he said.
Hillsdale (2-3,1-1) hosts Dalton (4-1,2-0), #5 in the
Swankonsports.com football coaches poll in the small school division, on
Friday night. The Bulldogs, the
defending league champions, belted Smithville (35-7) in “WCAL” action
last Friday.
Cline says they are blessed with very good linemen and talented
backs. “Year in and year out
Dalton is a tough team. They are
one of the teams that are competing for a “WCL” title.
They are very well coached. The
thing that makes them tough again this year is each year they always have a
solid line, but again this year they have skilled position players to go
with that. I guess you would say
they are a little bit of a young team just because they are playing a good
amount of juniors and some sophomores. It
is another year where they have plenty of athletes.
When they get out in space, they can make plays,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “So, it is going to be another week
where we are going to be tested throughout our defense just because they
hurt you running the ball and they will beat you over the top with the pass.
They are a tough team and they are going to be on of the teams that
we have to go through if we want to put ourselves in a position to win the
“WCL” title.”
In their four wins, the Bulldogs have gotten off to very good starts.
Cline says they must keep that talented offense off the field.
“The biggest thing for us for us to help with that is if we had
extended drives on the offensive side of the ball and that will keep their
offense off the field. We
started off well doing that against Norwayne and then we had some turnovers
that put us in a situation where our defense is out there on the field a lot
and we are just trying to play catchup because we got down a couple of
scores. So, it is going to be a
game that we need to make sure that we are capitalizing on all of the
possessions we have and just extend our drives so our defense can stay off
the field. Year in and year out
with the athletes they have. It
is going to be a big week for us, but it is something our kids can
definitely accomplish and have a great week,” said Cline. Published 9/21/22 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” after Friday night games
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Hillsdale
Has to Get Confidence Back
Hillsdale needs to pick up the pieces a little bit as they head for
Chippewa and a game in the Wayne County Athletic League on Friday night.
After playing well in the first quarter last week, they were swamped
(70-14) by Norwayne in a league game.
Coach Trevor Cline says they just made way too many mistakes.
“It was a situation where we got off to a good start.
We played a good quarter and a half where you are up 14-0 and you
have a chance to go up 21-0 when a lot of people didn’t even think you had
a shot of beating Norwayne in that game.
When you have six turnovers things snowball fast,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “We just have to do a better job of
taking care of the football. We
are looking to improve on that this week so we can get back to playing the
way we are capable of.”
Hillsdale (1-3,0-1) plays at Chippewa (1-3,0-1) on Friday night.
The Chipps lost last week (14-0) to Smithville in “WCAL” action.
Cline says the Chipps are going to come after them with a lot of
blitzes. “Chippewa is going to
be a tough game for us. They do
a good job defensively. They are
really aggressive. They are
blitzing multiple linebackers and they are giving you different looks with
their front. So, it is going to
be situation where it is going to be a tough game for us.
If we can get the right guys blocked and our line does a good job
commutating, being physical, it is a game where we can get back to moving
the ball like our offense is capable of,” said Cline.
The most important part of this game for Hillsdale is to get their
confidence back. Cline says that
starts with them getting off to a good start.
“It is one of those things where it would be nice to get our
confidence back because I do think that the last few games has hurt that.
We know our guys are going to bounce back.
Our guys are going to be fine. We
are going to keep battling and working hard and everything is going to work
out. It would be a nice one to
come out and start off strong and get the guy’s confidence back and moving
back the right direction, which we expect them to,” he said. Published 9/15/22 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” after Friday night games
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Execution
the Key for Hillsdale
Hillsdale plays host to Norwayne in the Wayne County League opener
for both schools on Friday night.
The Falcons (1-2) struggles on offense continued last week as they
were blanked (14-0) by Loudonville.
Coach Trevor Cline says they just continue to lack consistency.
“Last week, we were our own worst enemy.
Offensively, we just were not playing consistent.
There were times when plays should have been there and we just
weren’t having 11 guys doing their job.
Credit Loudonville, they showed up and out hit us and outplayed us
throughout the game. Our guys
will bounce back. They have had
a good week of practice. They
are working on getting things turned in the right direction and I feel they
will,” said Cline.
Norwayne (2-1), #4 in the Swankonsports.com football coaches poll in
the small school division, beat Clyde (23-13) in a non-conference game last
Friday.
Cline says like always Norwayne is big and they are athletic too.
“Year in and year out Norwayne is a heck of a program.
One thing they have going for them thing year is their size
throughout their entire team. Then
they also have athletes to go with that size too.
So, they don’t really have a weakness at any position.
They just year in and year out over the last 10 years they have just
had guys across the board that are good sized kids and athletic.
They have that again this year. They
are obviously well coached over there. They
are a team that has gotten off to a pretty good start this year,” he said.
When it comes to Friday night, Cline says he just wants the Falcons
to be a more consistent football team. “The
biggest thing I want to see out our guys is to be consistent because I feel
our offense could be a really good offense this year and at times we have
shown it, but we have been our own worst enemy.
When you are having a good play that is being called back because of
a penalty or holding. If you are
having some good plays and then you have one or two guys not doing their job
on a play and it ends up being a negative play that’s always going to kill
you,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “Our defense so far
has played really well. They
gave up six points in week one, 14 to a good Lucas team week two, and 14 to
Loudonville last week, so the defense playing well.
We just have to get our offense moving in the right direction.
Our guys are continuing to work hard and that’s all you can ask to
continue to work hard put yourself in position on Friday night.” Published 9/09/22 © Swankonsports.com Score updates every 5 minutes on Friday night On our scoreboard at |
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Hillsdale
Making Strides
Hillsdale makes the short trip to Loudonville to meet the Redbirds in
a non-conference game on Friday night.
They lost (14-13) to Lucas last Saturday in a game that was played at
Clear Fork due to vandalism at Bob Wine Field.
Hillsdale coach Trevor Cline says it was an unfortunate situation.
“Last week was a unique situation.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the Lucas community.
They are a similar to our small community.
You wait a longtime to get a full facility and for something like
that to happen. It’s just a
terrible situation and I hope they can make the best of it,” he said.
Cameron Michael Scott was arrested by Richland County Sheriff’s
deputies and charged with vandalism. He
is cooling his heels in the Richland County Jail.
As far as the game was concerned, Cline thought it was just as
competitive as the score would indicate.
“It ended up being a great game getting to play down at Clear Fork.
We knew going into that game it was going to be physical game for
both teams and it didn’t disappoint. They
are a well coached team. It was
a game that you wished you came out on top, but it was a game that you can
take a lot of positives from and grow from and keep improving from one week
to the next,” said Cline.
Hillsdale had beaten Black River (34-6) on week one, but Cline feels
their performance against Lucas showed improvement.
“I feel we played better than on week one.
Lucas is one of the top schools in division VII year in and year out
and we were able to go out there and compete with them.
Some things didn’t run as smooth as they did week one, but that
also has to deal with Lucas being a really good football team to and there
are a lot of things we need to get cleaned up from last week,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “Offensively, there were sometimes
that we were getting a good drive going and we would just shoot ourselves in
the foot. If we are going to win
a lot of football games this year, like we expect and make a run in the
playoffs, we have to get that stuff cleaned up.
So, we are going to focus on getting better each day, so by the end
of the year we have improved a lot from week to week.”
Loudonville (1-1) got past Utica (19-13) last week.
Cline says the Redbirds are their biggest rival and he knows the
Birds can make plays. “That is
our biggest rivalry, so that is always a good game between us.
It doesn’t matter how good or bad we are or how good or bad they
are it’s always a great game. They
had a big win over Utica last week and that is going to be a battle.
They have a bunch of athletes that can make plays.
We have to make sure we keep everything in front of us.
Watching Loudonville last week, they are explosive and make big
plays,” he said. Published 9/01/22 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” after Friday night games
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Hillsdale
Has to be Physical, Disciplined
Hillsdale will be over at Lucas in a battle between division VII
powers on Saturday night in non-conference play.
The Falcons beat up Black River (34-6) in their opener last Friday.
Coach Trevor Cline says it was an excellent performance by his team.
“Last week was a great game for our players.
We came out and were physical from the get go and they played hard
for all four quarters. We were
able to limit the big plays from their playmakers and that put us in a good
position. Overall, offensively,
defensively and special teams wise our guys played really well,” he said.
Lucas fell in its opener, losing (21-20) to Clear Fork.
Cline says it was a game that could have gone either way and this is
typical Lucas team. “It was a
really good game. From film it
looked like it could have gone either way.
Lucas does such a good job with how fundamental they are.
It doesn’t matter if it is offense, defense or special teams they
have 11 guys doing their job each and every play.
That is biggest thing I have seen on film there are really no weak
links on the team, everyone of them will show up and hit you on defense and
every play on offensive they are doing their job.
They are a well coached team and they have a lot of talent on their
team,” said Cline.
Lucas won the meeting last year (14-12) and Cline says to win this
time they have play physical and fundamentally sound.
“The biggest thing is for us on offense we have to be able to
control the line of scrimmage. I
feel like if we play like we did last week and at the end of game we want to
be able to say that Hilldale was the more physical team if we are going to
put ourselves in position to come our on top,” he told Swankonsports.com
on Thursday night, “Defensively, we just have to be disciplined this week
because that is the thing that Lucas does such a good job with.
They just keep running the ball at you waiting for you to wear down
or make a mental mistake and then they get a big play off of you.
The biggest thing is we just need all 11 guys, it doesn't matter if
it is offense, defense, or special teams just getting after it every play.
That will put us in position to compete with these guys on
Saturday.” Published 8/26/22 © Swankonsports.com Score updates every 5 minutes on Friday night On our scoreboard at |
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Hillsdale
Takes on Talented Black River
Hillsdale one of the more consistent football programs in this area
kicks off its season at home against the Black River Pirates in a
non-conference game on Friday night.
Something to keep in mind for later in the year, the Falcons are
division VII this season and spending most of the recent past as division
VI.
Coach Trevor Cline says they have been making steady progress this
month. “We are happy with the
progression that we saw this year with this group.
This off season, and during the summer we work our four days a week.
We were in the low to mid-40’s in the amount of guys that were
showing up. Now that two a days
have started we have 54 players on our roster and those guys have been
showing up and working hard each day to set themselves up to have another
good season,” said Cline.
Other than the COVID year of 2020, Hillsdale has had a plus .500
record every year since 2013.
Cline says kids at Hillsdale want to play football.
“When you get a run of success the kids want to be part of the
program and enjoy being part of the program and that is one thing we have
been able to feed off of in recent years,” he said.
Cline says that Black River will be a tough nut to crack on Friday
night.
He says they have some talented kids, especially at the slot
position. “Black River is
going to be another tough opponent for us.
They were in the playoffs last year.
They finished the year 8-4. They
have multiple guys from last year that are returning.
Their quarterback, he is a junior, he played varsity for them last
year, although he was not at quarterback.
He has a strong arm,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night,
“I talked to our defensive backs (Monday) with this kind of quarterback
you can never give up on a play because he can chuck it.
They have multiple guys that in space can make plays.
There is a slot for them that I would say is their best playmaker and
watching him on film he gets out in space and gets one on one he can break
it wide open.” Published 8/16/22 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” after Friday night games
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Hillsdale
Working in the Trenches
Hillsdale always seems to be one of the best teams in the Wayne
County Athletic League and that should be the case again this fall.
They were (7-5) last year and finished third in the league standings
and lost to Mogadore in the second round of the division VI playoffs.
Coach Trevor Cline says they have some skilled kids back from that
team, but they are going to be young in the trenches.
“We return a lot of our skilled position players, but on our
offensive line position we are replacing multiple guys.
Then the same thing defensively, we return a lot of our skilled
position players, but we are replacing a lot on the defensive line.
So, I wouldn’t say we are inexperienced, but I also wouldn’t say
we are experienced,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “We are
about average when it comes to that, but we have a lot of guys that have
played in varsity games before and that is always a positive going into a
new year.”
Hillsdale scrimmages Monroeville and Mohawk on Saturday and Canton
Central Catholic next week.
Cline says those scrimmages are going to be vital for the kids
working in the trenches. “It
is always great when those guys are working together.
When you can get the offensive line working together and the whole
team working together good things tend to happen,” he said.
Hillsdale put plus 30 points up five times last year.
Cline says they can have the same kind of explosiveness this season.
“If we can block the correct guys and open holes for the skilled
position players they are going to be able to make plays for us.
They showed that last year. Our
goal this year is for them to do the same thing,” said Cline. Published 8/02/22 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” after Friday night games
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Hillsdale
Does it Again
Hillsdale has a chance to make it to the final four for the second
time in three seasons as they beat defending division IV state champ Warren
JFK (4-3) in a regional semifinal played at Gates Milles Gilmour Academy on
Thursday.
The Falcons were state runners up in 2019.
They will play Tiffin Calvert, of the Sandusky Bay Conference River
Division, for a regional title at Gilmour Academy on Friday.
Calvert beat Bristol (5-3) on Thursday.
Warren JFK scored three runs in the first inning, all unearned, but
after that Hillsdale coach Jason Snow says Nick Kandel was masterful.
“It was a great credit to Nick Kandel on the mound.
He kind of got himself in a little trouble that first inning on a
bunt that we threw away and it led to three unearned runs, but he settled
down after that and over the next six innings held them to two hits and
struck out seven. Quite a
performance for Nick,” he said.
Hillsdale got single runs in the second and fifth to cut their
deficit to (2-1) and then got two in the sixth to win it.
Ninth place hitter, catcher Daniel Painter tied it on a double that
scored Braylen Jarvis and then Kandel followed with a run scoring single to
give the Falcons the lead.
Snow says they just kept fighting.
“That is kind of how our whole tournament run has been.
It has been 4-3, 4-2, 4-3 the last three games.
It has been one here and one there.
We talked (Thursday) it would be nice if we could just have one of
those big innings. If we could
get three or four and get a crooked number up there one time it would be
great. The kids are so
resilient,” he told Swankonsports.com after the win, “They talked about,
guys let’s just chip away and find a way.
Every inning we had guys on base.
We didn’t get the big hits all of the time, but eventually Daniel
Painter came through with a big hit to get us on the board there in the
sixth inning, just a key spot for us.”
Regarding Friday against Calvert, Snow says they just have to keep
finding a way. “They stole a
few bases. We had chance to see
them (Thursday) and we got a little more scouting elsewhere.
It is probably the same scenario as us.
We are both coming with our number twos, mixing up some speed, see
how we can stay back and take care of some off speed pitches.
The same thing for us, we just have got to throw strikes and give our
kids a chance to field the ball. When
we do that, we are usually in the game.
Right now, our offense if just finding ways to get just enough.
Hopefully, that will continue to (Friday),” said Snow. Published 6/03/22 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
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Hillsdale
Wins District Title
Hillsdale earned a division IV district title Wednesday evening with
a (4-2) win over Columbia in a game played at Medina High School.
They will play either Warren JFK or Lake Center Christian in next
week’s regional in Gates Mills.
Just like in their district semifinal win over Mogadore on Tuesday,
the Falcons fell behind Wednesday, but rallied from a (2-1) deficit after
two to tie it in the third and put two up in the fourth to take the lead.
Coach Jason Snow says pitcher Cade Fickes was tremendous on
Wednesday. “It was really
similar to (Tuesday) we fell behind, we get one, they get one, we get a zero
finally on them and then we get one. The
kids are really resilient. They
battled. Cade Fickes threw one
heck of a game,” he told Swankonsports.com after the win on Wednesday,
“He gave up a couple of runs the first two innings.
Then next three innings he put zeros on in the hits and the runs.
We just found a way. The
top of the order got things done offensively.
Daniel Painter in the nine hole had a couple of hits for us.”
Fickes went six innings and gave up only three hits and struck out
six.
Hillsdale was not as sound as they normally are with three errors
that led to two unearned runs for Columbia.
Snow says Fickes was able to work around their errors while they took
advantage of the Columbia mistakes. “The
key for us we have said is defense. We
talked about this after our last game. Both
teams kind of booted the ball around. We
took more advantage of their mistakes. Caden
battled around our mistakes and just gave us a chance to win.
Mark Able closed it out. He
came in with a guy on base and got the next three guys to seal it,” he
said.
Fickes also added two hits and an RBI for the Falcons (23-4) and they
also got one hit each from the top part of their order in Nick Kandle, Jack
Fickes and Ethan Goodwin. Plus,
they got two hits, including a double from Daniel Painter.
Snow says Painter was a big plus for him.
“He hit the ball well. His
second hit should have been another double, but he kind of lost his balance
and fell coming around first base and he settled for a single, but we were
still fortunate to pick him up and score him that inning.
We have potential one through nine and we will have to continue to
find ways for all of guys to pitch in if we want to keep rolling,” said
Snow. Published 5/26/22 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
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Hillsdale
Edges Mogadore in Districts
With single tallies in the fifth and sixth innings Hillsdale rallied
to beat Mogadore (4-3) in a division IV district semifinal played Tuesday
afternoon at Medina High School.
They return to Medina on Wednesday to face Columbia in the district
final.
Hillsdale took a (1-0) in the first when Nick Kandel scored on a
Mogadore error. The Falcons tied
the game (2-2) in the third when Kandel again scored on an error, the
Wildcats had five on the day. They
would respond again in the fifth as Kandel, the Falcons lead off hitter,
scored his third run of the day, this time on a fielder’s choice, and the
game was tied (3-3) after five.
The biggest hit of the day came in the bottom of the sixth when
Braylen Jarvis doubled to score Jake Hoverstock and give the Falcons the
(4-3) lead.
Kandel also went the distance on the mound giving up three runs, one
of them unearned, on five hits. He
struck out four and walked three.
Hillsdale coach Jason Snow says they made enough plays to win.
“It was a great game offensively.
Really both teams made some mistakes defensively.
They made a few more than we did.
We were fortunate enough to get that run in the sixth and hold on,”
he said.
Hillsdale has had a great deal of tournament success in recent years,
including an appearance in the division IV state final in 2019.
Snow says his kid’s experience in pressure situations was a plus.
“Even with a lot of our kids with their travel ball teams playing
in tournament championships. I
think the last several years just being around the success that we have been
fortunate to have in our program. Plus,
all year long winning those games, but also have those tight games that we
won and lost. I think those
experiences add up and our kids feel comfortable.
Everybody gets those butterflies and those nerves, but they are
excited. They are ready to go
for (Wednesday),” said Snow.
Hillsdale (22-4) will face Columbia on Wednesday, who beat Dalton,
also of the Wayne County Athletic League, like Hillsdale, (2-1) on Tuesday,
also in come from behind fashion.
Snow says they have to throw strikes and good strikes.
“They are a pretty aggressive team.
They have a couple of power arms, so we are going to be challenged
with our batters. They have some
pitchers that have gotten some strikeouts. We
are going to have to find some ways to muster runs.
We have to throw strikes. They
are pretty patient. They like to
wait for a fastball. So, our
pitchers are going to have to mix it up and throw some off speed,” he told
Swankonsports.com after the win Tuesday, “Our key with our guys is
throwing strikes. If we don’t
walk four or five guys or lead the inning off with a walk.
Typically, our defense is pretty good and they will give us a chance
to win the game. It is key for
us to challenge their hitters, but also be smart with where we are making
our pitches.” Published 5/25/22 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
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Hillsdale
Tops South Central
Hillsdale beat South Central (6-1) in a non-conference game played
Monday evening between two of the hotter teams in North Central Ohio.
The Falcons, who have lost only once since the first week of April,
and South Central, at least co-champs of the Firelands Conference, who won
five straight important conference games last week.
Hillsdale coach Jason Snow says it was a good test.
“It was a pretty good game. It
was actually 1-1 in the fifth inning. We
got five runs late to kind of break it open.
We are pretty competitive teams.
It was probably good for both of us to play each other before the
tournament,” said Snow.
Snow adds that fifth inning uprising was key for them.
“We mixed it in. We got
a couple of walks. We only got
three hits for the game. We
happened to get a couple of hits that inning to break it open after a couple
of walks. The pitchers did a
nice job for us working out of trouble and holding them to one,” he said.
Hillsdale (19-4) threw five pitchers, none going more than more than
two innings against the Trojans (16-4) on Monday.
Snow says thy wanted to get a lot of guys some work to keep them
ready. “We are trying to keep
guys fresh. We haven’t played
since last Thursday. We wanted a
couple of the guys that pitched Thursday an inning of two.
Just trying to keep guy’s arms ready to go.
Keep them active so they are ready to go when they get on the mound
in a big tournament game,” he said.
Snow says preparing for the tournament, especially having your
pitching set up, can be tricky. “Especially
with that first round bye. If we
limit ourselves to one guy in that first game and we are fortunate enough to
win then we don’t play again until the 24th, so we have five
days in between there then you are going to get to the point where some of
the guys, maybe they throw some bullpens, but it is different than actually
seeing game action,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “
So, anytime we can get somebody an extra inning of work to try and
get them out on that field we are going to do that here on this tournament
run.” Published 5/17/22 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
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Hillsdale
Edges Fredericktown in Extra Innings
Jax
Rogers hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning and Hillsdale
beat Fredericktown (6-5) in a non-conference baseball game between two of
the better small school teams in North Central Ohio on Monday evening.
Coach Jason Snow says it was a good test for the Falcons heading into
the tournament next week. “We
were looking forward to this contest. It
was a pretty good game. They
made some errors early and we made some errors late.
It came down to one swing and Jax Rogers were able to hit one over
the leftfield fence to give us the game winner,” he said.
Snow says due to injury, Rogers has been an out of the lineup, but he
stepped up big time for them on Monday.
“Jax is coming back from shoulder surgery after football season, so
he has been in and out of the lineup. He
hasn’t been able to throw until about three weeks ago, so he plays a
little first base. He came off
the bench. He didn’t start
(Monday), but he came in in the fifth inning and got a walk in his first at
bat and then came up in the eighth and became the hero for us,” said Snow.
Ethan Goodwin had three hits for the Falcons.
Jack Fickes also homered for Hillsdale and he got the win in relief
too.
Hillsdale (17-3) has won 13 straight games and is the top seed in
their division IV sectional in the Northeast District.
However, Snow says they can’t take anything for granted.
“One thing that I will remind the guys before our first round game
is all games matter. It only
takes one good outing by a pitcher to shut you down and a couple of errors
here and there. Cuyahoga Heights
and Open Door will play,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night,
“Cuyahoga Heights knocked us out last year.
If they happen to win, we have a little motivation.
They lost eight guys, so they are pretty young.
That’s our team, throw strikes and play good defense and find some
ways to scape some runs across the board.” Published 5/10/22 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
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Hillsdale
Stays a Game Back
Hillsdale got another win they had to have in blanking Rittman (5-0)
on Wednesday evening behind Nick Kandle to remain a game behind Norwayne and
Waynedale in the race in the Wayne County Athletic League.
Norwayne beat Smithville (10-2) and Waynedale shut out Chippewa
(10-0) on Wednesday.
Kandle scattered four hits and struck out 15 Indians on Wednesday.
Coach Jason Snow says he likes how they are playing right now.
“That is where we have been getting better since the start of the
year. Our pitchers are throwing
more strikes and the defense we have cleaned it up quite a bit.
If you hold the other team without any runs, you have a pretty good
chance to win,” he said.
Kandle walked four over seven innings and the Falcons had no errors.
Mark Able had three of the Falcons seven hits on Wednesday.
Snow says they hit the ball well, but were a bit unlucky.
