Welcome to the online home of the 2007 Painesville Buckeyes!

Thank you for those who donated to our "Pampered Mom" basket

January 26, 2008!

Time for another update! Will this be the last? Who knows. I do know that this chapter in our life is coming to a close. Later this week we have a coaches meeting and that is when I will likely pass the torch. It will be weird not being involved with the Buckeyes any longer; I already miss it. This site will stay up for awhile so who knows; if I get the urge I'll put something on here if it is worthwhile.

I hope everyone's new year is starting out well and that it will find you good things! I know it didn't for OSU, but at least they were in the "big game"!

The league is planning a "skate party" in late February (Saturday 23rd) and I plan on being there, likely as an Invader. We plan on having a few players there to help promote the event along with the fact that the Invaders are now playing their home games in Perry!! That is VERY sweet for me, being able to play in my backyard!

The skate party will offer a get-together for the players and an opportunity to sign-up for a reduced rate - thank you to Marcus Jones for that!

The Invaders plan on having another "youth football night" so stay tuned for that information!!

November 18, 2007

Well, it's been a while since I've made an update to the site. Too long, in fact.

First, I wanted to mention the Buckeyes banquet. I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. I want to thank Scores Fun Center for hosting our banquet as they really set us up nice! We had the big-screen to show the highlight DVD and the sound system is really top-notch! The turnout was great and it was really cool to see all the players glued to the TV waiting to see if they made any highlights. I only regret that I didn't have a little more time for editing, but everyone still seemed happy with the DVD.

We also hear that most of the parents and players are fighting over who gets to use the blankets that Kym made. We wanted to give something unique and we are thrilled they are such a big hit.

The scrap books that Nikki, Char and Julie made were very cool and I appreciate it and I know Joe does as well. Kym and I really had great time. It was nice to see a few parents win some items, especially with Erica winning the Kamerion Wimbley jersey!

Secondly, I wanted to hit on the reverse raffle. We don't drink or gamble so we've never gone in the past. As head coach I felt an obligation however, to be there this year. We had some good friends that came and I think everyone had a good time. It stunk that the Buckeyes needed two tables because it meant we couldn't all sit together, but we all moved around and chatted.

Jeff Balash (Jets head coach) was working a sideboard and he told me he reserved two numbers for me; 73 and 80, my jersey number and Jake's jersey number, respectively. I originally told him "no", but then told him since he reserved them for me, I'd take them. Thank you Jeff b/c #73 ended up a top 5 number! Four of us wanted to split but one did not so the four of us decided that unless that one guy went all the way we'd split four-ways. Sure enough, that guy's number was drawn next - instant karma? The four of us split and I was glad because my number was drawn next and I would have been eliminated.

The banquet is really nice, I encourage others to attend in the future. Even if you don't drink or gamble, the food is fantastic and if you are like us you don't get out much anyway so it's nice to get out with some friends. The baskets were very cool, thanks to Maria Shust for that! However, things can get really unhinged later into the night so if that's not your thing you may want to leave shortly after the drawing is done.

For those interested, we are looking to get some t-shirt orders in. Unless we get enough orders it is not cost-effective when you add in the set-up fees. Kym will make more blankets, custom-ordered, of course and if anyone needs more DVD's, I will burn those too, please see the link above for these items!!

Players: Thank you for an opportunity to be your head coach this year, I really hope you got as much enjoyment out of this year as I did.

Parents: Thank you for making this year so enjoyable as well.

Coaches: Thank you for helping to turn this team around and give us such a great year!

Oct. 22, 2007

I've been waiting to write this weekend's review for a few reasons. One is the absolutely beautiful weather we've been having and we have been out taking advantage of that. The bigger reason, however, is because I wanted to really reflect on Saturday's game. I haven't yet reviewed any tape to see how we did. Sometimes the game looks completely different on film than it does in person, but that may be due to already knowing the outcome.

