Despite some setbacks, Eastwood still in great shape

By: 
Yaneek Smith

In recent years, few prep football teams in Northwest Ohio, if not the state, can say they have accomplished what Eastwood has.

Notably, this season showed Eastwood to be one of the top teams in Division V, again.

The Eagles did not capture that elusive state title, falling to Otsego, the No. 1 seed in Region 18, 35-28, in the second round of the playoffs, but it should not put a damper on what was another great season for one of the area’s premier programs.

Eastwood, which finished 8-3 and 4-2 in the Northern Buckeye Conference, nearly won the league championship, falling in close games to Elmwood (56-49) and Otsego (38-35), both of which had great seasons and advanced to the regional semifinals. It did not help that there were Eagles playing through signifcant injuries toward the end of the season, either.

Had the Eagles beaten the Knights, they would have played Ottawa-Glandorf in the regional semis. Eastwood would have been the favorite as they defeated the Titans, 42-19, in week one. However, in the week 10 regular season matchup between Eastwood and Otsego, the Knights won another thriller, 38-35.

The win over O-G was one of the highlights of the season for the Eagles, which defeated two other playoff teams in Genoa (33-0) and Rossford (37-19). Eastwood also beat Lakota, 49-21, in the first round of the playoffs.

It was the culmination of a great run by a nine-man senior class — Andrew Arntson, Isaac Cherry, Lake Boos, Emmet Getz, Ethan Kwiatkowski, Dylan Hoffman, Brandon Nelson, Gavin DeWese and Keegan Shank — that qualified for the postseason three times, won four playoff games plus a conference championship, and fell just short of advancing to the state semifinals last season. 

“There are a lot of those guys that got forced into big roles as sophomore. They had the Liberty-Benton playoff win as sophomores. There are some other guys who weren’t with us that year and have joined us since,” said Eastwood coach Craig Rutherford. 

“It wasn’t a big class numbers-wise, but those guys have been a big part of what we’ve been able to do for the last three years, and it will be hard to replace them. They’re a special group; maybe we didn’t get as many league titles as we wanted, but we played at a time when the league was as deep as I can remember. They played on three really, really good football teams.

“We don’t have a problem winning any way necessary. In recent years, we’ve really had to grind out some wins where we had to get three yards at a time. We just had some of the most explosive players that we’ve had, and we were just able to hit some big plays through the ground and the air. Lake did a great job preparing, he was very important to our success, and then as an entire group, our players did a great job. The wide receivers are as talented as they’ve been in a long time, and they each brought something a little bit different to the table.”

In the playoff loss to the Knights, Boos connected with his brother, Case, on a 6-yard touchdown pass with just under three minutes remaining to cut the deficit to 35-28, but Otsego was able to run out the clock on its ensuing possession. 

Lake Boos had a fantastic game, completing 11-of-18 passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns and carrying the ball 18 times for 78 yards.

In the win over the Raiders, Lake Boos was 7-of-14 passing for 120 yards and a rushing touchdown, Bryce Hesselbart ran nine times for 87 yards and Case Boos scored a touchdown on a 90-yard punt return, plus a 9-yard touchdown run.

Joining Lake Boos in the backfield was a combination of running backs in Kwiatkowski, Getz, Hesselbart, and Bryce Koprowski-Kistner. The top receivers were Arntson, Cherry and Case Boos.

In eight games, the Eagles allowed 21 points or fewer and pitched two shutouts.

Rutherford, credited the Hesselbart twins, Bryce and Dalton, for their efforts on defense, as well as Getz and Case Boos.

“Our leading tackler was Bryce Hesslebart, who played inside linebacker,” Rutherford said. “We asked him to do a lot, and he took on that role really well, and did a great job for us this year.

“Our defensive ends, Getz and Dalton Hesselbart, had good seasons. Dalton was our second-leading tackler. Getz missed about half the season with an injury, but when he did play, he was one of our best players.”

Case Boos was a key player in the secondary.

“Case Boos had a really good year, he was usually defending the other team’s best receiver,” Rutherford said. “When teams would throw his way, he usually came up with a big play for us.”

Rutherford has had tremendous success in his five years at the helm as his teams have gone 46-11 (.807) while winning two league titles and making it to the playoffs four times, going 8-4 in the postseason. In 2017, the Eagles advanced to the state championship, losing to Wheelersburg, 21-14, in overtime.

“We’ve had some really good players the last five years, and I think that our guys work really hard. Obviously, the work people have done over the last 35 years has put our program in a great place, and the work that my dad did building the program,” said Rutherford, an ’06 Eastwood graduate who played college football at Bowling Green State University. 

“Also, the other coaches of the other sports, the way they push those guys is important; there’s just a lot of great people at Eastwood. The kids love to play football, they work hard at it, and I think that’s why we have the success that we do.”

 

 

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