“We hit the ball really hard. In
first three or four innings we had a chance to kind of break the game open.
They made a couple of nice plays on a couple of line drives and
turned them into some double plays. Give
them a little bit of credit for taking us out of a couple of innings when we
could have really blown the game open,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Wednesday night, “We are trying to schedule some more games, we picked up
Norwalk for (Thursday). We are
just trying to find some teams and keep getting better before the tournament
run.”
Hillsdale (15-3,8-3) has won its last 11 games and Snow says they are
really playing some excellent baseball.
“It was a little frustrating early in the year.
Part of it was we played to top half of our league early.
We didn’t play really well and to their credit, they did.
We learned quite a bit and made some adjustments and moved some
people around a little bit and it seems like we have settled in a little bit
right now. It’s a good time to
start playing your best baseball. We
are just trying to keep it going right now,” he said. Published 5/05/22 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
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Hillsdale
Blasts Chippewa
Hillsdale remains in contention in the race in the Wayne County
Athletic League after a (9-1) win over Chippewa in league play on Thursday
evening.
Nick Kandel, Max Vesper, Mark Able and Daniel Painter all had two
hits for the Falcons. Kandel had
four RBI.
They scored eight runs in the first three innings and coach Jason
Snow says that allowed them to relax a little bit.
“We got four in the first with two outs.
You always like to get on top early and we got that little cushion.
We could relax a little bit. They
came back and got one, but we added one in the second.
We got some extra kids in to get them some swings.
Our pitchers threw strikes and we made plays,” he said.
Caden Fickes went seven innings, allowing six hits and striking out
12.
Snow says he settled down after kind a rough start against the Chips.
“He has pitched some big games for us.
He is more of an off speed pitcher.
He throws a lot of curve balls. He
has the one win against Norwayne where we gave them one of their league
losses. He shut them down and
came out (Thursday) and had a little struggle in the first inning.
He had quite few guys on and gave ups some hits and then he settled
down and got in the strike zone,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday
night, “He battled, he threw 100 pitches, which was a pretty good amount
for him. He threw a lot of
strikes and struck out 12 guys and had a good night for us.”
Hillsdale (9-3,5-3) plays Lucas in a non-league game on Friday.
Their league series next week is against Smithville.
They trail Norwayne and Waynedale, who they have already played, by a
game in the conference standings.
Snow says all they can do is keep winning.
“We got to 1-3 early and we said let’s not focus on that.
All we can do is go out and win our games and we will see what
happens. (Wednesday)
Northwestern upset Norwayne to give them their second league loss.
Waynedale has two losses and we have three.
Again, we just want to go out and win our games.
All we can do is try and get better.
We can’t control anything in front of us except winning our games
and we will see what happens,” said Snow. Published 4/22/22 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
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Hillsdale
Rallies to Beat Norwayne
Hillsdale scored three times in the top of the seventh to rally past
Norwayne (4-2) in a Wayne County Athletic League game on Wednesday evening.
Mike Steingass gave Norwayne a (2-1) lead in the bottom of the sixth
with a two run homer, but Hillsdale centerfielder Nick Kandel ripped a three
run double in the top of the seventh and that proved to be the difference.
Caden Fickes was tremendous on the hill for the Falcons going all
seven, striking out eight and allowing only two hits.
Coach Jason Snow says it was a huge win for them.
“It was a huge game for us in playing a league team like Norwayne
and losing to them (Tuesday) night 6-3.
We took the lead in the sixth 1-0 and they hit a two out, two run
homer in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead.
Our kids kept battling. We
had some kids have great at bats and worked a key walk and got our three
hitter up to the plate in Nick Kandel and he cleared the bases with a double
to give us three runs and put us up 4-2,” he told Swankonsports.com after
the win, “Caden Fickes, my god, pitched a complete game for us, probably
one of the best games I have seen him pitch, he had them off balance all
night. He held them to two hits
and two runs. I couldn’t be
more proud of my kids.”
In terms of the league, Snow says Wednesday they needed to bounce
back and they were able to do that. “Norwayne
has been a thorn in our side. Last
year, we had two 3-2 games and they beat us with walk offs in both of them.
So, it was kind of nice to get that off our back.
We didn’t want to go down 0-2 in league with Norwayne and having
Waynedale coming up. It was a
great response by our kids. Well
played game by both sides, coach (Blake) Bellman does a heck of a job over
there at Norwayne,” he said.
It has been a baseball rivalry and Norwayne was had their number and
Snow says it was very important for them to get a split in the first league
series of the season. “We
haven’t been able to get out on our field, not a lot of swings outside.
Not a lot of opportunities on our new field with flyballs and see how
the ball reacts. I thought both
teams handled it pretty well. We
are just more on the mental side of our game.
We had some poor communication at times (Tuesday).
We cleaned it up (Wednesday) the kids did a great job.
It is very important to come out strong with the great teams we are
playing early in the year,” said Snow. Published 3/31/22 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
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Hillsdale
Coming Along
Hillsdale
returns a number of players to its roster and hopes to again be able to
field a strong team.
The have consistently been a factor in the Wayne County Athletic
League in recent years. They
were a state runner-up in 2019.
Coach Jason Snow says are dealing with some injuries, but are excited
to get the season started. “It’s
pretty exciting. We are ready to
get rolling. We have a lot of
returners. We are trying to get
through some injuries right now. We
are a little banged up to start. Kids
are working hard. We had a
scrimmage (Tuesday) night with Ashland and we did a lot of good things.
Also, found some things that we have to keep getting better at and we
are ready to get rolling,” he said.
They are slated to start the season March 26 against South Central at
home. They see their first
league action on March 29 and 30 against the Norwayne Bobcats.
Snow says between now and then they have to start throwing more
strikes and getting better communication on defense.
“I think for our team the consistency we need from our pitchers.
We have a lot of kids back. In
our first scrimmage we were behind a lot of hitters.
We had a lot of one, two, three innings when we were throwing 16, 18
pitches just because we were getting behind guys early and running the count
full. I think we need to do a
better job of getting ahead in the strike zone early,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Wednesday, “I think for us our communication is
probably our weakest link. Losing
Ty Williams, who was the leader in our infield.
We have to have our infielders pick up the communication with each
other to know what is going on. That
has been our biggest issue so far in practices.
Talking to each other and making sure we know what each other is
supposed to be doing.”
Snow says to be competitive this year they are going to have to hit
the ball. “We are counting on
hitting being a key for us with a lot of returners.
A lot of kids that got their experience last year.
They have been in the cages a lot.
They have swung they bat well the last few days outside.
We finally got a chance to hit outside a little bit.
I think maybe our lineup hasn’t got the pop it has had in the past
with the home run ball, but we have kind of stretched our lineup where we
have a lot of guys that have decent speed and should be able to hit for
average,” he said. Published 3/17/22 © Swankonsports.com For the latest in local sports Click on our listen line at |
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Hillsdale
Faces Huge Mogadore Team
Hillsdale takes its act to tradition rich Mogadore for a division VI
regional quarterfinal on Saturday night.
Last week, they put together a tremendous effort by scoring two times
in the game’s final three minutes to beat Middlefield Cardinal (12-7) in
their playoff opener.
Coach Trevor Cline says it was in horrible weather conditions,
including pounding rain. “It
was one of the most exciting fourth quarters of a game that I have been
around as a player and as a coach. We
really couldn’t get much done offensively the conditions were just crazy.
It will be something that our players and anyone at that game will be
talking about for years and tell stories probably for the rest of their
life. It was just a muddy mess.
Offensively, it was hard to sustain a drive just because you were
constantly slipping and having trouble holding onto the football.
Just trying to get positive yards was difficult,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Monday, “We struggled throughout the first few
quarters moving the ball and we just didn’t have the best field position.
In the fourth quarter there we were able to get two scores in the
last three minutes of the game and were able to come out of there with a
win. It was definitely and
exciting game for our players and our community.”
Hillsdale (7-4) plays at Mogadore (8-3) on Saturday night.
The Wildcats beat Canton Central Catholic (21-13) in their playoff
game last week.
Cline says this is a school that is used to having success.
“Mogadore is a powerhouse in the small school divisions.
It is a program that you just want to emulate just because they have
had success year in and year out for many years. I think they have been in
the playoffs 18 straight times or something like that.
So, they are no stranger to playoffs and they are used to making deep
runs. It is going to be a great
experience for us to go up there and go into that atmosphere at Mogadore.
We have become a program too that has a lot of experience in the
playoffs, especially as of late. It
is going to be a great opportunity for us this Saturday,” he said.
Mogadore is making its 35th playoff appearance.
They have won three state titles, the last coming in 2002.
The were the state runner-up in 2015.
Hillsdale has qualified for post season 10 times, all since 2009.
Cline says Mogadore is huge and they need to used angles to move guys
and gang tackle on defense. “They
have multiple guys that are just good sized players at the division VI
level. That is one thing that we
are going to have to try and matchup with.
It is going to be hard just to matchup one on one with some of those
larger guys that they have. We
just to have to offensively find ways to get those guys blocked.
We have been able to do that with bigger guys in the past.
Defensively, we are just going to have to find ways to get those guys
to the ground. #87, who is their
tight end and also their defensive end, is about 6’4”, 235 and times
they line up and run the ball with him in the backfield.
He is a guy that is if you hit him high, he is going to run you over
so you are going to have to cut tackling and just have multiple guys get to
the football. We were able to do
that last week against Cardinal because they had a bigger back and we were
able to gang tackle him and slow him down,” said Cline. Published 11/02/21 © Swankonsports.com A special edition of “Out of Bounds” Will air Saturday 10 PM to midnight “Your First Source for All Things Sports” |
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Hillsdale
Must Tackle
Hillsdale heads for Middlefield Cardinal for a first round playoff
game in division VI on Friday night.
They posted their third straight win last week in downing
Northwestern (30-20) in a Wayne County Athletic League game.
Coach Trevor Cline says they responded when Northwestern challenged
them. “We played well on
offense and defense last week, especially in the first half.
We were up 20-0 ay halftime and in the third quarter they started to
make a move. It was 20-14 at one
point. I was proud of how our
guys responded when the pressure was put on them there in the third quarter.
They stayed calm and were able to answer and we went up a couple of
scores again and we were able to roll for a little bit.
That was third week in a row where we have made improvements.
The last couple weeks we have beaten teams that have had multiple
weapons on offense and we were able to slow them down, which is always great
to have,” he said.
Hillsdale (6-4) is at Cardinal (7-3) on Saturday night.
The Huskies beat Burton Berkshire (48-14) and they have won five of
their last six.
Cline says they physical and want to run the football.
“They are very physical up front on offense and defense.
They have a couple of guys that are extremely physical.
On offense we are going to have to be able to get them blocked.
When we are defense, we will have to be able to hold them up, so they
are not getting back to our linebackers.
They have multiple guys up front that are tough.
Skilled position wise they have some good guys.
Their quarterback is just a sophomore, but he throws the ball well
and he has ran the ball well at times too.
The guy that gets the main carries for them is a solid built kid.
If you are not willing to gang tackle him and come up and hit low, he
is going to run over you. They
have multiple different weapons and attack you different ways.
It’s going to be a battle for us this week,’ said Cline.
Tackling and getting the edge are going to be key factors for the
Falcons, according to Cline. “From
my experience the last few years in the playoffs and just watching it over
the years. In the playoffs, you are not going to be able to beat good teams
if you don’t tackle well. That
is one thing we have improved on this year, which has set us up for success
in the playoffs. Earlier this
year, the first couple games, especially the first game, we just didn’t
tackle well. It’s hard to play
good defense what you don’t tackle well.
We were giving up big plays,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday
night, “That is something over the last few weeks we have been able to
limit is the big plays against those teams that we have played and we have
had some playmakers we have been able to limit.
That is what we expect again this week.
Our goal is to get their running back going east and west instead of
going downhill. If we get him to
bounce plays, we feel we will be able to gang tackle him and be able to slow
him down. If we don’t do that
and let him run downhill, it could be a long night for us.” Published 10/29/21 © Swankonsports.com On Friday and Saturday night log onto our
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Hillsdale
Plays Biggest Rival
Hillsdale hopes to solidify its playoff position on Friday night as
they visit Northwestern to face the Huskies in a Wayne County Athletic
League.
A (31-20) win at Waynedale put the Falcons in position to secure a
place in the top 16 of division VI, region 21.
Coach Trevor Cline says it was a huge win for them, maybe their best
performance of the season. “Last
week was a big win for us. It
was out first true, quality win against a team that had multiple good wins.
So, it was a big night for us, especially to be able to go there and
they had been playing well. Just
our history of success at Waynedale has not been very good.
So, it was great for our guys to go there and get a quality road
win,” he said.
Hillsdale (5-4,4-2) is at Northwestern (3-6,2-3) on Friday night.
The Huskies beat Smithville (13-7) last week and have won two of
their last three games.
Cline says this is always a big rivalry game.
“It is a rivalry game. I
would say it is our biggest rivalry game in our league.
So, anytime we play them it is always a really good game.
The majority of those games come right down to the very end.
I know two years ago in 2019 we ended up winning on a game winning
drive against them at their place. Then
last year at their place it came down to our last drive and they stopped us.
Year in and year out it is always a battle no matter what both
team’s records are,” he said.
In a quirk in the schedule this is the third year in a row that
Hillsdale is at Northwestern.
Cline adds the key this week is really the same as it was last week
and that is to make the quarterback feel uncomfortable.
“They return a lot of guys from last year.
I know their quarterback had a really good year last year as a
sophomore. He’s back, he’s a
threat running and passing. They
return a lot of skilled position players too.
They do a nice job of getting those guys out in space.
Whenever they get their athletes out in space they can put a lot of
teams in a bind,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “We just
have to make sure we are doing what we did last week against Peyton Lemon
from Waynedale. Don’t give him
time to sit back there and pick apart our defense. We have to put pressure
on him and force him into some throws he doesn’t want to make.” Published 10/20/21 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
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Hillsdale
Must Get Pressure
Hillsdale makes the trip to Apple Creek to play the Waynedale Golden
Bears in a Wayne County Athletic League game on Friday night.
The Falcons (4-4,3-2) pitched a shutout in beating Smithville (30-0)
last week in league action.
Coach Trevor Cline says the defense was outstanding.
“Our defense played especially well last week against Smithville.
We were able to get a shutout. Whenever
you can do that in football obviously that is a huge night and that’s what
it was for us last Friday. Offensively,
we moved the ball well and did what we needed to do to get us a win.
I was extremely proud of our players last week,” he said.
Waynedale (4-4,3-2) lost to league co-leader Norwayne (56-24) last
week.
Cline says the Bears have vast experience.
“Waynedale is a really good football team.
They have a lot of experience on their team.
They have guys that have multiple years of varsity experience.
So, we know that this game is going to be a really good game.
It is a big game for both teams.
Waynedale has a chance to get over .500 and the same thing for us.
This is basically the battle for third place in the league.
It’s a big weekend for both of us.
There are big playoff points too,” said Cline.
Waynedale also has quarterback Peyton Lemon.
Cline says he is a duel threat kind of guy that makes big plays.
He says they have to get some pressure on him.
“He is phenomenal. We
have gone up against him the last few years.
He does a really nice job of running their offense.
It’s the same thing again this year.
It appears they run a lot of R.P.O.’s, at least from film it looks
like they do that and he does a nice job of reading that,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “He usually makes the correct reads
and that puts your defense in a bind. So,
we have to make sure we do a nice job putting pressure on them, so he
can’t just set back there and pick our defense apart.
If he has time, he throws a really nice football.
It will put our defense in trouble if let him have that time.” Published 10/14/21 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
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Hillsdale
Knows What it Has to do
Hillsdale has a focus on the making the division VI football playoffs
this year. It would be their
sixth straight appearance in the postseason.
They host Smithville in a “WCAL” game on Friday night.
Their chances of a piece of the Wayne County Athletic League title
took a hit that week when they lost (41-20) to Dalton, the league co-leader.
The game was tied (14-14) at the half, but coach Trevor Cline says
they didn’t execute as well in the second half.
“Our players played well throughout the game.
We were right with them an tied at halftime and in the second half
our offense stalled a couple of drives.
Anytime you are going up against a good offensive team like Dalton.
When you get a couple of quick three and outs and give the ball back
to them, they are going to make you pay for that and that’s what they did
last week. They are a phenomenal
team. I expect them to make a
run at a “WCAL” title here. I
think they play Norwayne week 10 and I am sure the “WCAL” title is going
to be on the line at that point. It
is going to go to one of those two teams.
I expect Dalton to make a run in the playoffs.
We played well in the first half.
In the second half we just gave their offense too many opportunities
and they capitalized on it,” said Cline.
Hillsdale (3-4,2-2) is at home with Smithville (1-6,0-4) on Friday
night. The Smithies were
hammered by Waynedale (48-8) in a league game last Friday.
Cline says with their wing-T offense it is going to be important to
read their keys on defense. “They
have a new coach there and they are implementing a new offense.
What we have seen on film it looks like they have a physical line up
front and they have multiple athletes who can make plays.
We are going to have to be disciplined against them because they like
to run traps. They run like a
wing-T type of the offense. So,
if we are not disciplined in reading our keys.
Their linemen are going to take us to the football.
We have to make sure we are reading them or we are going to be in for
a long night on defense against them because they do have size.
On the offensive and defensive side of the ball they do have good
sized kids,” he said.
Hillsdale finishes the season with Waynedale and Northwestern and
Cline says three wins to close the regular season will mean a playoff berth
for the Falcons. “We have
talked to our players this week that all three of these next games are
important if we want to get back in the playoffs for the sixed year in a
row. If we win all three of the
games we are going to be back in the playoffs.
All three games are winnable, but all three games are games we could
lose if we don’t take care of business,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Monday night, “Even though Smithville is 1-6 I feel they are a better team
than that. Waynedale and
Northwestern are also good. If
we take care of business the next three weeks will be back in the playoffs.
We are sitting 14th this week in our region.
Our main focus this week is just playing to our potential and take
care of business against Smithville and then we will worry about the next
two games.” Published 10/05/21 © Swankonsports.com For 24/7 local sports click on our listen
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Hillsdale’s
Job is to Eliminate the Big Play
Hillsdale faces a tough challenge this week as they travel to Dalton
to play the Bulldogs, who share first place with Norwayne, in a Wayne County
Athletic League game on Friday night.
The Falcons are a game behind the leaders.
They smoked Chippewa (30-7) on Friday night in league action.
Coach Trevor Cline says they played better on defense last week than
they have all season. “We
played extremely well last week, especially our defense.
Our defense was able to stop their quarterback, who coming into the
week had four straight games of 200 yards or more rushing and we were able
to limit him. That was huge for
us because that was our best game of tackling this year so far this year.
When you tackle well you will be able to stop the offense most
nights,” he said.
Hillsdale (3-3,2-1) plays at Dalton (4-2,2-0) on Friday night.
The Bulldogs blasted Smithville (40-7) in their “WCAL” game last
week.
Cline says they are blessed to have a lot of playmakers on their
roster and they have experience too. “They
are one of the most talented teams in the area.
They have really good skilled position players.
Anyone of their skilled position players can turn a small play into a
big play. A lot of those guys
have been playing since their sophomore year.
They had a lot of sophomores playing when they won the league
championship two years ago. Their
line is physical up front on offense and defense.
They just have multiple guys that can make plays.
They are a very disciplined team.
Year in and year out that is how Dalton is,” said Cline.
Stopping the big play is something the Falcons failed to do in a
(42-7) loss to Norwayne two weeks ago. Cline
says that is a must this week. “If
we want to put ourselves in a position to be able to compete with Dalton and
beat them, we are going to have to limit those big plays and make them earn
every score that they get. They
toss it out to their receiver, they have an All-Ohio receiver, he was
All-Ohio as a sophomore. He is a
three year starter for them,” he told Swankonsports.com on Sunday evening,
“They also can get the job done on the ground.
Their quarterback does a very good job running the offense.
They have multiple athletes that can make plays.
So, it’s not one guy we can key on, there are multiple guys that we
will have to slow down for us to be able to slow down their offense.” Published 9/27/21 © Swankonsports.com For 24/7 local sports click on our listen
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Hillsdale
Gets Chippewa
Hillsdale hosts Chippewa in a game in the Wayne County Athletic
League on Friday night.
It is an important game for the Falcons and they need a win to stay
in the league race and pick up some needed computer points.
Last week, they were drilled (42-7) by Norwayne in a league game.
Coach Trevor Cline says they just gave up too many big plays.
“Our kids played hard throughout the four quarters.
We knew going into it they were one of the better teams in our region
and they are also one of the better teams in our league.
Their losses early in the season came to some really good teams.
We just had a hard time matching up with their size.
I mean up front they have great size and we had a hard time matching
up with that throughout the game. They
also have some of the better skilled positions in the area,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “Going into the game we talked about
how we had to limit their big plays and we were not able to do that.
We had missed tackles and some of those plays that just should have
been five to ten yard plays turned into a 50-yard touchdown or a 70-yard
touchdown run. So, our kids
played hard, but Norwayne just took it to us for four quarters.”
Being division V Chippewa (3-1,1-0) is one of the bigger schools in
the league and Cline knows this could be an important game when it comes to
making the playoffs. “Chippewa
is a really good team. I noticed
going into the game this a big game for us playoff wise if we are able to
play the way we are capable of and get a win against Chippewa that’s going
to help us in our region playoff point wise,” he said.
Chippewa beat Smithville (21-14) in league action last week.
Cline says the Falcons (3-2,1-1) will have to defend one of the
better quarterbacks in the “WCAL” in Christian Moyer.
“They have a really good senior class this year.
Their quarterback is a four year starter, but a three year stater at
quarterback. He throws the ball
well, but he runs it extremely well too.
I believe last week he ran for over 200 yards.
I’m sure he is over 500 yards rushing this year.
He is a duel threat. He
is one of the better players in our league,” said Cline. Published 9/24/21 © Swankonsports.com On Friday nights log onto our scoreboard At www.swankonsportshosting247.com
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Hillsdale
Must Stop Big Play
Hillsdale is at Norwayne in a key game for the Falcons against the
defending Wayne County Athletic League champions on Friday night.
They had their best performance of the season last week in thumping
Rittman (52-13) in a league game.
Coach Trevor Cline says they were consistent and that was the
difference. “Last week,
against Rittman was the best game we have played so far.
It was first game where we actually played consistent for multiple
drives offensively and it was a good confidence builder for the players.
It wasn’t something they had been able to do so far this season.
Last week, they were able to get it going.
It’s a good confidence builder going into this week,” he said.
Hillsdale (2-2,1-0) is at Norwayne (2-2,1-0) on Friday night.
The Bobcats belted Smithville (46-13) last week in their conference
opener.
Cline says they is a typical Norwayne team in that they have players
all over the field. “It is
your typical Norwayne team where they have good sized players.
I know their offensive and defensive lines have really good size and
they have been able to have that year in and year out.
Their skilled position players are athletic and fast.
Their quarterback really throws the ball well, but he is one of the
fastest players I have seen on film this year.
They have a couple backs they get out in space and they are going to
make plays. It is just another
great Norwayne team. I think
whoever is wanting to compete for a “WCL” title and that is one of goals
and what we expect to do is going to be going through Norwayne again this
year. You have to take care of
business with them if you want to give yourselves a shot,” said Cline.
Norwayne is explosive and they can score quickly.