I have had a LOT of people call to see how we faired on Saturday and some calls of congratulations from those who witnessed it. Each time I talk about the game, I beam with pride about how well this team did this season. When the talk turns to what the final score was, ALL of them stated it was a respectable loss. Those that witnessed it stated they thought we were going to end up winning because of our ball movement. I feel we actually moved the ball vertically much better than the Titans did. We stated before the game and reiterated it at halftime that this was likely to be a one-play game. Whomever got that first breakaway play would likely hold it and win the game.

A lot of things could have gone differently and if any ONE of them had, the outcome would have been different. But that's football at this level! I must state that the one play that sticks out the most for me, and I am NOT being biased here, is when Brewzer stayed with #28, pursuing the ENTIRE length of the play in hopes of stopping a touchdown. It was mono-et-mono for about 40 yards and had it been 45, Jake would likely have made the tackle as he was slowly closing the gap. As it was, he got a faceful of cleat! As he dove to make the play, the runners cleat got under Jake's facemask and got him in the face!

While seeing the looks on all the players faces Saturday hurt more than the loss, I quickly realized that it really meant just how MUCH this team came together, how MUCH this team overcame this season, how MUCH it actually MEANT to these players to perform well. We were in this game until the final whistle including our :01 completion to MacKnight only to have him tackled too soon!!

When this season started I felt a lot of personal pressure to put a winning team on the field. With a new philosophy going in, we weren't sure how we'd come out. I had players come back JUST because I was head coach and I felt I owed it to them as well as all the other Buckeye's veterans for which a championship has been so elusive.

As coaches, we decided to set our goals on a winning season and then challenged you to go above and beyond that - and you responded with VIGOR!! We cheered out with "Championship" after game #1 and we did NOT lose a game after that until the Finals, THAT, gentlemen (And SAM) is something to be proud of! That is something to take with you!

I'll save the rest of my boringness for the banquet. To my coaches: Thank you for making this season as smooth and fun as it was. To my Buckeyes: THANK YOU for making this my best season ever in youth sports!!! To my wife and family: I can't begin to say Thank You enough!

Oct. 14, 2007

Watching my dvr'd game 2 of the Indians vs. Red Sox game (I fell asleep long before it ended, 6-6), I can't help but have deja vu (due to the final score) while reflecting on the Raiders vs. Buckeyes playoff game yesterday!

Let me first give you guys (AND gal) a huge congratulations on your hard-fought victory yesterday! You have achieved, as a TEAM, something the Buckeyes have not experienced in my tenur on this coaching staff; a seed in the playoff Finals!!!!

The Raiders, who have improved each and every week, did just as they stated they would - drive up the middle! They drove down against a defense that came out very flat and seemed as if they didn't want to be there, taking so much time off the clock that our offense didn't have time to get anything going - just like the last time we played! That drive was capped by a TD run, but a stuffed PAT kept us in the game (0-6). This was not a situation this team has been in for six weeks; this was the first score our "D" has allowed in 22 quarters!!

Down after two quarters and still playing flat, halftime didn't come fast enough! At halftime, just as before the game began, the coaches told you where the problems were. We knew the Raiders could see it, that's why they ran the plays they did, because they could capitalize on it! We made a few small changes and you were challanged to let our season continue and you responded - with a vengeance!

We can't even say this game was a story of two halves - it was the story of two teams! Whatever it was, the team we saw in the second half was far more characteristic of the '07 Buckeyes than was the first half. While the Raiders dominated the clock and the field in the first half, we "flipped the switch" on that for the second scoring two TD's and one successful PAT to win 13-6 (same score as the Tribe's LATE victory) and I don't think the Raiders ever got inside our 35 for the entire second half!!

Enjoy it gentleman (AND Sam) and let's work hard this week to prepare for the Finals game on Saturday versus the Titans who are coming off a dominating win against. St. Mary's. Go Buckeyes!!!

Oct. 7, 2007

WOW! What more can be said! To say that we went into yesterday's game as the underdog and that the Giants expected to keep their record undefeated would be a huge understatement. With the Giants undefeated record and having not allowed a score all season, the odds looked ominous. We challenged you to go out there, have fun and do your best! You came through beyond nearly everybody's expectations.