Cline says they can’t allow that Friday night in order to have a
chance to win. “We know they
are going to get positive plays throughout the game.
We have to make sure we keep those big plays for them to 10 yards
instead of allowing them to have a missed tackle at eight yards and it turns
into a 50 yard run for a touchdown,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday,
“We have to make them earn everything that they get because I do feel that
at the high school level that when you force kids to have extended drives
they are going to make mistakes and that’s what we have to do against
Norwayne this week because they have plenty of players can turn a little
play into a big play just off a missed tackle.
We just have to make sure we make them earn everything because they
have a lot of talent and that’s going to give our team the best
opportunity to win.” Published 9/14/21 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
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Hillsdale
Opens League Play With Rittman
Hillsdale opens the Wayne County Athletic League season at home on
Friday night by entertaining the Rittman Indians.
They picked up their first win of the season last week by beating
Loudonville (20-6) in a non-conference game.
Coach Trevor Cline liked what he saw.
“It is always nice to get that first win.
The previous week we were close there against Lucas.
We played Lucas well and just came up a little bit short.
We didn’t make the plays when we needed to, but last week we played
better than the previous weeks. So,
we have improved every week and that is always a plus when you are moving in
the right direction and finding ways to get better each week.
I felt Loudonville came out and battled us well and our kids
responded well and played good last week,” he said.
Rittman (2-1,0-0) lost (47-6) to Mapleton in a non-conference game
last week.
Cline says the Indians are going to be a physical team.
“They are always coached well by coach (Trent) Shaffer.
He spent some time at the College of Wooster.
He does a nice job with their defense over there and gets his players
to play hard. They don’t have
very many players on the roster, but the kids he does have come out he gets
them to buy into his system and play hard and that’s what we are expecting
going into this week. Rittman is
going to be a team that is going to be physical and they are going to get
after every play,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “We have to
make sure we are matching that physicality and that we are playing to our
potential. We have not been able
to play to our potential yet this year.
We show glimpses of our potential, but we haven’t done it for four
quarters. I know that is one
thing we have been talking to our players about.
Us as coaches want to see how good we can be when we actually play to
our potential and execute like we know we can.”
Hillsdale does all of the things that other coaching staffs do in
preparing scouting reports and the like, but Cline says they focus more on
how they are executing. “Sometimes
people get caught up in who their opponent is.
For us we are trying to be better than the previous week and it
doesn’t matter who we are playing that week, we just want to see us
maximize our potential. That’s
the big thing we want to see this week.
I think so far, we are starting to move in the direction of our
potential because we have improved each week, but we are not where we need
to be consistently if we want to be a team that competes for a “WCAL”
championship and also make it to the playoffs and make a run in the
playoffs. We have had a good
couple of days of practice so far and the focus has been there to allow us
to have a consistent game this Friday,” said Cline. Published 9/08/21 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports You can local sports news 24/7 on our Listen line at the top of the page |
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Hillsdale
Still Needs Better Execution
Hillsdale is at home on Friday night to host the Loudonville Redbirds
in a non-conference match-up between longtime rivals.
The Falcons (0-2) lost a tough one last week to Lucas (14-12) in the
first game at their new stadium. They
had a two-point conversion stopped with a minute to play in the game.
Coach Trevor Cline was pleased with their effort.
“It is always tough when you lose a game.
Our expectations are to win each game we play in or at least put
ourselves in position to win each game.
Last week, our players played extremely hard.
They have nothing to hang their heads about.
Obviously, we wish we would have come out on top, but they made a
major improvement from week one to week two.
In week one, Southeast took it to us and last week Lucas, who has had
a great deal of success as of late, we battled with them until the very end
of the game. I was proud of our
guys, but we are looking forward to bouncing back and playing to our
potential against Loudonville,” said Cline.
Loudonville (0-2) was beaten by Sharpsville, Pennsylvania (7-6) last
week, both scores coming in the fourth quarter.
Cline says again the Redbirds are physical.
“Loudonville every year has a lot of hard nosed physical players
and it is the same thing again this year.
Even though they are 0-2 just like us, I think they are a lot better
team from what we have seen on film. I
know last week the team they were playing from Pennsylvania came down to the
very end and they had the opportunity to win it there too.
So, they are a better team than what their record shows.
For us and Loudonville it has been a rivalry for quite some time, so
it never matters what your record is going into this game.
Each group is going to play as hard as they can and it is going to be
a physical battle throughout the night,” he said.
Cline says execution is still the key for them.
He says they have to be better on both sides of the ball.
“We improved on this last week, but defensively we just have to be
able to continue to tackle well. I
felt we did a much better job of that against Lucas than what we did against
Southeast. Offensively, we just
are not as consistent as what we need to be if we want to be a team that
does well in the regular season and has an opportunity to make it to the
playoffs. Last week, we took a
step in the right direction where we had most of our players on a play doing
the correct job,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “We need to
do that every play. We expect
our guys to go out there and execute, but they are still we are not having
all 11 guys executing their job each play and we need that to happen if we
want to be successful. I believe
our guys are going to get that turned around and set ourselves up for
success moving forward.” Published 8/31/21 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
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Hillsdale
Focused on Improvement
Hillsdale is at home for the first time this season at their new
field as they entertain the Lucas Cubs in a non-conference football game on
Friday night.
The Falcons will be looking for their first win after losing (40-14)
at Ravenna Southeast last Thursday.
Coach Trevor Cline says they just did not play very well in their
first game. “We knew going
into the game that Southeast was going to be a tough opponent.
They ended up just playing more physical than us, tackle better than
us, and block better than us. Honestly
of you are not taking care of any of that you are going to have a hard time
playing good and also winning too. That’s
what happened last week, we just didn’t play very well,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “Our guys have had a good week of practice
so far and they understand where we need to make adjustments to get moving
in the right direction. So far,
they have showed that they are willing to do that.
I don’t want to take anything away from Southeast because they are
a good football team, we just didn’t play very well.”
Lucas comes in off a (34-20) win over Danville last week.
They limited Danville’s spread offense to just 150 yards.
Cline says this is a team that is all about winning.
“They have another great team down at Lucas.
One thing about those guys is you can tell they have a lot of team
first guys. Any of those guys
playing offense, defense or special teams are going to put the team before
themselves. That is a huge
reason why they have had the success they have had so far.
They are a disciplined team and they are very well coached.
We know going in this is going to be one of the tougher teams on our
schedule,” he said.
Cline admits the Lucas double tight, double wing can be tough to
prepare for in a week, but he says they saw a similar offense last week and
that helps. “It is something
that can be tough to prepare for like you used to see it a lot of weeks.
It does help that we went against Southeast and they didn’t run the
exact same offense, but they did similar things as Lucas and that is going
to prepare us going into the Lucas game.
Lucas does such a nice job of having their guys block well and they
are just disciplined. They have
definitely bought into the system. We
will have to be disciplined, be able to tackle well, and be physical if we
want to match up and be successful against them,” said Cline. Published 8/25/21 © Swankonsports.com On Friday nights log onto our scoreboard At www.swankonsportshosting247.com
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Hillsdale
Has to be Physical
Hillsdale travels to Ravenna Southeast to open the season in
non-conference play on Thursday night.
Coach Trevor Cline says based on what they have seen during the
preseason they should be ready to compete with the Pirates.
“During the preseason we have been happy with what the kids have
shown us so far. I know in the
scrimmage against Canton Central Catholic we had guys that were being
physical each play and that is what we wanted to see out of them.
We return a good amount of lettermen from last year and also a good
amount of guys with varsity experience, but some of those guys are being
asked to play new positions and so far in our preseason camp they have shown
they can execute those positions, so we are moving in the right direction.
Obviously, there are still plenty of things that we still need to
improve on, but the first scrimmage went really well for us,” said Cline.
Cline says the kids they are asking to move to new positions on the
field have adapted well so far this year.
“Whenever you have a group of athletes who are working hard usually
you have good things happen. For
example, Cole Sinnett moving form the slot position/tight end to quarterback
and so far he has transitioned that pretty well.
He is still learning a lot of things.
He has not been a starter in a varsity game yet, he has some reps,
but he has worked hard to put himself in position to have success.
We have plenty of other guys in the same position where they have put
in the work that has put them in position to have success this year,” he
said.
Southeast is a division V school that finished (5-4) last season.
Cline says they are going to want to be physical and that means the
Falcons will to be too. “From
what we have seen on film from them from last year and also from the
scrimmages is they have a lot of physical players and they also return some
really good players too,” he told Swankonsports.com on Sunday evening,
“It looks like they are transitioning to a new offense this year.
What we have seen on film is up front and their whole offense they
are very physical and their backs runs hard.
Their defense all 11 guys do a nice job of getting to the football
and they are physical. So, we
have to match that physicality if we want to do what we expect our kids to
do Thursday night. A big thing
for us is we just have to be physical because they are going to show up and
be physical with us.” Published 8/16/21 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
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Hillsdale
Making Adjustments
Hillsdale, like most schools in this area, has to keep adjusting to
remain near the top and this year is no different for the Falcons.
They open the season on August 19th at Ravenna Southeast
in a non-conference game.
Coach Trevor Cline says with different rules from the OHSAA they
changed the way they set up their summer and were able to get off to a
quicker start this week. “Some
things have been different this year compared to years past, but our off
season, summer, workout program we added one day to it.
We have kept it very similar because at Hillsdale we have athletes
that play multiple sports and we want our athletes playing multiple sports.
So, we made sure as coaches that the coaches from different programs
that this the night we hope to get our kids for football, and these are
nights they are hoping to get kids for basketball, and the same thing with
baseball,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “We made sure the kids
could compete in different sports with the least amount of interference as
possible. We didn’t change a
whole lot of stuff with how we did summer things other than adding a workout
in the morning. We worked out
four days a week. The thing that
was a big change this year was being able to get your helmet days out of the
way before the very first mandatory official practice, which we were able to
do that with our camp days and have helmet and shoulder pads August 2.”
Cline says the players have looked good in workouts as they are
moving some kids into new positions on the team.
“Our group has had a pretty good off season working out, but we are
going to be asking kids to play new positions this year.
Some are going to have varsity experience, but maybe not at their
position. We are also going to
be asking them to take on a larger roll.
We did graduate some players that played a major role for us last
year, so we are going to have kids filling in those spots.
You are going to have that every year with kids graduating.
Some of the kids we had graduating, for example Ty Williams, you are
not going to be able to replace him with one kid.
He is one of the best players to every play at Hillsdale, so we are
going to have to have multiple guys step into that role and execute it to
the best of their ability, so we can continue to have success this year,”
said Cline.
Hillsdale will scrimmage Canton Central Catholic on August 12 and
Cline says that will be an important tune up for the team.
“It is always nice the scrimmage we have because we go up against
Canton Central Catholic and year in year out they are a tough program, so we
are able to find out what kids are ready for Friday night varsity football.
So, this year it is going to be one of those things where we find out
what kids are ready and what kids are not quite there yet and by the end of
the year, we expect them to get to that point,” he said. Published 8/06/21 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday From 10 to
midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
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Hillsdale
Meets Cuyahoga Heights in Districts
Hillsdale, of the Wayne County Athletic League, meets Cuyahoga
Heights in a division IV district semifinal on Tuesday afternoon at Medina
High School.
Dalton (19-7), also of the “WCAL”, faces Columbia in the other
semi at Medina. The final is
scheduled for Thursday.
Hillsdale (23-5), #4 in the final Swankonsports.com baseball coaches
poll in the small school division, has won its last 13 games, and coach
Jason Snow says they have not been blown out this season.
“We had a 5-4 loss, a 4-2, and three 3-2 losses.
That has been the thing, I guess, for our team is competing
throughout the game and keeping the game close.
Sure, we didn’t get couple we thought we should have and maybe won
a couple we shouldn’t have. We
were keeping ourselves in the game and when we are doing that if somebody
make the right play you have a good chance of winning,” he said.
Waynedale, who beat Wellington (2-0) on Monday in a division III
district semi, and Norwayne, who tied Hillsdale for third in the conference
standings, also had very good seasons.
Snow believes they have been tested.
“Our top four teams were very consistent for the most part and very
competitive. Yeah, we had some
teams that struggled, but Smithville is an up and coming team that had a
couple of nice freshmen on their team. They
gave us a battle. I think
everybody is still trying to figure out from the COVID year.
You are finally finding out where your kids are at,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Monday, “Nobody knew coming in how their sophomores
and juniors, who missed a year, would react.
I think everybody is figuring it out a different way and seeing what
your kids are made of. There are
still a couple of kids we are wondering about, but I think we have figured a
lot of our kids out now.”
Cuyahoga Heights (12-10) beat Independence (7-3) to reach this level.
Snow says they are similar to the Falcons, especially their pitching.
“They struggled early in the year.
They started off 5-9, so they have been 7-1 since.
I know they are very similar to us in terms of pitching.
I don’t know if they have any dominate pitching, but they have guys
that throw strikes and rely on their defense.
I think it will give us and opportunity to get some runs on the
board. The key for us is for our
pitchers to throw strikes and continue to do what we have done, which is
make the plays. Nick Kandel will
be pitching for us (Tuesday). If
he can stay in the strike zone, I think our guys will do a nice job fielding
for him. It should give us a
good opportunity to win the game if we hit the ball like we are capable
of,” said Snow. Published 5/25/21 © Swankonsports.com For baseball and softball scores Go to our scoreboard at |
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Hillsdale
Belts Smithville
Hillsdale extended its winning streak to 10 in a row as they beat
Smithville (12-6) in a Wayne County Athletic League game on Wednesday
evening.
They scored eight times in the third inning to take an (11-1) lead
and coasted home to the win. They
play Chippewa on Thursday and win will move them into a share of third place
in the tough “WCAL” with Norwayne.
Coach Jason Snow says they were able to utilize their bench.
“We had a nice, big eight run inning that got us going.
Had a lot of line drives. We
found a way to get a big league and got some extra guys some at bats and
extra opportunities in the field. It
was a good game for us (Wednesday) after (Tuesday),” he said.
They banged out 16 hits in the process and Snow says they were more
relaxed Wednesday. “It’s a
challenge. A lot of our players
are first year varsity players. Obviously,
a lot of people are in that boat. We
had a variety of situations where are younger players started out great out
of the gate. Then we hit a
couple of pitchers that were pretty darn good and then we got into a funk.
It’s about finding a way,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday
after the win, “We encourage our players if you are struggling, drop a
bunt down, try to get a base hit, try to get a walk, be patient at the
plate, just find anyway possible to get on base. Right
now, we have a lot of anxious kids that want to hit the ball.
(Wednesday) night a few guys relaxed and hit some nice line drives
and got a positive feeling and hopefully that will carry over for us for the
rest of the year.”
Ty Williams and Nick Kandel both had three hits on Wednesday.
Williams had three RBI.
Hillsdale (20-5,10-4), #4 in the Swankonsports.com baseball coaches
poll in the small school division, has picked up a non-conference game
against Firelands Conference champion Norwalk St. Paul on Monday.
Caden Fickes and Mark Able pitched on Wednesday for the Falcons and
they walked only one batter.
Snow says their staff has done a good job of limiting free passes and
that has been a key in their success. “We
have been so impressed with our pitchers and not because they go out and
necessarily dominate a lineup, but just throwing strikes and making the
other team put the ball in play. (Wednesday)
was one of those days that the wind was blowing in.
Both teams had some nice shots that were held up by the wind.
We were like make them hit it over somebody’s head, make them get a
line drive base hit, don’t put guys in base.
We have had a couple of games where we have gotten burned by walking
a couple of guys and it turns into a three run inning.
We would rather get beat because they beat us with their bats instead
of us putting guys on base. That
is our number one thing we have been proud of throwing strikes and
consistently being in the zone and ahead of hitters.
Our young guys have really done a nice job, as a whole staff we have
done that,” said Snow. Published 5/13/21 © Swankonsports.com For baseball and softball scores Go to our scoreboard at |
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Hillsdale
Gets Past Northwestern
Hillsdale kept itself alive in the race in the Wayne County Athletic
League by beating Northwestern (5-3) on Tuesday in a league game.
They trail Waynedale and Dalton by three games with five to play.
Hillsdale will play Northwestern again Wednesday, weather permitting.
Waynedale shut out Norwayne (5-0) Tuesday, meanwhile Dalton beat
Smithville (12-5) in their game.
Hillsdale fell behind (2-0) after one on Tuesday, but got single runs
in the second, third and fourth to take the lead (3-2) and then added a
couple of key runs in the fifth.
Coach Jason Snow says made some clutch plays.
“It was a well played game defensively by both teams.
I think they only had one error.
We had an opportunity in the first inning and didn’t get anything
in. We had a runner on third and
nobody out and they jumped on us in the bottom for two.
We went one, one, one and got a big hit to get it to a two run lead.
We held on. In the last
inning they did get second and third with one out, but Nick Kandel, who went
all seven innings for us, found a way to shut it down and gave us a win,”
said Snow.
Kandel got a big hit in the fifth to drive in a run to help himself
and scored on a hit by Caden Fickes.
On the mound, he went all seven innings giving up one earned run on
three hits.
Snow says his pitching has been improving.
“He hasn’t given up a lot of hits.
I think it a couple of games he has given up just three hits.
He is working to get more consistent in the zone. He did walk four
guys, so he has some guys on base that he has put on.
As a sophomore that is one of the things that he has to get more
consistent in the zone and manage his pitches a little better.
We have a good one there that was are looking forward to having over
the next few years,” he said.
After Northwestern, the Falcons (13-5,5-4), #4 in the
Swankonsports.com baseball coaches poll in the small school division, finish
up their league schedule with Chippewa and Smithville.
Snow says they have to keep winning and get some breaks when it comes
to the league race. “We just
have to take care of business and you never know what is going to happen.
There are two teams ahead of us and we want to make sure we stay in
the top half. There are still a
lot of games,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “Dalton still has
to play Waynedale and you never know what is going to happen there and
everybody else has to finish out their seasons.
So, there are some teams there that can knock you off.
Northwestern played a very good game (Tuesday) and we will have our
hands full (Wednesday) and we just have to take care of doing what we do and
keep getting better.” Published 4/28/21 © Swankonsports.com Click the listen line to hear our live shows “Out of Bounds” 10 to midnight on Friday “Sports Saturday” 10 AM to 1 PM on
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Hillsdale
Comes up With Big Win
Hillsdale handed Waynedale their first loss of the season in beating
the Golden Bears (8-4) in a Wayne County Athletic League game on Thursday
evening.
It was likely the Falcons (11-5,4-4) biggest win of the season so
far.
Coach Jason Snow says it felt good.
“We are still a very young team and we have had a lot of close
losses and to beat a very quality Waynedale team and find a way to get
things done and make plays. Mark
Able came in and gave us five and two thirds of shut out ball to help us
hold on for a big win,” he said.
Hillsdale scored six runs in the first two innings and Snow says the
way they responded in the second inning for key.
“We worked some walks and they made a couple of errors that helped
us out, but then we got some big hits. All
throughout the game we had some guys that stepped up and got a couple of RBI
here and there and we kept adding on. We
put four up in the first inning and they answered with three and they we
were able to come back in the second inning and get two more.
I thought that was a big part of the game, that second inning for
us,” said Snow.
Ty Williams had two hits for the Falcons.
Nick Kandel and Caden Fickes both had two RBI.
Snow says it was not an easy day to play baseball, but his players
were able to focus on what they had to do.
“(Thursday) night was not an easy night to play for anybody.
Pitchers getting a grip on the ball with the wind, the cold weather.
Both starters struggled to find the strike zone and both relievers
came in and threw strikes and the game really settled down after the first
two innings. Fortunately for us
we got to them early and got a few more runs and we were able to hold on,”
he said.
Waynedale (14-1,7-1), #1 in the Swankonsports.com baseball coaches
poll in the small school division, now shares first with Dalton, who beat
Norwayne (5-2) on Thursday, and the Bobcats are game back.
Hillsdale trails by three.
Snow says they have had some tough losses in close games this year,
but they are getting better as the season goes on.
He says you have to put those losses behind you.
“It is difficult to do that, especially the Norwayne loss, leading
2-0 with two outs in the seventh, and nobody on.
We will look back at that one later and say, ouch, that one probably
hurt, but you can’t do anything about that at that point,” he told
Swankonsports.com after Thursday’s win, “We have to keep going out, keep
battling, I think for us to go out last week with games with Triway and West
Holmes and Ontario and now two with Waynedale we have really played a strong
schedule and I think our kids are getting better.
We also know we can compete. We
have been in every game, I think 4-2 is our biggest loss. Our
other losses are 3-2 and 5-4, we have had three 3-2 games.
So, we are learning how to play in close contests and getting better
each time.” Published 4/23/21 © Swankonsports.com Click the listen line to hear our live shows “Out of Bounds” 10 to midnight on Friday “Sports Saturday” 10 AM to 1 PM on
Saturday |
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Hillsdale
Rallies to Beat Dalton
In a battle between contenders in the Wayne County Athletic League,
Hillsdale scored eight runs in the final two innings to win (10-7) at Dalton
on Tuesday evening.
The big blow was a three run home run by Ty Williams to give the
Falcons (7-0,3-0) in the lead in the top of the seventh.
Coach Jason Snow says this was a tremendous win for his team,
especially in the fashion that it happened.
“It was a great experience for our kids.
We fell behind 6-2 going to the sixth inning.
Our pitchers battled and we hung in.
We got a big three spot in the sixth inning and ended up putting five
on the board with Ty Williams hitting a three run homer in the seventh to
give us the lead and man our kids were fired up,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “Just a lot of young kids hadn’t
been in those situations yet and early on we struggled with it.
We struggled throwing strikes and didn’t make a few plays and heads
wend down a little bit early in the game.
Whether we win that game or not when we battled back to 6-5 that was
a positive, but to get over the top was just huge for our kids at this
point.”
Ethan Goodwin, Caden Fickes and Mark Abel all had two hits for the
Falcons.
Dalton (3-2,2-1) led (5-0) after two innings, but Hillsdale
wouldn’t go away.
Snow says it was a great learning experience for his young team.
“With a lot of those kids you almost take a year off with not
playing last year. We had one
senior on the field, four sophomores, four juniors and a freshman.
They haven’t been in this spot before.
There is a big difference on the JV level or playing club ball and
all of that. Dalton was fired
up, they got off to a big early lead. It
was a big game for both of us to try and get that first one before we play
(Wednesday). I don’t want to
say take the pressure off because we need to try and get two of them, but
going in (Wednesday) is little easier with that win rather than coming in in
a must win situation after losing the first game,” he said.
Williams is the only senior on the ballclub that played in the state
final four in 2019 and Snow they are going to lean on him a little bit.
“He had a couple of rough at bats early in the game.
We left some runners on. In
the seventh, we set the table for him. Our
nine hitter Jax Rogers got a base hit to start that ninth inning.
We got an infield hit from our leadoff hitter (Ethan Goodwin), just a
hustle play, to make it first and second.
He got one and it was a big spot for him and that is what we expect
from him. We expect big hits.
He is our lone returner who has been in this before.
We got two more runs, we added on behind him and picked up some big
hits. It really kind of got our
kids going and relaxing a little more in saying we can do this.
Hopefully, we will feed on that down the road and to know we can make
plays. We are always in the game
with our bats right now,” said Snow. Published 4/07/21 © Swankonsports.com Click the listen line to hear our live shows “Out of Bounds” 10 to midnight on Friday “Sports Saturday” 10 AM to 1 PM on
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Hillsdale
Dominates Rittman
Hillsdale, who won the Wayne County Athletic League title in 2019 and
advanced to the division IV state final, began its conference schedule with
a convincing (16-2) walloping of Rittman on Tuesday afternoon.
Jake Hoverstock and Mark Able each had three hits and Jack Fickes
drove in three runs and the Falcons featured a 16 hit attack in the five
inning win. They scored eight
times in the third inning.
Coach Jason Snow says this is a team that can hit the ball.
“That has been our strength coming into this year with the
returning guys we have and how we have started our scrimmages off we have
really hit the ball well. We are
still missing our three hitter, he is out with a dislocated shoulder and we
hope to have him back next week. Hopefully,
we can keep improving and keep hitting the ball,” he said.
Hillsdale didn’t commit any errors in tough weather conditions at
Rittman with gusty wins.
Snow they had good focus in the field and at the plate.
“There we a couple of balls that outfielders had trouble judging
because the wind was blowing out where we were playing, so it was kind of an
advantage for the hitter. The
ball moves a little differently. Fortunately,
where we were playing there wasn’t dust flying around.
It gets in the kids heads a little bit too they feel the wind is
blowing out and I want to get one up in the air and see where it goes.
Sometimes you just have to be disciplined at the plate,” said Snow.
Junior Caden Fickes picked up the win giving up five hits over four
innings. Senior Colby Helbert
finished up in the fifth.
Hillsdale (2-0,1-0) plays Rittman (1-2,0-1) again Wednesday if the
weather permits. The game will
be played in Wooster as the Falcons do not have a home field due to
construction of a new school.
Snow says a sweep to begin the season is important.
“I think for us we just want to get off to a great start to start
our season and in league play. You
don’t want to drop one or two early that that maybe you feel you should
get. If our kids come prepared
(Wednesday) I think we have a little confidence after our first two games
offensively and our pitchers have thrown strikes so far and we have made the
plays,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “That’s our recipe,
we are not going to dominate on the mound like we have in past years, but if
we can continue to defend well and hit the ball we will be pretty
competitive.” Published 3/31/21 © Swankonsports.com For baseball and softball scores Go to our scoreboard at |
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Hillsdale
Working on Pitching Depth
The last time Hillsdale played a high school baseball game it was
June of 2019 in the state tournament. They
are eager to get started on this season, which will take place in 10 days.
Of course, the Falcons, along with everybody else in Ohio, did not
play any games last spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coach Jason Snow says they kind of feel extra motivated.
“It is so exciting for our kids after last year’s disaster and
not getting to play. The kids
are just motivated to get outside and play some baseball and have some fun
and see if we can get better,” he said.
Nobody knows the importance of pitching depth like Hillsdale.
They have relied on that over the last several years.
Snow says they are working getting as many pitchers that can throw at
the high school level as possible. “I
think we have potential. Our big
concern right now is or pitching depth.
Obviously, nobody plays last year.
We lost a group of six that were from our 28-4 team two years ago and
that was a big hit to us. So, a
lot of young guys, a lot of athleticism and potential.
We have to try and focus on getting better and getting our pitchers
to command the strike zone,” said Snow.
Hillsdale is scheduled to open the season on March 27 at South
Central in non-conference play. They
have their first Wayne County Athletic League games on March 30 and 31
against Rittman.
Coaches are really focused early in the season about increasing arm
strength with their hurlers. Snow
says that is an important part of their high school spring training.
“We have been trying to get our pitch counts up and also trying to
pitch our kids as often as possible to get them through those tough early
stages where maybe they get some soreness and try to get through the season
healthy. We have had one injury
already on our team that has kind of put us behind for a few weeks, but
someone else gets an opportunity and that’s what we are looking forward
to,” said Snow. 3/17/21 © Swankonsports.com For the latest in local sports go to Our 2/47 listen line at |
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Hillsdale
Must be able to Run it
Hillsdale takes its act northeast to play Pymatuning Valley in the in
the corner of Ohio near Lake Erie and the Pennsylvania boarder for a second
round game in division VI on Saturday night.
After finishing at .500 in the tough Wayne County Athletic League,
the Falcons hammered Campbell Memorial (51-0) last week in a first round
game.
Coach Trevor Cline identifies it as their best overall performance on
the field this season. “I
would say last week against Campbell Memorial it was our best performance
offensively, defensively and special teams for us this year.
So, we are hoping we can carry that momentum or expecting to carry
that momentum into this week,” he said.
Pymatuning Valley (6-0) has had an excellent season so far, including
four shutouts. They have given
up only 14 points all season, however, the strength of their schedule is not
at the same level as Hillsdale. They
only team to have scored on them this season is Harbor Harding, who was
blown away by a previously winless South Central team last week.
Cline says they are a physical team on film.
He says they hope they can wear them down.
“By watching them on film they are a very big team and they
definitely have some skilled position athletes.
So, it is one those games where we are going to have to show up and
be physical with these guys because size wise they are going to have an
advantage, but they also play a lot of guys both ways and we are hoping to
be able to wear them down over the course of the game, but the only way we
are going to be able to do that is if we get after them from the very
beginning of the game and continue on with that for all four quarters,”
said Cline.
Cline says a big factor for them on Saturday night is being able to
run the football effectively against the Lakers.
“I thought that was one thing that we did a nice job with against
Campbell Memorial was being the more physical team.
There have been a couple of games this year where I thought that we
were not the more physical team and for our team to have success we have to
be able to run the football,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “In
games where we have been able to run the football we have done well and in
games we have struggled to run the football we had some trouble controlling
the game. So, going into this
week, I know that is one thing that we have to make sure we are able to do
is control the line of scrimmage and be able to run the football
consistently.” Published 10/14/20 @ Swankonsports.com You can listen to our listen line 24/7 For the latest high school sports news At www.swankonsports.com |
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Hillsdale
Still Wants More Consistency
Hillsdale plays Campbell Memorial in a division VI first round
playoff game on Saturday night.
The game will be played at Community Stadium in Ashland, where all of
the Falcons home games have been played this year.
Last week, in play in the Wayne County Athletic League, Hillsdale
(3-3) dopped a (22-15) decision to rival Northwestern.
Coach Trevor Cline says they did not execute as consistently as is
required to beat good teams like the Huskies.
“Our players, they battled throughout the whole game.
Being a rivalry game, you always know it is going to be a tough game.
Our biggest thing in that game is we were just not consistent enough
for four quarters. The first and
third quarter we really could get anything going on offense and defense and
it came back to hurt us. We just
have to bounce back from last week. Just
looking forward to getting in the playoffs here and playing to our
potential,” said Cline.
Although this year is different, Hillsdale is no stranger to the
playoffs and Cline believes that always has helped them at this time of
year. “It is always a plus
when you have experience in the playoffs and this is our fifth year in a row
being in the playoffs. They
players who are going to be playing on Saturday night a lot of those guys
played on our team last year and got good experience in just the playoff
atmosphere, so they know what to expect and they know it’s going to be a
great atmosphere. When you get
in the playoffs it doesn’t matter what your record is anyone can win on
any given night,” he said.
Campbell Memorial (2-4) also lost its last game (35-0) to Brookfield.
Cline says the Red Devils are athletic.
He says what they need is all 11 players on defense to execute and
that will help to eliminate the big play.
“Just from watching them on film.
They have a good amount of athletes.
They are aggressive on defense and they will get after your offensive
line be in the backfield. The
biggest thing if we can slow down their athletes, especially their
quarterback, we will be able to slow down their offense,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “So, we just have to make sure we are
disciplined do our job each play. That
is one of the things that has hurt our defense this year is we have 10 guys
playing well and we will have one guy that just has a mental lapse and that
will turn into a big play. So,
we just have to get that fixed up going into the playoffs and we will be
fine if we are able to do that.” Published 10/07/20 © Swankonsports.com Click the listen line to hear our live shows “Out of Bounds” 10 to midnight on Friday “Sports Saturday” 10 AM to 1 PM on
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Hillsdale
Plays Rival Northwestern
It’s Hillsdale and Northwestern in a significant game in the Wayne
County Athletic League on Friday night at Northwestern.
Northwestern trails league leader Norwayne by a game and must have a
win over the Falcons.
Last Thursday night, Hillsdale (3-2,3-2) held off Waynedale (25-17)
in a league game.
Coach Trevor Cline says it was a win, but they still could have
played much better. “Waynedale
played extremely well last week against us and we still had a few too many
mental mistakes that allowed them to stay in the game.
We are continuing the work to get those fixed going into this week
against Northwestern because they are one of the better teams in our league.
They have surprised a lot of people this year.
Their underclassmen have really stepped up and played really well so
far this year,” said Cline.
Northwestern (4-1,4-1) is coming off a (40-7) whipping of Smithville
last week and carries a three game winning streak into the game with
Hillsdale.
Cline says the Huskies have big play potential.
“They have a few just really good athletes that when they are out
in space they make plays. Their
QB, who is just a sophomore, he’s going to be a good one.
Right now, he has made some huge plays for them.
Huber, he is a senior, has had a really good career up there too.
He is someone who runs the ball well, he can catch the ball our of
the backfield too. They have
multiple weapons and they are guys that if you are not careful, they end up
making some really big plays,” he said.
Cline, who also played football for the Falcons, says Northwestern is
their biggest rival in the league and he expects this one to have intensity
and come down to the fourth quarter. “Anytime
we play Northwestern it is always a battle.
Coach (Mike) Tuts has been there for 20 some years and he has done a
phenomenal job up there. For us,
and I would say Northwestern would probably say the same, they are our
biggest rivalry in the league, so each year we play them it is a very good
game,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “Even in years when
one team’s record is better than the others, it is always a battle, and
this year we are fairly evenly matched and we are expecting it to be a
really good game. They have a
lot on the line too because if things go their way, they may get a piece of
the league title if they are able to beat us.” Published 10/02/20 © Swankonsports.com Keep up to the minute on Friday night scores Updated every five minutes beginning at
kickoff On our scoreboard at www.swankonsportshosting247.com |
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Hillsdale
Doing Things Better
Hillsdale played its best game of the season last week against
Smithville and they play Waynedale in the Wayne County Athletic League on
Thursday night in a game that will be played at Community Stadium in
Ashland.
This year’s home games for the Falcons are being played at
Community Stadium to allow more fans to attend under the strict guidelines
set by the State of Ohio due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week, the Falcons (2-2,2-2) belted Smithville (31-7) in a
conference game.
Head coach Trevor Cline says they tackled a lot better and that
allowed them to contain a very good running back in Smithville’s Chandler
Keener, who scored five touchdowns the week before against Waynedale.
“Our players stepped up and did a really nice job against the run.
They cleaned up their missed tackles.
We didn’t have too many on Friday and that is what was killing us
all year long,” he told Swankonsports.com on Sunday night, “We had too
many games where we were missing multiple tackles and it was allowing plays
that should have been short gains or negative plays turn into big plays or
touchdowns. We were able to
eliminate that this past week and it was against one of the better players
in the “WCL” in Keener, who is 10 yards away from breaking
Smithville’s career record. Our
players were able to limit him to just 72 yards.”
Ty Williams accounted 255 total yards last week and the Hillsdale
offense was also as good as it has been in this shortened season.
Cline says that is because they were blocking well.
“This past week too against Smithville our offense stepped up and
did a much better job blocking. Last
week, we called out some of the slots and “H” backs and challenged them
to do a better job blocking for us and they really stepped up to that
challenge and went out and executed this past Friday,” he said.
Waynedale (1-3,1-3) absorbed a (35-0) beating at the hands of league
leading Norwayne last week.
Cline says their quarterback Peyton Lemon is a key.
He says they can’t let him control the game.
“Norwayne is one of the top teams in the area.
Waynedale has multiple athletes that we have to prepare for this
week. Their quarterback, #3, is
a tough player. He is one of the
better athletes in the league. He
can do multiple things. He
throws the ball well and he also runs the ball well, so we have to prepare
for both of those. If we don’t
limit him, he is going to have a big game,” said Cline. Published 9/21/20 © Swankonsports.com Click the listen line to hear our live shows “Out of Bounds” 10 to midnight on Friday “Sports Saturday” 10 AM to 1 PM on
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Hillsdale Must be Sound Tacklers Hillsdale plays defending Wayne County Athletic League champion Dalton on Friday night in a league game played at Community Stadium in Ashland. It’s a home game for the Falcons. After losing (54-20) to Norwayne in their opener, the Falcons railed for a (48-27) win over Chippewa last week. Coach Trevor Cline says they took some steps forward. “Against Chippewa last week our players came out and played closer to their potential. There are still many things we need to get better at, but we did take a step forward from week one to week two, which is always a good sign,” he said. In order to continue to improve as a football team, Cline says they have to be more consistent in their play. “I think the biggest thing is we just have to be more consistent because there are plays throughout the game where we look really good, but there are also some plays throughout the game where we don’t look so good. So, we just have to be more consistent. That is the biggest thing we have been talking to the players about this week just being consistent throughout the game and that’s what we have to get better at the most,” said Cline. Dalton (2-0,2-0) has had a pretty easy time so far in dispatching Waynedale (31-0) and Smithville (35-8) in its first two games. Cline says the Bulldogs have a lot of weapons returning. “They return almost everyone from last year because they were a pretty young team last year when they went undefeated in the league. They return basically everyone, so they have a lot talent coming back,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “Granted they did lose their quarterback from last year, who was really good QB, but they replaced him with a kid who was a first team All-Ohio wide receiver. From watching him on film, he can throw the ball around well. They just have multiple athletes that can make plays and their line does a nice job of blocking for all of those guys.” In order to slow down the explosive Bulldogs, Cline says they have to be very good tacklers or Dalton will make big plays. “We have to limit the amount of missed tackles because we can’t allow their offense to turn a four yard gain into a 20, 25 yard gain of a touchdown. That is what they do well. They make a guy or two miss and what should be a short yardage play turns into a big play. When their guys get out into the open, not too many guys are catching them,” he said. Published 9/08/20 © Swankonsports.com Click the listen line to hear our live shows “Out of Bounds” 10 to midnight on Friday “Sports Saturday” 10 AM to 1 PM on Saturday |
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Hillsdale Has to Keep the Ball More Hillsdale tries to put things back together after a disastrous third quarter in a loss last week to Norwayne and they travel to Chippewa Friday night for another game in the Wayne County Athletic League. Norwayne scored four times in the third quarter and went on to bury the Falcons (54-20) last week. Coach Trevor Cline says they just got outplayed. “We know each year that Norwayne is going to be one of the top teams in the league and we knew that going into last week. We played well in the first half against them. We just had a bad third quarter and against a really good team you can’t have a bad quarter because if so they are going to put up 28 points or whatever they did on us. We had a good day at practice (Monday.) We talked about the film this past Saturday about things we needed to correct. So, we are moving in the right direction this Friday,” said Cline. Cline says the offense continually put the defense in a bad spot last week and they can’t not keep doing that in order to be successful. “I know looks like defensively we gave up 54 points, but we put our defense in a bad position a lot of times this past Friday where basically they were living out on the field. Our guys where wearing down. We just couldn’t get a whole lot going offensively,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “Norwayne didn’t have too many possessions where they had to go really far. We just have to do a better job this week of putting our defense in better positions so they are not on the field the whole game or the majority of the game and they are not working with a short field trying to defend. We are making those adjustments so we can take care of that this week.” Chippewa lost week one too, Smithville beat them (29-14) in a game that was mostly played on Saturday. Cline says they have to control the Chippewa quarterback. “They are improved from last year. Their quarterback, he is one of the best athletes in our league. They like to run their offense through him. If we aren’t being disciplined and reading our keys, we are going to run into some issues where he will be having some big plays. We just have to be disciplined and just limit his big plays and make them have extended drives,” he said. Published 9/01/20 © Swankonsports.com Click the listen line to hear our live shows “Out of Bounds” 10 to midnight on Friday “Sports Saturday” 10 AM to 1 PM on Saturday |
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Hillsdale Ready to Get Started Hillsdale opens the 2020 high school football season in Wayne County Athletic League play on Friday night against Norwayne. The game is considered a home game for the Falcons, but will be played at Community Stadium in Ashland. All three of the Falcons home regular season games will be handled in the same manner due to concerns in handling the seating restrictions mandated by the Ohio High School Athletic Association in conjunction with state government. Hillsdale was (8-4) a year ago for young head coach Trevor Cline and finished (4-3) in the tough “WCAL.” Cline says they are really chomping at the bit to get going this year. “I believe we are ready to start playing football. We have had a good few weeks of preseason practice so far and our players are just looking to get out there and compete against another school because we didn’t have any scrimmages this year. We didn’t end up getting a scrimmage scheduled for this last week. So, our players are just ready to get out there and compete against someone else other than their own teammates,” Cline. Now, with the announcement last week by the governor some teams were able to get a scrimmage and other were not. Hillsdale was one that came up empty. Cline says that does concern him a little bit. “It is always nice having scrimmages each year because you can see how your guys match up against guys from other schools. It is something I’m not a huge fan of, but with the circumstances this year there is a lot of different things compared to years past, so we just have make sure we are putting ourselves in the best situation, so when week one comes around this Friday our guys are ready to go even though we didn’t have a scrimmage,” he said. Norwayne was (5-6) last year, but the Bobcats did finish second behind Dalton in the league and made the playoffs, losing in the first round to Seneca East. They beat Hillsdale (33-21) last fall, in fact the Bobcats have won the last five meetings between the schools with the last win by Hillsdale coming in 2014. Cline knows Norwayne is going to be very tough again this year. “We don’t have any film on them since we didn’t have a scrimmage. They did scrimmage Canton Central Catholic. One thing from their team they do return the majority of their guys back from last year, so we do have an idea of who we will be competing against. We can go back and look at last year’s film and look into that,” he told Swankonsports.com on Sunday night, “Norwayne, year in and year out, is one of the top teams in our league and we are expecting the same thing this year. Once they get in the playoffs, we expect them to make a long playoff run.” Published 8/24/20 © Swankonsports.com Click the listen line to hear our live shows “Out of Bounds” 10 to midnight on Friday “Sports Saturday” 10 AM to 1 PM on Saturday |
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Hillsdale Would Open With Norwayne Hillsdale will meet Norwaye in a Wayne County Athletic League game on August 28 if the proposed plan by the OHSAA is approved by state government. The plan calls for a six week regular season followed by playoffs for everyone. The latest rumor is the governor may speak on his issue on Thursday. Only time will tell. Coach Trevor Cline says they just want to know what is happening. “It is a little bit frustrating. I do understand they have a lot of things going on right now, but it would be nice to have an idea of what the next steps are. Our players are putting in the work to get ready for the season and there is still just so much up in their air. It would be nice if we could get a clear direction that we are going, so we can move that way. We are still preparing for that week one game on August 28,” he said. With Norwayne on week one and then a rest of a tough league schedule, Cline says the Falcons are going to need to be in top form come that opening week of the season. “Usually you have some non conference games to get going into the league schedule. The way the “WCL” is doing it we are starting with what was supposed to be our week five opponent and playing up to week 10. So, we start off the year with Norwayne and then we will continue through the rest of our schedule. Starting right off with the league schedule and the “WCL” year in and year out is a tough league. We need to be ready to go week one because it going to be tough with Norwayne,” said Cline. Most teams have been practicing since August 1 and Cline says they like what they see, especially from kids in new positions. “Us coaches have been really happy with how our players have looked in practice so far. We have some kids filling positions for players that graduated last year and we have had to move some players around to new positions due to graduation. The players that have stepped into those roles have done a nice job,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “They have done a good job of competing against one another in camp, especially when you don’t have any scrimmages we are have just been going up against one another, but they have done a nice job of just competing. They have gotten better each day and they have made tremendous strides form day one until now. So, we hope to just keep improving.” Published 8/13/20 © Swankonsports.com Click the listen line to hear our live shows “Out of Bounds” 10 to midnight on Friday “Sports Saturday” 10 AM to 1 PM on Saturday |
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Hillsdale With Solid Lineup Hillsdale finished as a stare runner-up in division IV last season and they could have another fine year this year if there is any baseball in Ohio. There will not be practice until at least May 1. Usually, it’s the weather that determines if we can play baseball in the spring, but, of course, this year it’s a pandemic and a lockdown. Hillsdale coach Jason Snow says the good weather makes this layoff even a little harder to take. “I guess you look at it with one positive with spring break coming up and kids stuck at home at least they have the opportunity to get outside and do some things around the house. These are the kind of days that we were begging for before,” he said. Every baseball coach in Ohio is dealing with kids they hope are working out to keep themselves is shape, especially the pitchers. Snow says some kids may have an advantage. “We have had few conversations, some emails, and messages about trying to keep yourself mentally ready and ad physically ready as possible. I know in some of our combinations there are a couple of kids that have brothers and dads and hopefully they are throwing a little bit. I guess for me the biggest concern is our pitchers because if that time comes and we are fortunate enough to play and with a limited time to get ready where are their arms going to be and the risk of possible injury if you push them too hard,” said Snow. Snow says he believes he has a team that can hit the ball. How many games they can win is going to be determined by how quickly his inexperienced pitchers get used to varsity pitching. “I think we have a pretty good offensive team. That is one of the keys. Our entire infield is back. It all depended on our pitching. Pitching is the name of the game. We have some guys lacking in experience with potential. I think will be a tough team to control our lineup and if our pitching could hold up we would get a lot of wins,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “You never know with the lack of experience for some of our kids coming in how they are going to handle that first varsity opportunity. There are a lot of things that are hinging on our season, but I think with our experience and the amount of confidence that our program gained the last few years I think we would be a tough team to deal with.” Published 4/07/20 © Swankonsports.com Your first Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” airs Friday 10 to midnight “Sports Saturday” airs from 10 AM to 1 PM Listen on your PC, your phone or your vehicle audio system |
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Hillsdale Wants to be More Physical Hillsdale takes on Carey in a second round playoff game in division VI on Friday night at Willard High School. Last week, they scored twice in the fourth quarter on a 73-yard TD run by Ethan Goodwin and three year run by Briar Funk to rally and beat Northmor (25-21) in a regional quarterfinal. Coach Trevor Cline says they have been clutch players. “They stepped it up towards the end of the game. The last two weeks, even week 10 was basically like a playing game for us because we had to win the get in. Last week, with it being the first week of the playoffs we had to win to move on. Our players have done a really nice job when the pressure has been on them they have made plays and they did it again last week for us,” he said. The Falcons also got a 75-yard pass play for a score last week too and Cline says they have players that can make big plays. “We have a good amount of athletes on our team that can make plays and that’s what they did last week. There were sometimes that we were struggling moving the ball up and down the field, but we were lucky to get a few big plays that resulted in points for us and ended up helping us by the end of the game. We had multiple players step up last week and have big plays for us and helped us win the game,” he said. Over the last month after an injury to their starting quarterback, the Falcons have become much more of a running team. They ran for 297 yards last week. Cline says their offensive line has done a tremendous job. “It went back to how it was when our quarterback from last year was there Alex Becker and our guys have done a nice job of adjusting to that. I think the guys that have done the best is probably our line because at the beginning the year we were more of a balanced team and we liked to spread teams out and throw it, so our line did a really nice job pass blocking,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “When Caden Mutchler went down with an injury our focus turned more to the running game. Our line has done a nice job of just making sure that they are lining up each play and trying to be more physical than the guys across from them and executing the play and they have done a really good job the second half of the year.” Hillsdale (8-3) plays Carey (6-5) on Friday night at Willard. The Blue Devils upset the top seed in the region in Western Reserve (50-42) by scoring two times in the final 30 seconds of the game. Reese Billock scored three times in game for Carey. Cline says they aren’t fooled by the Blue Devils 6-5 record. “We haven’t looked at them being a number eight seed because if you get into the playoffs we all know you can be dangerous and that is what Carey is. They are very good football team. I know in the games that they have lost they have been close games and it’s been against some good teams. There has been only one game this year when they have been beat by a few touchdowns. They have multiple athletes that can make plays. On their offensive and defensive lines they have good size and they are physical. Just like last week going up against Northmor we have talked to our players about having to be the more physical team. We believe that is going to be the deciding factor again this week,” said Cline. Published 11/13/19 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” airs Friday 10 to midnight “Sports Saturday” airs from 10 AM to 1 PM Listen on your PC, your phone or your vehicle audio system |