This coaching staff told you early on that you were a force to be reckoned with and that we would not concede a game to anyone. Even the first loss to the Titans showed us how we'd improved and how we were poised to strike. After our scrimmage on Thursday, coach Joe told you that you could "Shock the World" on Saturday...and that you did!!

Our offensive attack was spread around for the first half and everyone carried well with no turnovers. We played quite conservative running game in the fourth quarter in order to shorten the game. The defense, again, came through BIG time by bending, but not breaking and did what no other team in this league could do; hold the Giants scoreless!

The blocking, which can always be better, improved tremendously!! You were not intimidated by the Giants and it showed. The challenge; block well the entire game and be rewarded at practice this week. Congratulations; no six-inches, reduced laps and I am allowed to run only one blocking drill, nice job!!!

To give you an idea of how well we did during the regular season, a win over the Raiders would have put us in a 3-way tie with the Giants and Titans with NO head-to-head tie-breaker! The Points Allowed would be the next tie-breaker and we would have been only 2 points from being in SECOND place, that's how close this season is between the top three teams!!

Let's keep focused, gentlemen (and lady), on our goal and make sure we play well against the Raiders who seem to improve with each week of play!!

Sept. 30, 2007

Another week has gone by so fast. Saturdays game went by like a blur since the Raiders had so much time-of-possession. Our defense really struggled yesterday even though we knew what their offense was going to run and we even knew what their snap count was. Despite that, we gave them 3 offside penalties on their final drive allowing them first downs and a continued rundown of the clock. In comparison, our Red "D" has allowed only about 3 or 4 first downs in the previous 3 games - combined!

Our defense was asked to do something yesterday that they have not had to do all season; hold their ground with 4th-and-1 at the goal line. I didn't notice at the time, but I've been told that everyone at that field was watching those last two drives and saw a determined Buckeyes defense hold their ground! However, with 96 yards to march and only 1:40 remaining on the clock, we had a daunting task ahead of us. The offense gave it their best but ultimately the clock beat us! This leaves us 1/2 game back of the second place Titans.

Remember, our goal wasn't to go undefeated this year, it was simply to have a winning season. Can the Giants be beat this year? We are the last team to try it in regular season before they take a week off, are you guys up to the task? We'll find out this week!

Thank you to all of the parents who helped make our tailgate party a huge success. Parents from both clubs really came through and it was nice to see everyone having a good time!

Sept. 23, 2007

I just finished watching the Browns lose...again. These guys can't ever get a break! Seems the Raiders learned a new trick with the VERY late time-out call, eh! They lost the same way last week! However, my weekends are no longer based on the Brown's performance, but rather the Buckeyes! And, I don't mean that awesome team that plays in the horseshoe.

Both the Rams and the Buckeyes played a great defensive battle on Saturday with the interception by Joey Tromba being returned for a TD being the difference in the game. Brewzer followed with a rushing PAT to make it a 7-0 game. We set out to shut-down their #1 back and while we allowed one or two good runs, we attained our goal.

This is the third straight victory for the Buckeyes and the third straight shut-out by our defense! We played a "bend don't break" defense on the Rams final drive which allowed them to get down the field, but ultimately, our defense proved their worth!

Let's plan on a great week of practice and get ready for the Raiders!!

Sept. 15, 2007

As I finish packing for a short trip, I can't help but reflect on today's game. With one of our key starters out, 18 other players brought their "A" game! Brewzer scored not only his first TD, but then followed with a second and MacKnight started it all! I have put the games on my iPod and plan to look into doing some stats during my flight so maybe we can finally put some info on that page!

I also want to send a big thank you to all the parents and families who stayed for our post-game cookout. Events like that really add to the team comaraderie! Special thanks go to Kym (Mrs. coach Brewster), Char and Niki for the hard work they put in during the planning and making sure all of us got fed. I also want to thank Priscella for squeezing all those enormous dogs on that mini-grille!!!