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Hillsdale and Northmor Lock Horns in Playoffs Over the last three to four years the Hillsdale Falcons and the Northmor Golden Knights have been two of the more consistent small school football programs in North Central Ohio and they clash Friday night at Northmor in regional semifinal game in division VI. Hillsdale (7-3) had to put together a score in the fourth quarter last week to beat Waynedale (15-8) in Wayne County Athletic League play to qualify for the postseason. This is the first Hillsdale senior class to make the playoffs all four years and coach Trevor Cline says that is pretty special. “We have been fortunate to have opportunities to play in the playoffs the last four years. It’s a credit to the work our players have put in in the off season and also during practices and that has translated to success on Friday nights. When you do get in the playoffs, experience is huge. It is nice to know we have a senior group that has been there for four years,” he said. Hillsdale lost in the second round last year when Fairview scored in the late going. Northmor (9-1) finished as runners-up to unbeaten East Knox in the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference. They beat Highland (49-7) last week. Cline says the Golden Knights have athletic kids all over the place, including tight end-defensive end Blake Miller. “From the film I have seen on them they look like a very good football team. Their offensive and defensive line is solid. Their have a lot of big kids. Offensively, their QB does a nice job of throwing the ball and running the ball. He looks like a pretty athletic kid. They have multiple backs that can make plays and receivers that are athletic too,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “Their tight end, number 12, he is an athletic kid, a big kid. The same thing defensively, their secondary, they have had multiple picks and returns. Number 12 is a DE and he again is athletic. All around they just look like a solid team. It is going to be a big challenge for us this Friday.” Northmor quarterback Hunter Mariotti threw three more touchdowns last week and he a threat to run too with the Golden Knight’s R.P.O. package. “I know the three games we have film on them he is one of the kids that consistently make plays for them. The way it looks is they have other backs that are kids that can make plays too even with their leading rusher from last year being out this year,” said Cline. Conor Becker did play a little bit week nine against Fredericktown, but did not see any action, at least on offense, last week against Highland. He has been replaced by Wyatt Reader, who has done a solid job as Northmor’s main ballcarrier. The 6’5” Miller is an All-Ohio defensive end and Cline says they have to get a hat on him. “The defensive ends really stood out for me on film. The whole D-line is good, but their defensive ends stood out. We just have to make sure we are getting those guys blocked because if not they are going to be causing some issues for us in the backfield and it will be hard to get anything going offensively if we are not staying on our guys and getting their D-line blocked. They are one of the better groups we have gone up against this year,” he said. Published 11/05/19 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” airs Friday 10 to midnight “Sports Saturday” airs from 10 AM to 1 PM Listen on your PC, your phone or your vehicle audio system |
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Hillsdale Needs Win over Waynedale Hillsdale likely needs a win on Friday night at Waynedale if they are going to make the division VI playoffs for the fourth year in a row. The Falcons are battling injuries that have forced them to move some players around. They suffered their second straight heartbreaking loss last week when they lost to Smithville (21-20) last week in the final seconds, but coach Trevor Cline says they have responded well this week in practice. “Last week, was a tough game for us. We knew Smithville was going to be good. The last few weeks they have been playing really well. Our kids played hard last week. We were in position to win the game just like at Dalton. Smithville scored with just a few seconds to go and then went for two to win it and converted it. Our kids played hard throughout the game. We’ve had a good week of practice so far. The kids have bounced back. Sometimes when you take two tough losses like that you never know what is going to happen, but our kids are pretty resilient and they have bounced back and we have a good couple days of practice so far and looking forward to this Friday,” said Cline. Cline says this has been a trying year for the Falcons with a number of key players on the sidelines. “Obviously, this is only my second year of coaching, but I have never been around a team that has had the amount of injuries we have had so far this year. We have had a couple of kids that have missed games. We lost our leading rusher in the middle of the year. He is still trying to get back to 100 percent. We lost our quarterback, a kid that had been playing really well for us, with a broken collar bone. One of our receivers went down last week,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday, “So, we have had to move some players around to different positions, but our players have done a nice job of stepping into those new roles. Some of the kids that are playing we have asked to take on a bigger role and they have done a good job too. They have stepped up and given us opportunities to compete, but anytime you have injuries, especially at a small school, it’s tough.” Quarterback Caden Mutchler has been lost for the season and replaced by Ty Williams. Running back Brandon Reardon has also missed significant time for the Falcons. Hillsdale (6-3,3-3) is at Waynedale (4-5,3-4) this week in the Wayne County Athletic League. The Golden Bears lost (47-15) to Norwaye in league action last week. Cline says the have to be ready for a pretty good team. “I think Waynedale is much improved from last year. I know they are looking to get to .500 this year, but they have got a couple of playmakers that if we aren’t careful are going to control the game. Their QB, even though he is just a sophomore, throws the ball well and he is a really good runner. They have a receiver out wide, who, watching him on film, just finds a way to make plays. They are big up front on the offensive and defensive line. They are a physical team. So, we are going to have to match that physicality if we want to be able to compete against them on Friday,” he said. Published 10/31/19 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” airs Friday 10 to midnight “Sports Saturday” airs from 10 AM to 1 PM Listen on your PC, your phone or your vehicle audio system |
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Hillsdale Has a Lot to Play for Hillsdale is going to need a lot of help to get a piece of the Wayne County Athletic League title this season, but they can help themselves into the division six playoffs. Dalton clinched no less than a share of the “WCAL” title last week when they railed to beat Hillsdale (34-31) on Friday night. The Falcons are know two games back with two to play. Coach Trevor Cline says they may not have won, but they gave it all they had. “That was a tough game last week just because we were so close to coming our with a win at Dalton an keeping ourselves on pace to compete for a “WCL” title, but I couldn’t ask much more out of our players last week. We were down the majority of the game and our kids just kept fighting up until the very end we had a chance to win the game. It just came down to a few plays and Dalton ended up making those plays and they were able to come out on top. I couldn’t be more proud of our kids and just how hard they played throughout the entire game,” he said. Right now, Hillsdale stands fifth in its computer region and they control their own destiny. Cline says it would be a nice reward to make the postseason for a fourth straight year. “I talked to our football players (Monday) winning the “WCL” title right now is not impossible, but it’s a stretch just because Dalton would have to lose a couple games and we would have to win the next two, but we still have plenty of things to play for. We need to win some game here to get back in the playoffs. Hopefully, once we do clinch that playoff spot, we will be able to make a run in the playoffs,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “So, there are still plenty of things to play for and our players understand that. It is also a unique opportunity for our seniors because if we are able to get back into the playoffs this year it would be the first senior group that made to the playoffs all four years of their high school career. It would be a really neat accomplishment for this senior group.” Hillsdale (6-2,3-2) plays host to Smithville (3-5,2-3) on Friday night. Smithville beat Waynedale (26-14) last week. Cline says the Smithies have gotten a whole lot better as this season has gone on. “Smithville is just getting better each week. I know watching film on the them from the beginning of the year until know it is amazing how much they have improved. A couple of weeks ago they had Dalton on the ropes a little bit, but Dalton was able to come out of that game with a win. They just have multiple athletes that are able to make plays. I know their running back, number 23, is one of the better running backs we will have seen so far this year. I know a couple of weeks ago I was looking at his stats and he had like 700 yards in just two games. Their line is big up front and they do a really nice job blocking. Number 23 not only is he fast, but he is a physical runner too,” said Cline. Published 10/22/19 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” airs Friday 10 to midnight “Sports Saturday” airs from 10 AM to 1 PM Listen on your PC, your phone or your vehicle audio system |
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A Huge Game in the Wayne County Athletic League In likely the biggest game of the year in the Wayne County Athletic League, second place Hillsdale is at league leader Dalton. The Falcons trail the Bulldogs by a game in the league standings. They were able to keep themselves in the race with a (37-7) whipping of Chippewa last week. Coach Trevor Cline says they hope that excellent play continues this week. “Last week against Chippewa our kids came out and played to their potential and we were able to do what we wanted to do the majority of the time on offense and defense. We are hoping that momentum from last week carries on into this week against Dalton, which is the toughest team we have played so far this year,” he said. Hillsdale (6-1,3-1) is at Dalton (6-1,4-0) on Friday. The Bulldogs survived a scare from Smithville last week, winning (33-30) and keeping their record unbeaten in the league. Cline describes the Bulldogs as they fastest team they have seen all year and that is on both sides of the football. “One thing that makes Dalton so good is they just have a lot of athletes on their team. They are still a fairly young team. They have two seniors starting on offense and two seniors starting on defense. One their seniors on offense is their QB, so that experience goes a long way. With their team speed, they are the fastest team we have faced all year. So, if they are left out in the open they just make plays,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “You can tell from film they just have a lot of kids with a high football I.Q., with some of the plays and reads they are making. They do a good job I know on the defensive end of getting to the football. They do a lot of gang tackling. Usually if you do break a tackle there is another guy waiting right there for you. They just do a good job of playing together as a team on the offensive and defensive end and special teams wise too.” Cline says to contain Dalton they can’t let them get behind them and they must do an excellent job of pursuing the football. “The biggest thing is to just try and keep them in front of us and not let them get behind the secondary and also to do what they do to a lot of teams they go up against and make sure everyone is getting to the football. If one of their guys does make one of our guys miss a tackle we have another guy there to bring him down or multiple guys there to bring him down,” he said. Published 10/18/19 © Swankonsports.com Check out our scoreboard at www.swankonsportshosting247.comUpdated every five minutes on Friday night |
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Hillsdale Needs to Limit Big Plays Hillsdale dropped its first game of the season last week and they need to get back on track this week as they host the Chippewa Chipps in a Wayne County Athletic League game. Last week, Norwayne beat them (33-21) to knock them out of a share of first place in the league. Dalton is now all alone in that position. Coach Trevor Cline says they just made too many mistakes. “Last week our kids played hard, so we are proud of them for how hard they played and how hard they competed the whole game. We just had too many mistakes throughout the game against a good team like Norwayne. Even though their record doesn’t show it they are one of the better teams in the area. They have just lost to some teams that are going to probably be in the playoffs. Last week, against a team like that that is good we just had too many mistakes,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “Anytime we would get some momentum we would end up giving it right back to them. You are not going to win games against top teams like that, but our kids battled and played hard. They will bounce back this week I’m sure.” Cline says they need to battle the adversity created by last week and he is confident they are going to do that. “You find out what kind of team you have when you are dealt a loss. I know last year we had a group that lost a game early on and also in the middle of the season and each week after a loss last year we bounced back and I believe our guys will do the same thing this year. They stuck together after the game Friday and they understand what we need to work on and improve on. I believe in those guys and I think they will bounce back and fix the things that hurt us last week and just get better,” said Cline. Hillsdale (5-1,2-1) plays at home against Chippewa (1-5,1-2) on Friday night. The Chipps lost (39-7) to Smithville on week 6. Cline says their goal on Friday is to limit the big plays. “After watching Chippewa on film, they definitely have some athletes that if we don’t contain them they are going to end up making big plays. I know their QB is a sophomore. He ended up playing a little for them last year. He was one of their defensive backs. If he is left out in the open he is going to make plays. He throws the ball nice and he also runs it well too. They also have some other backs that do a nice job of making plays. So, we just have to limit the big plays and just go out and execute and we should put ourselves in a position to win if we do that,” he said. Published 10/09/19 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” airs Friday 10 to midnight “Sports Saturday” airs from 10 AM to 1 PM Listen on your PC, your phone or your vehicle audio system |
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Hillsdale Knows How Good Norwayne is It’s another big game in the Wayne County Athletic League this week for the Hillsdale Falcons as they travel to Norwayne to face the Bobcats. Last week, the Falcons put up 24 points in the second quarter and went on to hammer Rittman (37-0) in a league game. The Indians were (3-1) coming into that game and Hillsdale coach Trevor Cline says that was their best overall performance of the season. “I would say the Rittman game this past week was our best game so far this year on offense and defense we did a nice job of executing. Throughout the year up to that point we would have some mental lapses from here to there. The game against Rittman last week we played offensively and defensively really well,” said Cline. Hillsdale (5-0,2-0), #5 in the Swankonsports.com football coaches poll in the small school division, plays at Norwayne (1-4,1-1) on Friday night. Norwayne earned its first win of the season last week in blasting Smithville (41-7) on Friday night. The Bobcats are the defending league champs and Cline says their record does not indicate the quality of this team. “Norwayne is one of the better teams in our league and one of the better teams in the area. They are 1-4, but those four losses have come to good teams,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “Probably teams that will probably end up making the playoffs. Their record is definitely misleading. They are one of the better teams that we have played so far, maybe the best.” Norwayne beat Hillsdale (34-28) in overtime last season, handing the Falcons their only league loss of 2018. Cline says the thing that jumps of the film about the Bobcats is the size they have in the trenches. “Up front they just have a lot of size on their offensive line and defensive line, they are just very big. I think they average 280 pounds on their offensive and defensive lines, the average size is like 6’1”, 280. So, those guys can make plays. Also, they have a good amount of skilled players that are athletic. If they get out in the open they can make plays,” he said. Published 10/02/19 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” airs Friday 10 to midnight “Sports Saturday” airs from 10 AM to 1 PM Listen on your PC, your phone or your vehicle audio system |
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Hillsdale Meets Athletic Rittman Hillsdale is at home of Friday night for the Rittman Indians in a game in the Wayne County Athletic League. It was another exciting game last week for the Falcons as they scored with just over 30 seconds to play in the game as Caden Mutchler found Briar Funk with the winning score. Coach Trevor Cline says they made the pressure plays to win the game. “Our players did a really nice job of responding to adversity, especially at the end of the game there where Northwestern took the lead with two minutes and 30 some seconds to go our kids responded well to that and ran a really good two minute drill and ended up scoring with 30 some seconds left to take the lead and giving us a win last week,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “Northwestern played us really well last Friday. I expect them to play pretty well in the “WCL” because they definitely have some athletes on their team that can make plays. I think they are going to have a good rest of the year.” Hillsdale (4-0,1-0), #5 in the Swankonsports.com football coaches poll in the small school division, plays host to Rittman (3-1,1-0) on Friday night. The Indians topped Smithville (41-20) last week. Cline says they are the kind of team that makes big plays when one doesn’t seem to be there. “Rittman just has some really good athletes that can make plays. Watching them on film they have guys that if you’re not careful end up turning what should be a small play into a big play and they have done a nice job of that so far through four games. Their quarterback is a very athletic kid. He will just make plays by scrambling in the backfield and finding someone down the field or just taking off an running with it. They have thrown for a good amount of yards so far threw four games. They will make plays if you don’t contain them,” said Cline. Against teams like Rittman, they are going to make some plays. Cline says you can’t let that get you down. “Our players need to have a short memory. You are not going to be able to eliminate all of the big plays. You just have to limit them enough that it is not going to end up hurting you. Things happen throughout the game that are not planed, but you just have to bounce back from it and don’t dwell on it and just take care of business the next play,” he said. Published 9/27/19 © Swankonsports.com Check out our scoreboard at www.swankonsportshosting247.comUpdated every five minutes on Friday night |
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Hillsdale Ready for First League Test Hillsdale, the runner-up in the Wayne County Athletic League last season, would like to nothing more than to claim the title this season and that process begins on Friday night at Northwestern against the Huskies. Like nearly everyone else in North Central Ohio, the Falcons had to deal with the weather last week. They beat Loudonville (3-0) in a game that didn’t finish until midnight. Second year coach Trevor Cline says it was an interesting experience. “Last week was definitely a unique game. We got done about midnight or so. It was a great game to be a part of. It was a defensive battle. Offensively, we moved the ball here and there and then our drive would stall out or we would miss out on opportunities. Our defense played really well. It was definitely a cool experience to be a part of because there aren’t too many high school games that you end up playing that late with delays and stuff,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “I think someone said it ended up being almost a five hour game or a little bit over five. I doubt too many times in my high school coaching career I will ever get to experience something like that. It was neat to come out with a win. Our players did a nice job even though there were a lot of distractions due to delays they were able to overcome that and come out with a win.” Last week could have been a distraction and this week has that potential too with the Ashland County Fair in progress. Cline says they have handled it well so far. “Growing up in this community I know how it is with the Ashland County Fair. I was involved with a lot of that stuff in our school. Our “FFA” is a big program, so many of our kids are involved with that stuff. We talk to the kids about making sure you are still focused and ready for the game on Friday. Our players have done a nice job of that so far. It is just one of those things when you live in a small rural community that is something you expect. Most of our teams have done a nice job of keeping focused and working hard. Hopefully, we can translate that into a good game (Friday,)” said Cline. Hillsdale (3-0,0-0) travels to Northwestern (1-2,0-0) in “WCAL” action on Friday. The Huskies beat Columbia (21-14) last week to claim their first win of the season. Cline says they are going to offer up a good challenge. “The Huskies have another good team this year. They return their quarterback from last year, who had a really good year and they have a lot of weapons out at slot receiver. Their line is a big group, on the offensive and defensive side, so it is going to be another battle. Northwestern each year, they bring one of their better games against us. Each week in the “WCAL” it is a battle, so it is going to be another one of those,” he said. Published 9/20/19 © Swankonsports.com Check out our scoreboard at www.swankonsportshosting247.comUpdated every five minutes on Friday nights Listen on your PC, your phone or your vehicle audio system |
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Hillsdale Wants to be Physical Hillsdale is a good football team that wants to continue to get better. They host Loudonville in a non-conference game on Friday night at their place. Last Friday, they buried Crestview (33-14) to improve to (2-0) on the young season. Coach Trevor Cline says best of all they got better in terms of their execution. “Our players played better week two than what they did week one. I know they fixed some of the mistakes they made week one and improved on those going into week two,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “We still have plenty of stuff we can work on and we are hoping to get the things we struggled with in week two fixed so then we can have a better week three.” Loudonville picked up its first win of the season last week in beating Danville (21-6) in a non-league game. The Birds of Kevin Maltrich run the run based wing-T offense and Cline says once again this year they are physical. “Loudonville, they have another good team this year I believe. One thing that is impressive about them is just how physical they are. So, our kids are going to have to match that physicality. They run the ball really well. Their defense does a good job of finding the ball and getting to it,” said Cline. Last year, Loudonville beat Hillsdale (21-11) in handing the Falcons one of just two regular seasons losses. The Redbirds used that to vault into the playoffs with just a (5-5) record. Cline says they have to play to their potential on Friday night. “It’s a new year. Last year, they just came out and were more physical than us. We had too many mistakes to win that game. We are hoping this year we can just play to our potential and let everything else take care of itself. I know after last year it was one of those things where they just came out and played better than us that game,” said Cline. Published 9/10/19 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” airs Friday 10 to midnight “Sports Saturday” airs from 10 AM to 1 PM Listen on your PC, your phone or your vehicle audio system |
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Hillsdale and Crestview in Physical Battle Hillsdale and Crestview are set for what promises to be a physical game on Friday night at Crestview in non-conference play. The Falcons drilled Mapleton (31-7) last Friday in their first game of the year. They had more than 200 yards rushing and more than 160 passing. Coach Trevor Cline says they are have the kind of weapons to be able to achieve that kind of balance. “I think that is what you will see throughout this year. We have multiple backs and multiple receivers that do a nice job once they have the football in their hands. We can have a balanced attack for most of the year. I was proud of how our kids played last Friday. Obviously, we still have a lot of work to do. After watching film there are plenty of things we need to work on to get better and become the team we expect to become,” said Cline. Are there things to improve after a significant win? Cline says there better be if this is going to be a good season. “We tell the players that if we play like we do week one week 10 and didn’t get better most likely we aren’t going to have a very good season. We have to make sure each week that we are finding things that we didn’t do very well the previous week and get better at those, so we are improving each day and by the end of the year hopefully we can put together a pretty good football team,” he said. Crestview won last week too in downing Loudonville (9-7) with a late fourth quarter touchdown. Cline says they need to be able to match the Cougars physicality. “I think the Crestview Cougars are a very good football team. Watching film on them you can tell they are very physical. Their offensive and defensive lines are big and they are going to try and push you around,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday, “They also have plenty of athletes too that if they get the ball they can make plays. So, it is definitely going to be a challenge for us this week. It is going to be one of those games that I believe the team that ends up being the more physical team will end up winning the game.” Published 9/05/19 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” airs Friday 10 to midnight “Sports Saturday” airs from 10 AM to 1 PM Listen on your PC, your phone or your vehicle audio system |
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Hillsdale Locks Horns With Mapleton Friday night, Hillsdale opens another high school football season as they play cross county rival Mapleton in a non-conference game. Both schools made the playoffs last year and won a first round game. Hillsdale coach Trevor Cline, in his second year, says they are ready to get the season started. “The kids are looking forward to Friday night. As a coaching staff we are looking forward to it. I know the community is geared up and ready to go too. We are definitely looking forward to our first game this Friday,” he said. Hillsdale finished second behind Norwaye in the Wayne County Athletic League last season and they have been consistent participants in the football playoffs. Cline believes they can have another outstanding season in 2019. “I know we are hopeful as a coaching staff, and as a team, but a lot things play into that. Our kids have been working hard so far,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “I believe those guys that are coming in to fill the positions of the kids that graduated will come in there and execute like we expect out of them. If they do that we are going to put ourselves in a situation to have a good year again.” Mapleton features a new coach in Ray Leek, who takes over for Robert Mahaney, who left for Shelby. Cline says thy will be well prepared. “We have a couple of films on them this year. They look like they should be another good team again this year. It looks like coach Leek is doing a nice job with them. I think they will be a tough opponent,” he said. Hillsdale won the matchup last season (61-27) over the Mounties. They had All-Ohio quarterback Logan Pharmer at Mapelton. Cline thinks they will run the ball a little more this season. “From what we have seen on film it looks like they like to do a little bit of both. They seem to be a little bit more balanced when it comes to running and throwing the ball. When you get into the season you never know which way you will end up going,” said Cline. Published 8/27/19 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” airs Friday 10 to midnight “Sports Saturday” airs from 10 AM to 1 PM Listen on your PC, your phone or your vehicle audio system |
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Hillsdale Preparing for the Season Hillsdale, a perennial playoff team, and last year’s runner up in the tough Wayne County Athletic League, is getting ready for what promises to be another excellent season for the Falcons. Second year head coach Trevor Cline says they believe they are doing to the right things and getting good results heading into the season, which begins in 10 days. “As coaches we believe we are headed in the right direction. In our scrimmage against Canton Central Catholic this past Saturday we saw a lot of good things from our players. We still have plenty of work to do, but there were a lot positives that we were able to take away from that scrimmage to be able to build off of. So, we are just looking forward to continuing to work in practice and getting better each day,” said Cline. At this time of the preseason, and especially this year with an extra week, Cline says the kids are itching to play for real. “This year has been a unique situation with the preseason being a little bit longer. It has been a while of just practicing and doing a lot of repetitive stuff. It is nice getting into scrimmages and just getting one week closer to a game,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “The kids are ready to go and the coaching staff is ready to go. We are looking forward to scrimmaging Ontario this Friday and also getting an opportunity to play against Mapleton the following Friday for our first game.” Cline hopes they can get some more good information when they play Ontario this week as they work to get better for that opener against Mapleton. “We like our two scrimmages that we have this year. Canton Central Catholic year in and year out they are a good team and also Ontario too. Both of those teams are really physical up front and it gives us a good look and it shows our players, hey, this is how physical we need to be if we are going to be able to compete week in and week out. Those scrimmages allow our guys to match up against some guys that are tough. It gets us moving in the right direction,” he said. Published 8/20/19 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” airs Friday 10 to midnight “Sports Saturday” airs from 10 AM to 1 PM Listen on your PC, your phone or your vehicle audio system |
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Hillsdale Falls in State Title Game In order to win a state title you have to have talent, execute and you also have to have a little luck. The baseball gods were not smiling on the Hillsdale Falcons on Sunday. Toronto beat Hillsdale (3-1) in the division four state championship game played Sunday afternoon at Canal Park in Akron. “Again, it was a well played game for the most part. That team hits the ball extremely well. Garrett’s performance with his ankle was just phenomenal. We had an opportunity. We got to 2-1 and couldn’t get that next big hit,” said coach Jason Snow. Hillsdale starting pitcher Garrett Goodwin lost for just the second time this season. He had twisted his ankle during the Falcons celebration of their semifinal win over Minster (1-0) on Friday. He pitched all seven innings for Hillsdale allowing three runs on 10 hits, striking out three and walking just one. “We missed having his bat in the lineup, but we thought it was important for him to focus on his pitching and try to limit the use and he did a great job,” said Snow. Snow says Goodwin was not 100 percent, but he thought he was their best option and did a fantastic hob of limiting the damage. “He was having a little trouble pushing off a times. I thought his control wasn’t as good as it usually is. Velocity wise he was fine. That is one heck of a hitting team. He kept us in the game,” he said. The Hillsdale coach says using Goodwin as the starting pitcher was really a game time decision. “When he went out to the bullpen. We were planning to use him, but we weren’t sure he hadn’t really pushed off the mound yet. He went out there and felt good and battled through,” said Snow. Toronto got on the board with four straight hits, two of them infield hit on terrific stops in the hold by shortstop Evan Rottan, to take a (2-0) lead in the third inning. The Falcons cut it to (2-1) fifth when Carsten Betson was hit by a pitch and scored on a RBI double by Briar Funk. The final run came in the top of the seventh when Nick Chertok scored on a double by Nate Karaffa. Chertok appeared to be out at the plate on a great throw by Jake Luikart, but the umpire called him safe with a head first slide. Karaffa was outstanding on the hill, striking out eight of the first nine Hillsdale hitters and allowing only two hits. He finished with 12 k’s on the afternoon. Snow says he couldn’t be more proud of his players. “Obviously, we were disappointed. We wanted to bring home a state championship, but these guys have been phenomenal all year,” he told Swankonsports.com after the game, “The way they hold themselves. The way they act. They way they play. I was proud to coach them.” Published 6/09/19 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM Click on the listen line at the top of the home page for audio |
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Hillsdale One Step Away Jake Luikart fired a two hit shutout and Hillsdale beat Minster (1-0) in a division four state semifinal on Friday evening at Canal Park in Akron. The Falcons (28-2) play Toronto (26-5) for a state title in the small school division on Sunday afternoon at1 PM back in Akron. The Red Knights beat Antwerp (8-0) in the second game on Friday night. Luikart, now (11-0) on the season, and headed from Wright State, retired the last nine Minster batters he faced to get the shutout. “He just finished strong,” said coach Jason Snow, “I thought that fourth inning when they got them loaded and he got out of that inning just really got him going. He walked three guys (Friday,) which is really unusual for him, he has probably walked nine all year going into this game. So, a phenomenal performance by him.” A key moment in the game came when the Wildcats loaded the bases with two outs after a hit by Noah Ennekman to open the inning and two out walks to Austin Brown and Trent Roetgerman. That’s when catcher Carsten Betson went to the mound. “Carson is just great behind the plate. He calls the pitches. He calls the game,” said Snow.Luikart went on to strike out Mike Kenter to get out of the jam. “We have a really good relationship, Carson and I. He settles me down when I get a little worked up. He is the perfect guy the for the job. He is always calm. He was smiling and I said what are you smiling for? You know, I was mad, but he settled me down and kept me in the zone and I was able to capitalize,” said Luikart. Luikart is a very good hitter too with a solid average and double figure home runs, but he struck out in the top of the sixth and that apparently was the last thing Minster wanted to see happen. “I got angry after I stuck out. I usually need something to get me mad because once I get mad and I just gas it up a little bit. I was able to keep in the zone and that was huge,” said Luikart. His fastball was clocked over 90 MPH on Friday. Garrett Goodwin, the shortstop on Friday, will start the game on Sunday against Toronto. He threw a no hitter in a district game. The game’s only run came in the top of the second inning when Briar Funk singled to open the inning and Ty Williams followed with a walk. Garrett Crites executed a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third. Evan Rottman’s sacrifice fly to center plated Funk with the only run of the game. “In that inning we got the guys bunted over, we got the sacrifice fly. The little things. That run was big. We needed that run obviously or we are still playing,” said Snow. He added they had to scratch and claw to get the run and even though they are a high scoring team it is not the first time they have had to do that this year and in their tournament run. “We have had a couple of those. East Canton was a 1-0 game. That is what baseball is all about. That is how the game should be played. (Minster) did a great job. They had a great season. They are a well coached team. They did the little things right too. We were just fortunate to get a couple guys on and get them over,” said Snow. It was a game that included only five hits between the two teams and there were no errors. Snow says it was a well played game and that is all there is to it. “There were three and two hits. A lot of balls were in play. Guys made the plays they need to make. It was a great team effort. Both teams played great defensively. It was a solid game all around,” he said. Published 6/07/19 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs like every week from 10 AM to 1 PM Click on the listen line at the top of the home page for audio |
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Hillsdale in Final Four Hillsdale plays Minster in a division four state semifinal on Friday afternoon at Canal Park in Akron, the home of the Class AA Rubber Ducks. The winner would play either Antwerp or Toronto for the state title on Sunday afternoon. The Falcons (27-2) drilled New Middletown Springfield (16-2) in a regional final played last Saturday. Coach Jason Snow hopes they are peaking at the right time. “We have been pretty consistent all year, but with this tournament run we have done a variety of different things. Our pitching has been very good, but we have had a couple of games here were we have got the bats back out and built a little confidence and hopefully that will carry over until Friday,” he said. Hillsdale has an outstanding 1-2 punch on the mound in Jay Luikart and Garrett Goodwin and Snow says they win use both if they have to. “We talked a little with Garrett (Goodwin) as Jay (Luikart) (10-0,0.68 ERA) will be on the mound, you may have to come in and pitch an inning, pitch two innings, and we will worry about Sunday if we are fortunate enough to get a win on Friday. We will see how things go early in the game and how Jay is feeling and how he is throwing and I’m sure he will be fine. We will just have to make decisions as the game goes if we are going to be able to finish it out with Jay or we are going to bring Garrett in or what we are going to do,” said Snow. When you have had the kind of season that Hillsdale has you have already met a lot of goals, however, Snow says they don’t want to be satisfied come Friday afternoon. “We got to the regional and we didn’t want to leave it there. They were able to get out of the regional. We have talked a lot about getting that opportunity. You are two wins away and a lot of people would like to be there and don’t get that chance and we are going to do everything we can and take every opportunity. We have talked about leaving it all out on the field, extra effort at all times and hustling everything out. Don’t leave a play out there that you wish you would have done differently or thought differently,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “We have talked about the adversity we will face. Something if going to happen that is going to put pressure on somewhere along the line, whether it is early in the game, the middle of the game, the end of the game. Being able to handle a situation when things get tough or somebody makes a mistake that we have to pick them up and somebody has the make a play to overcome that.” Minster (22-7) takes a 12 game winning streak into the semifinal and plays in the tough Midwest Athletic Conference. They won a state title just two years ago. Snow says the Wildcats have all of the experience you would want and they are not going to beat themselves. “They have a lot of experiences down there, especially with their coach. They have the tradition where you would think that they just expect to be there. They have had several regional appearances and several state appearances. Solid fundamental team that will do the basic baseball things like move runners over and try and get an extra base. They are very good defensively. I think that is the one thing when we went and watched them play and from other coaches we have talked to is they are going to make the routine plays, they are not going to beat themselves. You are going to have to earn what you get and that is way it should be. That is why both teams are there because they have done things you are supposed to do to win baseball games,” said Snow. Published 6/07/19 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM Click on the listen line at the top of the home page for audio |
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Goodwin’s No Hitter Leads Hillsdale to District Win Garrett Goodwin threw a no hitter and Hillsdale edged East Canton (1-0) in a division four district semifinal played Tuesday evening at Medina High School. The Falcons (24-2) advance to play Lake Center Christian on Thursday at Medina for the right to advance to regional tournament. Coach Jason Snow says Goodwin threw strikes and his defense fielded the ball well and that added up to a win for the Falcons. “We had just a great all around effort defensively and Garrett Goodwin was phenomenal on the mound throwing his no hitter. All year long he has been around the plate. He doesn’t walk kids, makes them earn their way on. (Tuesday) night they had a hard time getting on. Luckily for us it was one of those games because we needed a shutout,” he said. Garrett, the Falcons number two pitcher, was indeed outstanding. Snow says he made a lot of pressure pitches, which is something Hillsdale hurlers have not had to a lot of this year. “We have four seniors that have had a lot of success at Hillsdale the last four years. We have not had a lot of close games this year, we have had a lot of run rule games. A lot of our pitchers have lacked experience in those spots. His composure was amazing. He was more composed than I was,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night after the win, “I also give a lot of credit to East Canton. They made some great plays. Really in that second inning we could have cleared the bases on that bases loaded flyball by Jay Luikart, but they make a diving catch, but I think that is going to help us down the road.” Hillsdale’s only run came in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Brair Funk. Snow thinks they have come chance to score more, but he gives a lot of credit to East Canton and their kids. “I thought we left them off the hook a little bit. We got that one run and I guess their error kind of got that inning going for us. We usually don’t leave guys on base and you have to credit their pitcher and their defense. We will get back to work (Wednesday) and get ready for Thursday.” He said. Lake Center Christian beat Dalton, also of the Wayne County Athletic League, (7-4) on Tuesday. Hillsdale will try and accomplish something that has gotten away from them the last two years, winning a district title. They lost in the district final both times. Snow says to do it the are going to have to defend the small ball game. “What we have seen when we have scouted previously is they love to play small ball, the love to bunt. In fact, (Tuesday) they tried a squeeze with two strikes. They are aggressive on the bases. They play the game hard. They are a very sound defensive team. We have Jay (Luikart) on the mound going for us. We would love to get out on top early, but we have to find a way to come through with the clutch hit that gets our game going,” said Snow. Published 5/22/19 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports Check out our scoreboard at www.swankonsportshosting247.comFor all of your tournament finals |
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Hillsdale Holds off Dalton Softball powerhouse Hillsdale edged Wayne County Athletic League foe Dalton (2-1) in Wednesday afternoon’s division four district semifinal at Copley High School. They will play Mogadore, the top seed, in the district final on Thursday at Copley. Mogadore hammered Cuyahoga Heights (12-1) on Wednesday. Lady Falcons starter Olivia Betson struck out eight and didn’t walk anyone in going all seven for Hillsdale allowing six hits. Hillsdale coach Hanna Fulk says it was an outstanding softball game. “Both teams played really well. I think both pitchers pitched their butt off (Wednesday) night. There were quite a few hard shots by both teams, but they happened to go right to people or just kind of didn’t fall. They had one error that helped us get that one extra run,” she said. Dalton’s Elle Mooney was almost as good permitting five hits and striking out four. Hillsdale (17-5) scored in the first inning as Jessie Rowland singled, stole second and put the Lady Falcons on the board when she scored on a throwing error. They made it (2-0) in the fourth when Emma Fowler doubled and eventually scored on a groundout. Dalton’s run came in the fifth on a ground out. Fulk says they made the plays when they had too. “We scored two runs an then they came back and got one back and luckily we were able to hold them off the rest of the game,” she said. Hillsdale, of course, won the division four state title a year ago and Fulk says they have played a lot of good competition this year and that helps them in game like this. “I think the pressure from last year kind of helped us, but also we played some teams that were very good this year. We played (Massillon) Perry, who are the division one reining champs. We also played Louisville that is also a very good division one team and some other really good teams around locally,” she told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “Our goal during the season with to try and simulate the tournament as much as we can. We are trying to play teams that are bigger and maybe in theory better than us so we an play to those pressure situations and know what it feels like when it comes tournament time.” Published 5/16/19 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports Check out our scoreboard at www.swankonsportshosting247.comFor all or your tournament finals |
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Hillsdale Meets Pass Heavy Fairview Hillsdale plays Fairview in a second round playoff game in division six on Friday night at Findlay Donnell Stadium. The Falcons (9-2) routed Northwood (36-6) last Friday night their first playoff game. Coach Trevor Cline says their defense was able to stymie a Northwood offense that had been averaging more than 50 points per game. “Our offense played good, but our defense really showed up and brought it doing their assignments and with them being able to do their assignments throughout the game they were able to slow down Northwood’s pretty potent offense,” he said. Hillsdale had 412 yards total offense last week, 309 yards on the ground, while Northwood had just 129. Fairview (8-3) eliminated “SBC” River Division champion Gibsonburg (35-7) last week. Cline says this a team that wants to throw the ball and force you to defend their athletic receivers. “Fairview they are another good team that we are going to be facing this week. Offensively they like to go four or five wide and they like to throw the football around. They throw it about 80 percent of the time and run it 20 percent of the time. Their quarterback is very athletic. He throws a nice football and they have a lot of weapons out at receiver that can make big plays,” said Cline. It’s going to be a tough assignment for Hillsdale offense too. Cline says they need to get into the second level of the Fairview defense. “Defensively, they do a good job of getting to the football and we will have to make sure we are able to control the line of scrimmage and also getting up on their inside linebacker because they do a nice job of finding the football and getting to it and making plays,” he said. Cline says they really have not faced a team that runs an offense like Fairview’s, at least not on a consistent basis. “They are different than they majority of the teams that we played this year, but there are some similarities to Mapleton, who we played week one where they like to throw the ball around a lot. For the most part they are sort of their own type of team,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “It is not something we have seem a whole lot this year outside of Mapleton and maybe a little bit of Northwestern. It is sort of a new type of offense that we are preparing for. We have seen certain plays where they went four or five wide, but not on a consistent basis like Fairview likes to do.” Published 11/07/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Out of Bounds” airs live every Friday from 10 PM to midnight Click on the listen line at the top of the home page for audio |
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Hillsdale Plays in its First Ever Home Playoff Game Hillsdale hosts Northwood in a regional quarterfinal in division six on Friday night. The Falcons finished as runners up in the Wayne County Athletic League this year, just a game behind Norwayne, who beat them in overtime (34-28) this year. Their other loss came to Loudonville (21-11) on week three. Coach Trevor Cline says they are really a whisker from being undefeated, but they aren’t worried about that. “So far, our kids have had a really good year. (Friday) night we are looking to continue that. We had two games that could have went either way. We could be undefeated, but we are just focusing on (Friday) night and looking to take care of business,” said Cline. It is the first home playoff game in Hillsdale history. It is going to be wet and that field is going to be muddy, but the Falcons are not giving up that home field advantage. Cline says this is something the community has been waiting for. “It is always good to play at home. It is definitely exciting for this game too with it being the first ever home playoff game. So, the community is really pumped up about it and so are the players and coaches,” he said. Hillsdale (8-2) is at home for Northwood (9-1) and the Rangers have scored a tremendous amount of points this season. They beat Stryker (75-3) on week five. They have been held under 49 once all year and that was in their only loss (36-22) to Millbury Lake. They beat Cardinal Stritch (52-18) last week. They have beaten a team with a winning record only once this year though. Cline says the Rangers are going to want to run it, just like them, and throw on their terms. “Watching them on film they are very athletic. They are fast. Their offensive and defensive lines are among the most physical. They are running the flex offense. It is similar to ours,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “They are underneath center rather than in the gun. On defense, they are very aggressive and they like to blitz and get after it. They have a lot of talent and they have had a really good year so far too.” Published 11/02/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports.com Check out our scoreboard at www.swankonsportshosting247.comUpdated both Friday and Saturday nights |
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Hillsdale With Another Must Win Hillsdale has a meaningful game on Friday as they host Waynedale in a Wayne County Athletic League game on Friday. They need a win have a chance to share the league title. They trail Norwayne by one game and would need the Bobcats to lose to Chippewa this week. A win would also solidify a home playoff game for the Falcons, the first in school history. Last week, the Falcons beat Smithville (41-18) in a league game. Coach Trevor Cline says they played really well when they had the ball and pretty well when they where defending the Smithies. “Offensively we played really well for most of the night. Defensively, we didn’t play too bad most of the night. They ran they ball like 41 times and had like right around 100 yards or a little bit less. We played pretty well defensively, but what hurt us is we gave up a couple of big plays here and there and we have done that a couple of times throughout the year,” he told Swankonsports.com on Sunday evening, “For the most part our defense played pretty well, so the 18 points wasn’t like they were just running all over us or anything like that we just gave up a couple of big plays there.” Hillsdale quarterback Alex Becker has run for 556 yards and 13 touchdowns and passed for another 450 and 10 touchdowns. Garrett Smith is now the team’s leading rusher with 800 yards and seven scores. Hillsdale (7-2,5-1) plays host to Waynedale (3-6,3-3) on Friday night. Norwayne beat the Golden Bears (48-6) last week, breaking their three game winning streak. Cline says Waynedale is better than their record indicates. “If you look at the scores of most of Wayndale’s games this year they have been right in the game. They may be 3-6, but they are a good team. They have some really good athletes on that team. It is not like something where we can just go in there and overlook them. If we do that we are going to be in for a long night. We have to make sure we play up to our potential by executing,” he said. With what is on line, Cline believes his team will be ready to play. “We are hoping we can go out and take care of business because that will set us up for a home playoff game, which we have never done in school history before. Many people in the community, and our team, we really want to get that. Also, we need to go out and take care of business, and if Chippewa does knock off Norwayne this week, we will have a share of the “WCAL” title,” said Cline. Published 10/22/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Out of Bounds” airs live every Friday from 10 PM to midnight Click on the listen line at the top of the home page for audio |
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Hillsdale Needs Focus Hillsdale is on the verge of accomplishing a couple of goals, but this week the biggest thing they need to keep in mind is they are playing Smithville. Right now, the Falcons trail Norwayne by one game with two games left to play. They would need Norwayne to lose to either Waynedale this week or Chippewa next. The Chipps share second place with Hillsdale. They are also in second place in their division six computer region and in position to host a playoff game for the first time ever. Hillsdale ran the ball affectively last week in beating Dalton (40-20) in a league game. Garrett Smith had 183 yards and a score for the Falcons. Coach Trevor Cline says they were clicking for the first time in a couple of weeks. “Last week we got back on track offensively. We had most of our kids healthy and they went out there and played a good game on the offensive end. Dalton did a nice job against our defense for the most part, but offensively we got back on the right track and we were able to move the ball and score some points,” said Cline. Hillsdale has ran for nearly 250 yards per game, led by quarterback Alex Becker with 554 yards and 13 TD’s. Cline says they have to keep being able to run it. “Our team has done a pretty good job so far this year of tacking care of the football. They have been a couple of games throughout the year where we have had some turnovers. For the most part we have been able to run the ball and take care of the ball,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday, “Those are two key things when you are getting into a situation where the weather may not be as good as it usually is. Those two things are key going through the rest of the year.” Hillsdale (6-2,4-1) plays at Smithville (1-7,1-4) on Friday night in a Wayne County Athletic League game. Smithville has struggled this year and the Smithies lost (27-12) to Waynedale last week. Cline says they have to have focus this week. “Smithville is getting better each week. They are a younger team and it is just one of those situations where they are better than what their record shows. We have to be prepared and make sure we are not overlooking them and just go out and take care of business this week. Smithville traditionally has been a pretty good football school. We need to make sure that we focus on them this week and not overlook them,” he said. Published 10/18/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Out of Bounds” airs live every Friday from 10 PM to midnight Click on the listen line at the top of the home page for audio |
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Hillsdale Right There Hillsdale trails Wayne County Athletic League leader Norwayne by a game in the league standings with three games still to play. They are going to need some help though as they lost to the Bobcats (34-28) in overtime two weeks ago. They host Dalton this week in a league game. Now, last week, the Falcons knocked Chippewa from a share of the lead by stuffing the Chipps (12-0) in a league game. Coach Trevor Cline says their defense was outstanding. “Last week, against Chippewa other than a couple of plays we couldn’t get a whole lot going and finish off a drive. Our defense stepped up and we had great line pressure,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “Mike Garn had a heck of a game and our secondary did a nice job of covering too and we were able to get some picks against them. Our defensive effort was awesome last game.” Chippewa likes to throw it and throw it deep, but Cline says they really didn’t allow them time to that last week. “They usually like to run around and sit back there and throw the ball deep, but with the line pressure we were getting they really didn’t have time to do that. It took a lot of stuff from their game,” he said. Hillsdale (5-2,3-1) entertains Dalton (2-5,1-3) on Friday night. The Bulldogs won the league last season, but they graduated quite a bit. They won their first league game last week (21-0) over Smithville. Cline says they must be reckoned with. “Dalton is a good team again this year. They are a young team, but watching them on film their kids are definitely hungry. They fly around and they hustle to the ball. It is going to be another tough game this week. They are getting better each week. It is another game where we have to make sure we are bringing it if we want to win it,” said Cline. Published 10/09/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports Check out our listen line for 24/7 local sports |
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Hillsdale Needs to Bounce Back Hillsdale plays its second straight “WCAL” co-leader this week as travel to Chippewa to meet the Chipps on Friday night. The Falcons lost a tough one last week when Norwayne outlasted them (34-28) in overtime. Coach Trevor Kline says they played extremely hard, they just came up a play short. “Last week was a heck of a game between the teams. I was just extremely proud of our kids and how they battled all four quarters, plus the overtime. They dealt with adversity great, not everything went our way last Friday night, but they kept battling back and they fought to the very end. If we can continue to replicate that it is going to be beneficial to us the rest of the year,” he said. There can be a maximum of seven teams that will go undefeated in Ohio this year and their probably won’t be that many, so it about being able to respond to a loss. Cline says they can’t be looking in the rearview mirror. “We always just talk to our kids about not backing down. Last week, was one of those games where Norwayne is one of the better teams in the league and our kids went out there and battled with them all four quarters and overtime. Obviously, we wish we would have won, but there are some positive things we can take from it too. We need to bounce back this week and then just worry about each opponent each week and take care of business,” said Cline. Hillsdale (4-2,2-1) is at Chippewa (4-2,3-0) this week. The Chipps are coming off a (27-14) win at Smithville. Hillsdale has run for 1,500 yards this year, led by quarterback Alex Becker with 482 yards and 12 touchdowns. The Falcons have five different players with more than 100 yards this year and Hillsdale likes to feature the run. However, Cline says running against Chippewa won’t be easy. “Chippewa is a good team. Watching them on film their offensive and defensive lines are very physical. So, we are going to have to control the line of scrimmage. We talk about that each week about being able to control the line of scrimmage, but it is another week that we are going to need to do that if we want to get anything going offensively and if we want to show them down defensively,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “They have a lot of good athletes too on the offense like their “QB” and their running backs and receivers. On defense, in their secondary they have good athletes too. They are one the top teams in the league, so it should be another battle this week.” Published 10/02/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM 1 PM Click on the listen line at the top of the home page for audio |