This game is special for us for many reasons. Coach Joe and I reflected today and we can't remember winning two-in-a-row and I KNOW we never needed to put in a "Silver O" during my four years!! For those that may not know, once a team is winning by 16 or more points, the starting backfield cannot play on offense and a second-string must be put in for the duration of a 16+ point lead.

For having never been battle-tested, our Silver "O" performed fantastic. If Lavelle didn't get stuck with his dad's legs, he'd have gotten another touchdown, he only had one guy to beat!! Sorry Mike, it had to be said, buddy!!

Let's take this momentum to the Rams this Saturday. While I will not be there for practice on Monday, the coaches have been informed on what to run during practice. Have fun and I will see everyone on Wednesday!

Sept. 10, 2007:

Just a reminder, candle forms are due at the end of the week! Also, the JV-only squad should be at LaMuth (Auburn Rd.) for the scrimmage against the Riverhawks "C" team at 6:00 on Tuesday - Get 'em JV!

Madison is hosting us for a Varsity scrimmage on Wednesday. We will be short-handed with our squad so everyone should be ready to participate!!

Congratulations, gentlemen, on a great game Saturday! The Vikings have been a formidable team as long as I've been in this league and we really stepped up our game to topple a tough team. Our defense allowed only a few first downs and our offense really came through, especially when it mattered! Let's keep that momentum going this week against St. Mary's!

Sept. 2, 2007:

I hope everyone is doing well with their candle sales. Remember, half of our proceeds go directly to the Buckeyes year-end event! Please inform Kym of your progress this week. Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend!

Thank you to the parents for getting the players to the field on time, bringing snacks and for helping with extras like clean-up and servicing the injured players throughout the game.

Well, things didn't go quite as planned on Saturday as we dropped our first game to a very tough team. Take away two plays and, really, we matched the Titans toe-to-toe. But, that is the nature of youth football, you really put up points due to blown coverage or a busted play. Sustained drives (such as we did on Saturday) are actually rare and it was nice to see how well we moved the ball!

After watching video of the game I already know what we are working on this week so I hope our players are ready to dig in and get down to business! Remember, due to the holiday we will go T, W, Th this week and I'm trying to line up a scrimmage for Wednesday!

August 25, 2007:

Our first team fundraiser, candle sales, begins Monday and will last until Monday 9/10 (2 weeks)! Everyone's participation is appreciated as 1/2 of our sales proceeds go toward our year-end banquet!! We will have forms to hand out at the scrimmage!

Once again we had a good week of practice. We only got three days in due to the inclement weather on Monday, but we worked hard and they were successful. If there was a downside to this week, it was the lack of participation at some practices.

We realize that we all lead very busy lives and that football is THE biggest sport commitment you will make for you son or daughter. However, when players miss practice it can make things inefficient and cause disruptions, especially when inserting new plays into the playbook. This team has parents from all around, please, if you cannot attend practice due to commitments (work, etc.) but your child can, contact coach Brewster or another parent near you to arrange transportation.

Any player who has more than one unexcused absence from practice will be required to sit for the first half of the game. This rule exists so that those who worked hard and put in a full weeks practice are not "benched" while a player who missed practices gets more playtime. A team that puts in a hard week of practice WILL play better on gameday! This does NOT mean they can arrive to the game late!! They are still required to weigh in and warm up!

We had a first-week bye on our schedule which means beginning on Saturday, we won't have another break until the season is finished. With a few exceptions (Labor Day, for instance) we will now be practicing on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday!

The Perry Red Bucs have offered to host us for a scrimmage on Monday! Please arrive, suited to play in your GAME uniform BY 5:45. We need to warm up before we begin and we'd like to get as much play time in as necessary. We have maps to Manchester West available and they have a practice/game field behind the building.

Our plan is to have a controlled scimmage, which means we will each run 10 plays on offense and we intend to run our first team (Red "O" and Red "D") on the first two. We will then run our second team (Silver "O") on the third and then our JV team. We please ask that parents and players be patient while waiting their time to play. Thank you and we'll see you there!

August 12, 2007:

Practice this past week has gone very well. Coach Joe has been on vacation all week and we missed having Joey practice at QB. This week saw the addition of a new player and the return of an old one, welcome JaMark and welcome back Nate!