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This Game Might Determine “WCAL” Champion Hillsdale and Norwayne have been the best two teams in the Wayne County Athletic League through the first half of the season and they meet Friday night at Hillsdale in what might be the league title game. Hillsdale tops its division six computer region and Nowaye, whose only loss comes on week one to Mogadore (35-34) is seventh in their division six region. Norwayne was the runner in the league last year, losing only to champion Dalton. Last week, in a game marred by thunderstorms, Hillsdale (4-1,2-0) beat Rittman (35-14) and coach Trevor Cline says it took them a little while to get going, but once they did they were pretty good. “We got off to a little bit of a slow start against Rittman this past Friday, but once we got things going we ended up setting down and getting things rolling, especially offensively towards the end of the second quarter and then into the second half,” said Cline. Norwayne (4-1,2-0,) on the other hand, beat Smithville (36-3) in their league game. They beat a very good Norwalk team (32-6) in a non-conference game on week two. Cline says the Bobcats are very good. “Norwayne is the best team that we have seen so far,” he told Swankonsports.com on Sunday evening, “They have also been the last three years in “WCAL” and even years before that they have been the team to beat. They are that team again this year.” He adds they are just good all over the field. “All around they are just a solid team. They have a lot of good athletes. They are big up front. Thy are a well rounded team,” said Cline. Norwayne won this game last year (28-21) and the 25-year-old Cline, in his first year as the Hillsdale head coach, says turnovers are going to be big in this game. “We just need to make sure we are taking care of the football. Obviously, making sure our kids are doing their job every play. That will put us in a situation to win the game there,” he said. Published 9/24/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Out of Bounds” airs live every Friday from 10 PM to midnight Click on the listen line at the top of the home page for audio |
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Hillsdale Wants to Limit Big Plays Hillsdale travels to Rittman for week two action in the Wayne County Athletic League on Friday night. They opened the league schedule with a (42-28) win at home against Northwestern on Friday night. First year coach Trevor Cline says they did a good job of responding to their loss to Loudonville. “Our kids did a nice job of bouncing back after a tough loss at Loudonville. A big thing with that was we controlled the of scrimmage and we were able to start moving the ball again and having consistent drives,” he said. Hillsdale concentrates on running the football and to do that Cline says they have to get some movement up front. “We always talk to our line about basically we are going go how our line goes. So far this year when our line has played well we have played well as a team,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “The game we struggled at the line of scrimmage, and it wasn’t just our line, as a whole we struggled, but basically we go as they go. The games that we have done well in they have played really well, so we need them to continue to do that.” Hillsdale (3-1,1-0) is at Rittman (2-2,0-1) on Friday night. The Indians suffered a (10-6) setback to Smithville in their first league game last week. Cline feels a key for them to limit the big plays the Indians get. “I feel Rittman is a good team. They have some good athletes that can make big plays. So, we just have to make sure that our kids are doing their jobs each play so that we are able to not give up a big play against them. They are able to create those if we end up not being disciplined,” said Cline Published 9/19/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM Click on the listen line at the top of the page for audio |
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Physicality the Key for Hillsdale Hillsdale suffered its first lost of the season last week and they need to be a more physical football team if they are going to get back on the winning track this week as they open Wayne County Athletic League plat at home against the Northwestern Huskies. Loudonville beat the Falcons (21-11) last week and coach Trevor Cline says they were just more physical than them. “Obviously, you hate to lose any game. Last week, Loudonville just came out and was more physical than us,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “We have talked to our kids since then and we know we have to come out and make sure we are setting the tone early because last week we didn’t do that. Loudonville was the one that set that tone. It led Loudonville to victory once they did that.” Yes, football is a team game, but you have to win the individual battles and Cline says they didn’t do that last week. “We always talk to the kids about winning your individual battle. It is a team sport. Each kid has to make sure he is winning his individual battle because if you are not, you not going to usually win those games. Last week there were a lot of individual battles we didn’t win. Our kids, they will bounce back from last week and it will be a learning experience for them,” he said. Hillsdale (2-1) is at home for Northwestern (1-2) in the “WCAL” opener for both on Friday night. The Huskies are coming off a loss too. Columbia beat them (41-7) in non-conference play. Cline says pass defense is going to be important to them this week against Northwestern. “Northwestern, they are a good ball team. Watching firm, they are really good at passing the ball. They can run the ball too. They have played some tough opponents so far this year. So, I don’t think their record truly shows what type of team they are. We are going to have to stop their passing game if we want to slow them down offensively,” said Cline. Published 9/11/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports For 24/7 local sports go to our listen line at www.swankonsports.com |
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Hillsdale Not Satisfied Hillsdale heads down State Route 60 to Loudonville to take on the Redbirds in a non-conference game on Friday night. Over their first two games, Hillsdale has been very good in crushing two Firelands Conference opponents in Mapleton (61-27) on week one and Crestview (33-13) on week two. First year coach Trevor Cline says they have done a very good job on both sides of the ball. “So far, we have been really happy with how the offense and defense has played. They have done a nice job executing on almost every play,” he said. Yes, they have been good, but Cline says they are certainly not satisfied. “Our big thing that we tell the kids every day is we have to make sure that we are getting better everyday we go out for practice. Every week we need to be better than the previous week,” he told Swankonsports.com, “That is something we preach to the kids. I know the kids have bought into that so far and I expect them to the same all season.” Loudonville (0-2) has lost to Crestview (29-26) and Chippewa (28-7) over the first two weeks. Former West Holmes, Madison and Norwayne coach Kevin Maltrich is now the coach at Loudonville. Cline says the Redbirds will be pumped up to play them. “I think coach Maltrich is doing a great job down there at Loudonville. You can tell he definitely has the kids excited to play for him. The two games we have seen the kids play hard. They are physical. It is definitely going to be a great game this Friday,” said Cline. The faking and trickery of the run based wing-T offense has been the staple of Maltrich’s offense over the years. Cline says that is no different at Loudonville and they will have to be ready for it. “We are seeing a lot of wing-t on film. We are seeing a lot of full house stuff. It is basically a lot of the offense he has run in years prior,” he said. Published 9/07/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports Check out our scoreboard at www.swankonsportshosting247.com |
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Hillsdale and Crestview are Familiar Hillsdale hosts Crestview in a non-conference game on Friday night it what seems more like a family reunion. Cougars coach Dan Mager was once Hillsdale coach Trevor Cline’s position coach when he played for the Falcons. Last week, Hillsdale belted Mapleton (61-27) as Alex Becker scored six times in the win. Cline says their execution was top notch right at the start of the game. “Our kids did a nice job of setting the tone early. Our offensive linemen were physical from the get go. We had receivers blocking down field. We had multiple weapons. We were running the ball well. (Alex) Becker did a nice job of reading the defense when he was running the option. All around they were playing very well together,” said Cline It was a nice start to the season, but it wasn’t perfect, and Cline knows his team can still get better on the field. “We just have to make sure we are getting better at executing on every play. Throughout the game there are things we can get better at executing,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “Making sure we are taking the right steps and also making the right reads. There are some of those things we can clean up, but for the most part our kids did a nice job executing for much of the game.” Crestview scored late in the game and beat Loudonville (29-26) in their opener last Friday. Cline says the Cougars offer a challenge, no question. “Crestview is a solid team. They are big up front. They have a lot of weapons and backs and in the slots. Their quarterback does a nice job too. So, we have to make sure we are reading our keys. Just make sure we are doing our job on each one,” said Cline. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that the approach of the teams is similar. Cline says the have similar philosophies. “Coach Mager was my offensive coordinator when I was in high school. He is a very good coach. He does a lot of things that are similar to what we do. He is under center more than what we are at Hillsdale. He has done a really nice job at Crestview,” he said. Published 8/29/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Out of Bounds” airs every Friday from 10 PM to midnight |
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Hillsdale Needs to Keep the Ball Hillsdale travels to Mapleton to meet the Mounties in a non-conference football game between small schools in Ashland County. There is always great anticipation for the first game of the season and first year Hillsdale coach Trevor Cline says that is certainly the case in the Falcons camp. “I know our players have been looking forward to this game since the start of two a days, even going back to the start of summer workouts,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “They are always looking forward to that first game where they could actually get out there on the field and play against someone other than their own team in a game situation.” Mapleton is led by All-Ohio candidate quarterback Logan Pharmer and Cline says the Mounties are a team that can score points in bunches. “After watching film this week Mapleton’s offense is definitely has plenty of weapons. Our defense is going to have to make sure they are reading their keys and making sure they are in the right spot, things like that. Mapleton can have some big plays. They have a very nice offense,” said Cline. Yes, the Falcons have to play well on defense and try to slow Mapleton down, but Cline knows they must be able to score and keep the ball away from Mapleton too. “We are going to have to be able to move the ball on offense. We are going to have to sustain drives and take care of the football,” he said. Published 8/22/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports For 24/7 sports go to our listen line at www.swankonsports.com |
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New Coach, but a lot the Same at Hillsdale Trevor Cline takes over as football coach at Hillsdale, but the Falcons approach to the game isn’t going to change much. Tom Williams has stepped aside to be more hands on in dealing with some family health issues. Kline says his players have shown a good work ethic so far. “So far, the kids have done a really nice job coming in and working hard and things like that. I know this summer we had many kids coming into the weightlifting and putting in a lot of effort there trying to get bigger and stronger and faster. So far, in our two a days our kids are working hard and listening to coaches and taking in a lot of information and helping our one another,” said Cline. In terms of offense and defense and the things the Falcons will run, Cline says there isn’t going to be much change, just the tweaks you have every season. “I plan on running a very similar system. I played for coach (Tom) Williams a few years back. Our coaching staff is back from last year,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “The system has worked for the past 15 years, so we plan on keeping all of that intact. Obviously, from year to year you make some adjustments and we will do that again this year, but the basics of the system is going to be the same.” With Cline being with the program and the assistants staying with him, he says the transition to a new head coach has been pretty smooth. “It is one of those situations where coach Williams is going to be involved as much as possible. All of my assistant coaches have been a lot of help. They have been here for many years. All of them have been here since I have been playing in school. They have been around coach Williams and how he has ran this system. We are going to keep it the same and it has been a pretty sooth transition,” he said. Published 8/10/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM |
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Hillsdale Continues Softball Tradition Hillsdale enjoys as good a softball tradition as any team in North Central Ohio and that continues on Friday when they face Bradford in a division four state semifinal at Firestone Park in Akron. The Lady Falcons (25-2) are making their 15 th state tournament appearance and they own six state titles, the last coming in 2010. They beat Mohawk (3-0) on Sunday in a regional final game that had to be moved from Saturday due to the weather. Coach Hanna Fulk says they had great focus. “We talked about it on Saturday that when they found out we weren’t playing, we were practicing that we have no control over the weather, we have no control over who decides if we get to play that day or not all we can control is our attitude and our focus. I thought they did a really good job on Saturday and also on game day,” said Fulk. That may happen again this week because of rain or wet field conditions, stay tuned. Hillsdale plays a big time schedule, especially for a small school, and Fulk believes that helps them in games like Friday and beyond. “That was the biggest reason we scheduled some of the teams we did is to prepare for the tournament,” she told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday, “We have actually gotten to play two other final four teams in Cardington in division three and Perry in division one. It is a good experience for us to know that we have already played in this competition and we just have to have the confidence in ourselves that we can do it.” The Lady Falcons play Bradford (22-3) with other semifinal being Defiance Tinora (17-6) and Strasburg-Franklin (22-5.) The winners would play Saturday if weather doesn’t mess things up. Fulk says Bradford is not going to give up a lot of runs. “I have heard they have a really good freshmen pitcher. She carries them it sounds like. They have low scoring games. It sounds like a pitcher’s duel. Our goal is to get out there and score first and keep them chasing us,” she said. Published 5/31/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports Check out our scoreboard at www.swankonsportshosting247.com for the latest softball scores |
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Hillsdale Faces Bristol in Regionals Hillsdale has made 14 trips to the state final four. They are two steps away from making it 15. They face Bristol in the division four regional semifinals on Thursday at Firestone Park in Akron. They finished the regular season as Wayne County Athletic League champions and number one in the statewide coaches poll in the small school division. Coach Hanna Fulk says they are group that plays as a team and they just like playing softball. “I would say he biggest thing we have some awesome team chemistry with one another. I would say we are one of most peppiest teams I have been around. Just all around 1-9, 10, 11 actually that just come to compete every day. Just want to play softball,” she said. When it comes to their tradition of winning, Fulk says they just don’t want to lose. “I am an alum too, so it is just one of those things where you grow up playing softball. You play it all of your life. You have to work hard to play on the varsity team. There are a lot of expectations once you get on the varsity team,” she told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “It is not necessarily the history, but just what we want it for ourselves. We want to win the league. It is our goal we want to win the league, we want to go far in the tournament, we take it one day at a time.” Hillsdale (23-2) plays Bristol (18-4) on Thursday. Fulk says when you get to the regionals everybody is good. She says they know what they have to do to win. “I know their pitcher hits her spots well. They are a solid hitting team. It will be a game where we will have to fight. I mean every team that gets to the regionals has beaten a couple of good teams, so obviously they are pretty good. That is what we are going to focus on. Working on our timing and making sure we have solid defense and pitching to our spots. If we can do those three we will make it game and we should win,” said Fulk. Published 5/23/18 © Swankonsports Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports Check out our scoreboard at www.swankonsportshosting247.com for the latest softball scores |
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Hillsdale Beats Chippewa in Extra Innings Hillsdale showed its metal on Wednesday. They battled back twice an upended rival Chippewa (4-3) in 10 innings in a division three district semifinal Wednesday afternoon at Norwayne High School. They now face Waynedale, a (4-0) winner over Loudonville Wednesday, for the district title at Norwayne on Thursday. The two teams split their games in the Wayne County Athletic League and shared the league title. “Our kids (Wednesday) battled back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to send the game into extra innings. We won it on a walk off wide pitch. So, it was crazy,” said Hillsdale baseball coach Michael Wolf. Chippewa built a (2-0) on a botched double played attempt by Hillsdale in the top of the sixth inning. The Falcons (20-4), #3 in the final Swankonsports.com baseball coaches poll in the small school division, scored a run in their half of the sixth on a Chippewa error. Trey Williams doubled in the bottom of the seventh for Hillsdale and scored on an RBI single by Briar Funk to tie it. Kevin Weaver gave the Chipps a (3-2) lead in the ninth on a RBI single by Kevin Weaver in the ninth, but Hillsdale would respond again when Garrett Goodwin doubled and scored on a single by Jay Luikart. The deciding run in the bottom of the tenth came home when Alex Becker got to third base and scored on a wild pitch. Wolf says his team played with heart and determination. “This group of kids it so much more mentally mature then they were last year. Basically, it is the same team that we had last year minus two seniors. Last year we wouldn’t have won this game,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “Our kids just kept battling through so adversity and things that happened over the course of the game. Some of the kids that had some bad things happen to them early came back and were really were a crucial part in getting us back in the game and eventually winning it.” Wolf says this baseball team believes it will be successful and that belief is going to be challenged on Thursday. “Our kids definitely believe in their ability to take on any opponent and be able to compete with them. Obviously, (Thursday) is going to be another challenge with team that we split with during the regular season and then shared a Wayne County Athletic League title with in Waynedale,” said Wolf. Hilldale beat Wyanedale (8-5) and lost to the Golden Bears (14-4) on back to back days on April 10 and 11. Wolf says the rubber match is Thursday. “We are looking forward to it. I know coach McDowell and his Golden Bears are looking forward to it. Both teams will go out there and we will find our who is better,” he said. Published 5/17/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports Check out our scoreboard at www.swankonsportshosting247.com for the latest baseball scores |
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Hillsdale Advances in Tournament Hillsdale destroyed Norwayne (16-1) in five innings to claim a division three sectional title on Thursday evening and Friday they have the chance to earn another title. The Falcons (19-5,10-3), #4 in the Swankonsports.com baseball coaches poll in the small school division, play at home against Chippewa on Friday and a win will give them a share of the Wayne County Athletic League title with Waynedale. Coach Michael Wolf they were at the top of their game on Thursday. “Our focus and intensity was at a season high (Thursday) night. Every kid throughout our lineup was just grinding away each at bat. Obviously, Jake Luikart game out and pitched a very strong game for us on the mound,” said Wolf. Luikart has six strikeouts to get the win. The offensive onslaught was paced by Briar Funk, who had a homer and two RBI. Garret Goodwin went three for three with two doubles and two runs scored for the Falcons. Goodwin is expected to start the game on Friday against Chippewa. With two wins this year over Norwayne already having been collected and the game with Chippewa ahead it might have been easy to look to Friday and beyond, but Wolf says their heads were where they were supposed to be. “They were focused on the task at hand and were not looking ahead. Obviously, winning the sectional title on your home field is a thing of pride for them, so my hat is off to my kids and I am really proud of them,” he said. Hillsdale also plays Chippewa in the district semifinals next Wednesday at Norwayne. The Chips beat Northwestern (5-4) in their sectional final on Thursday. Wolf says Chippewa has a history of success. “Chippewa is a three time defending league champ. They won’t be defending that league title this year, but they are still a pretty good baseball team,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “They had beaten us at their place earlier in the year 5-3. We know how good they have been and how good they are. We have to come out and play up to our potential.” Published 5/11/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports Check out our scoreboard at www.swankonsportshosting247.com for the latest baseball scores |
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Hillsdale Stays in Share Hillsdale, Chippewa and Waynedale remain in a share of first place in the Wayne County Athletic League baseball standings. The Falcons beat Northwestern (6-0) on Monday evening and now face back to back games with Smithville in league play on Tuesday and Wednesday. Coach Michael Wolf says all of their goals are still in front of them. “We are fortunate enough that we still control our one destiny in the league. That is kind of the approach that we are taking with our kids is as long as you keep winning that everything in the end will work itself out,” said Wolf. Garrett Goodwin, who had been the Falcons number three pitcher, came up with a tremendous outing against the Huskies on Monday, according to Wolf. “Garrett Goodwin, who had been our closer, got a start (Monday) night since we had had three league games in a row,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “We come back home and away with Smithville on Tuesday and Wednesday. So, Garrett got on the mound (Monday) and he pitched a really good game for us.” With all of the postponements combined with inning restrictions, Wolf says the league race is going to come down to pitching depth and he likes theirs. “We kind of thought at the beginning of the season one of the strengths of our team was our pitching depth. We thought we had four quality kids that could go out there and start and keep us competitive. We hope down the stretch here that is going to prove to be the case,” he said. Published 5/01/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports Check out our scoreboard at www.swankonsportshosting247.com for the latest baseball results |
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Luikart Dominates Norwayne Jay Luikart was at the top of his game again Thursday as he no hit Norwayne and the Hillsdale Falcons beat the Bobcats (3-0) in a Wayne County Athletic League game. That keeps the Falcons in first place. Coach Michael Wolf says Luikart was nearly perfect on Thursday. “Our senior lefty Wright State commit pitched a 79 pitch no hitter. He faced one over the minimum. He was pretty strong on the mound for us,” said Wolf. Wolf was Luikart had command of all of his pitches. “He has a great fastball, but (Thursday) night he has his sinker-curve and mixed in a little bit of a change up. He was felling it,” he said. It was not that Hillsdale has a great night at the plate, but Wolf says this did enough. “We only had six total hits in the game. May hats off to them, Norwayne played pretty well really,” he told Swankonsports.com after the win, “Their pitcher kept us off balance. We had a couple of opportunities and didn’t capitalize. It is something to work on.” Hillsdale (5-0,2-0) plays at Norwayne in the rematch on Friday. Wolf says they are going to have to do it all over again. He says like the back to back format. “That is kind of a true test of what kind of a team you have versus maybe one individual. So, we will go back at them with our other big lefty Trey Williams, Ashland University commit and see what happens,” he said. Published 4/06/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports Check out our scoreboard at www.swankonsportshosting247.com for the latest baseball scores |
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Hillsdale Beats Dalton in Big “WACL” Game Jay Luikart threw five strong innings for Hillsdale in a (2-1) win over Dalton on the opening night of league play in the Wayne County Athletic League on Monday. Both will be taking a run at three time defending league champion Chippewa this spring. Hillsdale coach Michael Wolf knows it was a huge win for his team. “You are talking about Dalton, who was a final four team last year with eight starters back. They are a very well coached team. We beat a very good pitcher (Monday) night. We are feeling good,” he told Swankonsports.com after the win on Monday night. Luikart struck out 10 over five innings and Garrett Goodwin got the win with two innings of relief. Wolf says all of the runs in the game came without a hit. “Jay Luikart, our ace. He pitched five shutout innings. Actually, Dalton got their run on a throwing error. We were fortunate. We scored our two runs on a hit by pitch with the bases loaded a walk with the bases loaded. So, there were two good pitchers out there,” said Wolf. Hillsdale finished second in the “WCAL” last year and lost to Dalton in the district championship game in division four last spring. Wolf knows his team has great potential. “This group has come so far. We are so much more mature than we were last year. This game kind of showcased that,” he said. Hillsdale is scheduled to play Dalton again on Tuesday, this time on the road, if the weather permits. However, there is about a 90 percent chance of rain on Tuesday, followed by a chance or rain on both Wednesday and Thursday. Published 3/27/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports Check out our scoreboard page at swankonsportshosting247.com for the latest results |
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Hillsdale With Talent Back Hillsdale is coming off a successful baseball season last year where the advanced to the division four district final and finished near the top of the Wayne County Athletic League standings. Plus, they have quite a bit back, Coach Mike Wolf says they have looked pretty good in spring training. “I have been pretty pleased. We have the same problem probably everybody else does here in the fact that the weather hasn’t cooperated. We did get a scrimmage in against Buckeye Central and saw a lot of good things. We have been able to get out on our field five or six times. I am very optimistic about this season,” said Wolf. Pitching is going to be a strength for the Falcons. Wolf says they have quality and quantity. “I have seven starters back, including our top three pitchers, including Jake Luikart, who is a Wright State commit. Trey Williams, who is an Ashland University signee and a couple young kids that we are pretty opportunistic about. So, we have most of our kids back,” said Wolf. With a lot of kids back, Wolf says they don’t need to start at the beginning because the players already know what he wants. “Most of our kids are familiar with our system, so we are able to spend a lot more time on some of the other things. Instead of starting at point “A” we can start at point “C,” he said. Wolf knows that the Wayne County Athletic League is going to be very challenging as it is almost every year. “The Wayne County Athletic League is a very good baseball conference. We have had two teams over the last two years make it to the final four,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday, “Dalton last year in D-4 and the year before Waynedale was state runner up. It is always very competitive. I think Dalton has eight starters back from a final four team. Chippewa is a three time league defending champion. I think Waynedale has seven starters back. So, they league looks to be very, very balanced.” Published 3/22/18 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports Check out our 24/7 listen line for the latest in baseball news