This upcoming week we step it up again as we get more serious about how are plays are run and more serious about the conditioning. This is our fourth week of practice and by the time this week ends, we will have yet another play in and hopefully be able to try some of these plays out in a scrimmage to see where we need to make tweaks.

The site is getting updated as we receive information and as we get more info about the practice jerseys and T-shirt orders we will pass that along.

Let's all do our best to be there every practice and make this the best week yet.

July 28, 2007:

This past week was our first full practice week and the coaching staff is very happy with what we've seen so far. We have been focusing on the very basics this week so that we can concentrate on the big stuff in the weeks ahead. Of course we will continue to review what we've worked on, but our goal is that we don't need to spend any more time than necessary to review. Nearly ALL players have completed their minimum conditionings and have received their pads.

HAMMER TIME!

Remember to have your child arrive at the field with all their gear. If they want, they are welcome to put their pads on after they arrive, but be sure they have a light undershift (half-shirts; t-shirts with the lower portion cut off work well) and a practice jersey over their shoulder pads. We have a few extra jerseys if you child does not have one.

This week we will begin heavy UNIT and TEAM practices while still fitting in basics reviews. See everyone on the practice field!!!

July 20, 2007:

We held our workouts this week!! July 16,17 and 18 saw some good talent show up at Madions Avenue school and the coaches in both the upper and lower divisions were excited.

Our draft was held on Thursday the 18th. The coaches feel we did very well with the 2007 draft. Our goal to get some larger boys for the line worked out great. We have the core talent that we are building around and we feel very strongly that we had a great draft, adding to that core. While we concentrated on what we needed for this season, we didn't forget about this teams future. In addition to three 6-year old siblings coming aboard this year, we pulled six more players out of the draft and look forward to getting this team ready for victories this season!! To the new draft picks; Welcome aboard!!

Practice begins Monday at 6:15-8p at Hale Road Elementary. The school is 100 yards from the intersection of Hale Road and North Ridge Road (Rt. 20) in Painesville Township. Please have your players wear cleats (cross-trainer/tennis shoes otherwise), confortable shorts and t-shirt. They should also bring bottled water or Gatorade (Powerade, etc.).

The only problem we've ever had with Hale Road is the quagmire in the back so make sure to bring misquito repellant as well. Parents are encouraged to stay for the entire practice and are welcome to bring chairs down and sit along the sides of the practice field. We ask only to keep smoking to a minimum (or not at all) and absolutely no alcoholic beverages.

We will have introductory packages for parents of ALL players. This will include emergency medical forms, picture forms, equipment form, discount coupons to Dick's Sporting Goods, etc. We'll see you there!

June 1, 2007:

As we gear up for the 2007 season you will begin to see this site expand with all the information you'll need concerning the Buckeyes! We'll have all our game and practice schedules, team info including stats and standings and up-to-the-minute schedule changes and updates! While we still have a place on the PYFL website, we've designed this page to enhance your experience with the Buckeyes and to make things operate a little more smoothly.

2007 sees a change at the helm as Randy Brewster is now the head coach and will remain the defensive coordinator. Joe Tromba stays on board and will be our offensive coordinator. New additions include Chuck Cantrell, Danny Brewster and Steve Tuckey.

As a coaching staff, we have been meeting since February - yes February - in order to put together the kind of season these kids deserve.This staff will work together to achieve our goals with Randy overseeing all aspects of practice, training and game plan.

We have spoken with all of the parents and nearly every eligible player is returning to the Buckeyes for 2007 which should make us a real contender this year. We can't tell you how pleased we are that nearly everyone, especially the seniors, have elected to stay on board and see this through. All this in spite of some of the new developments around the area.

Note: Some aspects of this website cannot be added until a later date. Therefore not all links will work at this point.

The Painesville Buckeyes want to thank the following for their support during the 2007 season:

Andreano's D.& J., Inc.

Big Blue Trucking, Inc.

Kathy Patton
Jersey Sponsor