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Hillsdale Faces Liberty-Benton Hillsdale has played maybe its two best games of the season in the playoffs and they going to need to step it up again when they play Liberty-Benton on Friday night. The Falcons and the Eagles lock horns in the division six regional final at Frost-Kalnow Stadium in Tiffin. Last week, Hillsdale hammered Carey (41-0) in a second round game. Coach Tom Williams says they played well in all aspects of the game last week. “Our guy played extremely well last week. Offensively, defensively, special teams, everybody did their job. We just kind of came there with an attitude. I really liked that we didn’t wait and kind of feel things out we just went out there and played extremely hard right from the beginning,” said Williams. In their first playoff game, Hillsdale (9-3) utilized the pass game in beating Seneca East (28-7,) but Williams says against Carey they had to run the ball and they were able to do it. “Against Carey we had to be a little more patient to be honest. They decided they were going to take away some of the big plays we get through the air by putting a lot of extra guys out in coverage, so we just ran the football,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “The nice thing is our offensive line is playing really well right now. Garret Smith is running the ball well, Trey (Williams) ran the ball pretty well and a couple of other guys. We were able to kind of grind it out a little bit.” Liberty-Benton (11-1) climbed all over Hicksville (60-7) last week. Williams says this is a team you can not afford to make mistakes against or they are going to take advantage. “They are really good. They have a senior laden team. They just do a lot of things well. They just don’t have a lot of weaknesses. It is going to be important for us to play well and to make sure we limit our mistakes because they just seem like as we watch film of them they turn mistakes into big plays for them,” said Williams. The Eagles have made the playoffs 10 times since 2003 and they have some really good athletes. Williams says they are going to have to be firing on all cylinders. “This is big boy football here. When you get to this level everybody is good. Everybody has things that they do extremely well. You job is to take away some of those things. Hopefully, some of the stuff that you do really well is still able to work at this level,” he said. This is the first time Hillsdale has played in a regional final and Williams says it is exciting for everybody. “We are talking to a lot of people, so it gets to be a fun time. The kids are excited, the community is excited. That makes for a fun week,” he said. Published 11/17/17 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM
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Hillsdale Meets Carey in Second Round It is a second straight Northern 10 Athletic Conference team for the Hillsdale Falcons as they play the Carey Blue Devils in the division six regional semifinals at Highland High School in Morrow County on Friday night. Both teams carry (8-3) records on the season. Hillsdale beat Seneca East (28-7) in an opening round game in Attica last week; The Falcons executed an onside kick on the opening kick and then Trey Williams connected with Trace Stiltner for a touchdown on the very next play. Coach Tom Williams says they wanted to be aggressive. “It was pretty exciting. We decided to go with the onside kick. I think they were prepared for it, but sometimes the ball just bounced odd ways and we were able to get it recovered and then threw a touchdown pass on our first play from scrimmage. We kind of started the game off with a bang,” he said. Hillsdale never surrendered the lead and Williams says they were able to eat up some clock in the second half of the game. “They had some opportunities. They kind of got it down into our end a few times, but our defense was able to hold and get some key stops,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “Then we got a key turnover with an interception. We kind of kept them on their heels the whole first half. Defensively and with our run game the whole second half we kind of grinded the game out a little bit.” Carey upended Wynford (7-2) last week in a regional quarterfinal. Wynford hurt themselves with turnovers and penalties, but Williams says the Blue Devils executed pretty well too. “Their defense played extremely well against Wynford on Friday night. I thought their kids hustled to the ball and were in good position and were pretty disciplined. So, we will have our hands full there. Offensively, they have had some games when they have put points on the board. They kind of have a few explosive players and a good size line. We will definitely have our hands full again,” said Williams. Carey four times this year has scored 40 points in a game and they have many of those same athletes on the defensive side of the ball. Williams says they have playmakers. “They definitely have some guys. They have some edge rushers that are real good. They have some skilled guys, you know, the big run that they had early in the game against Wynford showed that. They have had a couple of kickoff returns for touchdowns. They get out into open space they can take it to the house,” he said. Hillsdale has played one of the toughest division six schedules around with losses to unbeaten Dalton and once beat Norwayne this year. Williams says they plan to keep with the game kind of game plan. “We need to just do our thing. We have done a pretty good job of taking care of the football this season and we need to keep that up and just keep playing our game. Make sure we are good at assignment football, tackle well in space, and then just block to the whistle and stay on guys. If we do those things we should be fine,” he said. Published 11/07/17 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM
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Hillsdale Preparing For Aggressive Seneca East Hillsdale of the Wayne County Athletic League and Seneca East of the Northern 10 Athletic Conference clash outside of Attica on Friday night in a division six regional quarterfinal. The Falcons (7-3) got into the playoffs with a big second half last week in beating Smithville (34-20) in their final regular season game. They have losses this year to Dalton (10-0) and Norwayne (9-1,) both playoff participants. Coach Tom Williams believes their schedule has been a big plus for them this year. “We feel like our schedule has been very good. We played a lot of quality to teams both non-league and in the league. It prepared us for a lot of different defenses and offenses because we faced a lot of different things during course of the year. We feel like we are prepared for just about anything once we get to the playoffs,” said Williams. Seneca East (8-1) is coming off one of their better performances of the season in a (42-13) win over Carey last week. Williams says they show balance on offense and aggressiveness on defense. “They are very good. They are able to run the ball extremely well and then their quarterback is very accurate through the air. They can make you pay if you cheat too many guys up. Defensively, they are extremely aggressive. They like to blitz and get in the backfield and cause problems,” he said. The blitz might be a big play in this game. Williams says they have to execute when it comes to their blocking schemes in order to have a chance to make plays on offense. “They have done a good job at least on the film we are seeing at causing some havoc in the backfield,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “They get some big plays with their defense. So, it is important for us to make sure we know our assignments and who we are responsible for in our blocking and things like that so we can get everybody blocked.” That big play has fueled the Falcons this year and Williams says they have to get some of those on Friday night. “That has kind of been us this year. In the games where we have gotten a few big plays we have done pretty well and the games where the other teams have done a good job of keeping us from getting big plays or the other team has gotten a few big plays we have gotten ourselves into trouble. I think in high school football trying to eliminate the other teams’ big play and getting a few of your own is huge,” said Williams. Published 11/03/17 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM
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Kids Make Hillsdale Coach Proud Hillsdale has a chance to make the high school football playoffs this year and if they do that’s great and if they don’t coach Tom Williams is very proud of the effort they have given all season. The Falcons are tenth in their region in division six. They have to pick up a couple of spots and finish eighth. They play at home against Smithville in a Wayne County Athletic League game on Friday night. Last week, they lost to unbeaten Dalton (20-13) in a league game. Williams says the players did all they asked them to do. “We played extremely well. Maybe about as well as we could play. We gave ourselves and opportunity. We had the ball driving there late in the fourth quarter and they were able to get a stop. I am really proud of how our kids played and really competed for four quarters,” said Williams. Every week through nine weeks, Williams says the effort has been there for the Falcons. “Our kids have played extremely hard week in and week out and we are very proud of them,” he said. Smithville (6-3,3-3) is at Hillsdale (6-3,3-3) this week in the league. Williams says the Smithies have speed to burn. “They are a very athletic team. They have some kids that have run track and done really well. I think one was a state champion. So, they have some really good speed at the skilled positions and they have some pretty big guys up front. They don’t have a lot of depth, but the guys that they have are really good,” said Williams. It could be their last game and it might not be. Either way Williams says the senior class has come a long way since they started playing organized football for Hillsdale. “For our senior class they only won one game in junior high and for us to go into week 10 of their senior year and still have an opportunity to make the playoffs is great,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “We are really pleased with how much It they have improved over the course of their time in our program.” Published 10/24/17 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM
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Hillsdale Challenges Unbeaten Dalton Hillsdale is at Dalton to face the unbeaten and Wayne County Athletic League leading Bulldogs on Friday night. They trail Dalton by two games with two to play in the league standings, but this game may be more important when it comes to the playoffs. The Falcons (6-2,3-2) are currently seventh in their division six computer region. They must finish in the top eight. Dalton leads theirs in division seven and a win would mean a boatload of points. Last week, Hillsdale survived (28-27) in beating Chippewa in a league game. Coach Tom Williams says the defense saved their bacon. “We definitely hung on for dear life. We didn’t have the ball very much in the second half. It was tied 14-14 at halftime. In the second half we only got one first down. We had a couple of big plays. We threw a touchdown pass and we returned a punt for a touchdown for our two touchdowns. Our defense hung in there,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “They had the ball on the march a little and we had a couple of tackles for loss and a couple of big plays defensively and were able to get an interception and get out of there.” Williams says Dalton is a very consistent team. He says they just don’t make many mistakes. “That would be a good way to explain what Dalton is. They are very consistent. Week in and week out you know exactly what you are going to get, which is good line play, their backs take care of the ball, they run hard. Defensively, they are very sound. They know their gap assignment. They are not real fancy. They do their jobs very, very well,” he said. Dalton (8-0,5-0), #1 in the Swankonsports.com football coaches poll in the small school division, beat Smithville (33-22) last week. They lead Norwayne by a game in the league standings. Williams says the Bulldogs want to pound it at you while they are going to need some chunk plays in order to be successful. “Dalton would definitely like this to be an old fashion football game. For us, we are going to need some big plays. That’s just not our style to be able to march it in five yards at a pop down the field. This year our thing has been some bigger plays and we are going to need some of those big plays if we are going to have success against these guys,” said Williams. In this game Dalton is the favorite and Williams says they kind of like it that way. “For us you look forward to a game like this. It is also fun for us to be the underdog. Normally we are kind of usually even or we are kind of favorite in a lot of games here lately. To have a game where we are expected to be the underdog is kind of a neat thing for our kids and it is something we are kind of excited about,” he said. Published 10/18/17 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM |
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Hillsdale With Must Win Games Hillsdale, now two games back in the Wayne County Athletic League, with three games to play is going to need some help to win a piece of the league title, but they can help themselves in terms of the playoffs. They are tenth in their division six region going into this week. They will need to finish in the top eight to qualify for the post season and that will likely require three more wins. The Falcons (5-2,2-2) lost a tough one (28-21) to Norwayne last week in league play. It was one of those games where both teams played well and you hate to see somebody have to lose and coach Tom Williams says unfortunately last week it was them. “Our guys played extremely hard in that game. I thought both teams played pretty well. Sometimes you play those close games and one of the teams is going to end up on the wrong end. For us last week that’s what happened,” he said. They host Chippewa (3-4,2-2) this week in league play. Williams says it is pretty much a must win game for the Falcons. “We need to bounce back this week against Chippewa. They are a solid team. They have some good linemen and backs that run hard and all that kind of good stuff,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “We just need to find way to get a “W” this week and it will come down to the last two weeks with Dalton and Smithville, some teams that we have had some battles with over the years. We are hoping that is exciting for us.” Chippewa beat Smithville (24-21) last week in another good game in the competitive “WCAL” and Williams says they Chips have played really well in parts of their games this year. “I’ll tell you what when you watch them on film they are able to do some things offensively and defensively really well at times. They are probably looking for that consistency that probably most of us coaches are,” he said. Published 10/10/17 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM
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Hillsdale Must Rise to Physical Challenge Hillsdale likely faces its most difficult test of the season this Friday as they travel to Norwayne to take on the Bobcats, the defending Wayne County Athletic League champs. Both teams trail Dalton by a game in the league standings. The Falcons (5-1,2-1) responded to their only loss of the season on week five to Northwestern (22-20) to hammer Rittman (48-14) last week. Coach Tom Williams says they executed very well on both sides of the ball last Friday. “We were able to execute offensively really well. We threw the ball around and our receivers made some plays in space, but usually to have that happen the line has to play well and the line did a really good job of protecting Trey last week,” he told Swankonsports.com on Sunday evening, “Defensively we got a lot of three and outs in that game and that is something we have really been trying stress, you know, getting off the field. We were having a little bit of trouble with that for a few games. It was nice to see us get some three and outs and get the offense back out on the field quickly.” Quarterback Trey Williams, the son of the coach, accounted for six scores against Rittman. Coach Williams agrees that things are different coaching Trey and his younger son Ty. “It is different because usually if we disagree about something on the field that is something we are going to end up talking about once we get home, where as the other players don’t have to hear about it again and again. He is handling it pretty well and my younger one seems to be handling it okay. I think there is a little added pressure there when your dad is the head coach. Some of the people that get upset at me maybe they are also taking it out on the boys as well a little bit,” said coach Williams. Norwayne (5-1,2-1) also lost week five to Dalton (27-21,) but came back last week to thrash previously unbeaten Smithville (31-6) in league play. Williams says the Bobcats are physical and they have kids that make big plays. “They are big and physical. They have a lot of strong kids that play really hard, so they are able to run the football and stop the run. Their quarterback has made some plays running and he has made some really nice passes. They have some receivers that can make some big plays as well. They put a lot of pressure on you. I think they are one of the best lines we have seen to this point,” he said. In order to have success Friday night, Williams says they have to be physical and not back down from the Bobcats. “Last year, they were a pretty senior laden team, so it was like you didn’t know what to expect. Their guys have worked really hard in the off season, you can tell, and they have gotten prepared and gotten ready to play. They are going to put some pressure on us and we need to make sure we are up to that challenge and that we don’t back down and we show up and get after them just like they are going to get after us,” said Williams. Published 10/02/17 © Swankosports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM
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Hillsdale Faces Rittman With a loss last week, the Hillsdale Falcons have fallen a game behind the co-leaders in the tough and balanced Wayne County Athletic League. They host Rittman this week in a conference game. Last week, they lost at Northwestern (22-20) in game where coach Tom Williams thinks they just made a few too many mistakes. “I thought Northwestern kids played extremely hard as I knew they would. They played well. Both teams had some mistakes, but it seemed like ours cost us a little bit more maybe than theirs did,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday, “We put the ball on the ground a little bit, which we hadn’t done the first four games and it came back to bite us a little bit. We just didn’t finish off some of our drives as well as we would have liked.” Turnovers have not really been a problem overall for the Falcons and Williams says they have to get back to where they were before last week against Northwestern. “You have to really limit your turnovers, which we have. We have had only six turnovers on the season at this point. So, if you are only averaging one turnover a game, a little over, that’s pretty good. It just happened a few of them where all in one game and that came back to bite us,” he said. Hillsdale (4-1,1-1) plays host to Rittman (2-3,0-2) this week. Williams expects the Indians to try and run the ball against them. “They are the same kind of thing they have a lot of tough kids. They are playing a lot of guys both ways, they don’t have a ton of depth. They have been able to run the ball with a little bit of success in the air. Defensively they are just pretty aggressive, so we will have to do a good job staying on blocks,” said Williams. Published 9/26/17 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM
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Hillsdale Takes on Northwestern Hillsdale is one of four teams in the Wayne County Athletic League with unbeaten records through four weeks of the season. They play at Northwestern on Friday night in a league game. Norwayne, Dalton, and Smithville are the other unbeatens. Hillsdale (4-0,1-0) beat Waynedale (39-16) in the league opener last week. Coach Tom Williams says they were able to make some big plays at the right times. “We played pretty well, we just had some breakdowns in the first half that just kept the game a little closer than it should have been. We let them convert a couple of fourth downs and a couple of third and longs that got us in a little bit of trouble. We played a little bit better in the second half and we were able to kind of pull away. Trace Stiltner had a big game for us with three touchdowns and he scored in three different ways, which is pretty cool,” he said. Coaches talk about consistent execution, but many times high school football games are won by the team that can make the big plays. Williams says they have been able to do that. “We had a couple of crazy plays in that game. Trace had an 82-yard punt return. We go out and get a three and out stop at the beginning of the second half and they punt it to us and he runs in back 82 yards. In many ways that ended the game, so it was a big play,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “For him we had a little swing pass, he catches it, their guy has a chance to knock it down and he doesn’t and he is gone, 40 yards for a touchdown. That change of hey you are able to knock a pass down to hey we caught it and it is gone for a touchdown, what a big change in momentum.” Northwestern (1-3,0-1) lost at Smithville (27-14) last week in their conference opener. They have also lost tough ones to Black River (21-13) and Columbia (26-21) in non-conference play. Their win comes over Loudonville (42-7) in their opener. Williams says the Huskies are better than that record probably indicates at first glance. “They are a good football team. They have some tough kids and they used to winning games over there, so we will have our hands full. They just have a tough group of kids over there and we will have our hands full. They have one touchdown games against a couple really good football teams,” he said. Published 9/20/17 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM
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Hillsdale Concerned with Getting Better Hillsdale has played three pretty good football games this year, but they might not have reached their potential yet. Last week, they beat Loudonville (27-10) to improve to (3-0) on the season. They play at Waynedale (0-3) in the Wayne County League opener for both schools on Friday night. Coach Tom Williams is most happy with the effort they have been getting from the players. “I am really happy with our guys. They are playing extremely hard. They are giving us everything they have each and every Friday night. They have been prepared for each game. The kids have shown up focused and ready to go. We are excited that that is what they are giving us. On the same token we have seen a lot of things we can do a little better. If we can find a way to keep getting better week after week we think we have a good opportunity to have a pretty good season,” said Williams. Yes, unbeaten teams still have to get better. Williams wants better fundamental execution, especially on the offensive side of the ball. “For us we are still stressing the fundamentals. We still have some guys that are still stepping with the right foot or doing their assignment exactly how it’s been taught, so we are still working on some of those things. For us we missed some opportunities last week offensively that could have been some big plays. We are just not clicking perfect there. We are still trying to find some ways to get better on the offensive side of things,” he said. Waynedale lost (41-14) to Wooster Triway last week. They were (1-9) last year and Williams says they are clearly improved. “Waynedale has more kids out this year and a new head coach. They are trying to build some excitement down there. They have some veteran kids that have played some football, a few on the line, a couple backs that are that are a couple of the better athletes in the league. We will have our hands full against those guys,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “Traditionally we haven’t had a whole lot of success against Waynedale, so this is a game that we are focusing on and trying to make sure that at the end of the week we are still in first place.” Williams adds the always want to play like they are the underdog in the game, rather if they are or not. “For our kids we just feel like we have the opportunity to be a pretty good football team and they just want to go out and prove that to people each and every week. So, as long as they keep that chip on their shoulder then I think we have a chance to do something pretty cool,” he said. Published 9/13/17 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM
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Hillsdale With Another Non-Conference Rivalry Hillsdale meets another non-conference rival this week as they host Loudonville on Friday night. The Falcons has opened the season playing well the first two weeks with wins over Mapleton (49-21) on week one and Crestview (22-14) last Friday. Coach Tom Williams thought they put together a pretty good overall effort against the Cougars. “I thought overall we played a really good game. We still had a few breakdowns in all three phases that we still have to get ironed out, but overall saw some good improvement from week one to week two,” said Williams. Despite two solid efforts, Williams says he told the kids on Monday not to be satisfied and their goal should be to get better every day. “We talked (Monday) about ways to continue to find ways to get better every day. Each player on our team, each coach on our staff gets a little bit better then the whole team gets better,” he said. Loudonville (0-2) has lost to Northwestern (42-7) in game one and Chippewa (31-28) on game two. Williams says they have some tough kids that can make some plays on both sides of the ball. He says they will have to be warry of the blitz. “They are just a tough team. Being a rivalry game that always adds some intrigue to it. They have an athletic quarterback that cam make plays both running and passing. They have a couple of receivers that can hurt you in the open space,” he told Swankonsports.com on Labor Day, “Defensively they have a lot of tough kids. They blitz a lot and cause some havoc in the backfield, so we have to make sure we do a good job picking up the blitz.” When the other team tries to blitz you it is going to be a big play either way. Williams says they want to take advantage of their opportunities to make big gainers. “For us the blitz is an opportunity for a big play for us offensively, but they have to make sure everybody is doing their job and that is what we really have to work on this week,” said Williams Published 9/05/17 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM
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Hillsdale Faces Physical Opponent Hillsdale scored four times in the fourth quarter last week to beat Mapleton and now they travel to Crestview to take on the physical Cougars on week two of the season. Tied going to the fourth quarter, the Falcons exploded to pound Mapleton (49-21) in their first game of the season. Coach Tom Williams says they were able to take advantage of some things. “It was a great game. We went back and forth for the first three quarters. We were able to get a turnover right before the end of the third quarter and we capitalized on that and we were able to get a few more turnovers in the fourth quarter and kind of pull away,” home said. It was (21-14) Hillsdale after the first quarter last week and Williams says on defense they must find some ways to be more focused. “The biggest thing for us defensively we didn’t do a very good job reading our keys. So, we have got to a better job getting our eyes in the right place,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “If you get caught looking in the backfield a lot those quarterbacks and running backs are usually pretty good at carrying out their fakes. So, it is important for us to read the guys we are supposed to be reading and getting to the football.” Crestview lost a tough one on week one when Northmor’s Demetrius Johnson scored all three touchdowns for the Golden Knights and they beat Crestview (21-14) last week. However, Williams says the Cougars are very good and have a lot of experience in their lineup. “They have a veteran team. They have a lot of guys with varsity experience. A lot of seniors, so it will be a great test for us. They are a pretty physical team with big kids. So, we will find out how physical we can be,” he said. He says Crestview wants to run it, but they do it in a variety of ways and they are a good play action team. “They run it at you. They run some option. The quarterback does a pretty good job with that. Then they try to lull you to sleep and try and get the big play through the air. So, it is important for us to be disciplined in our assignments,” said Williams. Published 8/30/17 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM
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Hillsdale Starts With Mapleton Ashland County rivals Hillsdale and Mapleton meet in non-conference play at Hillsdale on Friday night in the season opener for both schools. The Falcons have done some good things in the preseason, but coach Tom Williams says you never really have a test until they turn the lights on and somebody wins and somebody loses. “You just never know what your team is going to be yet. You have seen them in practice, you have seen a couple of scrimmages, you feel like you have a pretty good idea, but boy I have had years where ended up having a completely different identity than I thought we would going into the season,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “So, getting out there and playing that first game kind of starts to set that identity and especially after the first couple of weeks you are who you are at least to some degree.” As much as you may want to Williams says there are never any good gauges for what that first Friday night is going to be like. He says the kids just have to go through it. “It is a learning process and it and he can’t get experience without actually playing the games. So, no matter how much we work on it in practice, no matter how much we work on it in a scrimmage, it is still not game speed, it still not Friday night under the lights with everybody there, so until you have done it on a Friday night and run through a tunnel and band has played the fight song and all of that kind of stuff it is still not the same,” said Williams. Logan Pharmer is now in his third year as the Mapleton quarterback and Williams says he can put up some big numbers with players he has around him. The Hillsdale coach says it will be a test for their defense. “Their quarterback is fantastic. He is a three year starter and he is only going into to his junior year. They have some guys that can run and catch it and make plays in the open field. They return a lot of their linemen, so they are a good test here early on to kind of find out where we are at. I know our guys are pretty excited about it,” he said. Published 8/25/17 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports “Sports Saturday” airs live every week from 10 AM to 1 PM
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Hillsdale Falcons news can also be heard on the SwankonSports 24/7 Listen Line
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