Northwood faces Lake in the Battle of Lemoyne Road

Press Contributing Writer
sports@presspublications.com

For Northwood and Lake, two schools located just over three miles apart from one another on Lemoyne Road, the recipe for a great rivalry is there — communities that are in close proximity to one another; people who have lived nearby each other in Walbridge, Millbury and Northwood and parents who grew up going to one school and sending their kids to the other.
It’s a rivalry that has seen teams dominate in spurts. The Flyers have won seven of the last eight games between the two teams, something that changed in 2013 when Mark Emans took over at Lake and coached there for six years. His former assistant, Josh Andrews, is entering his fourth season as the head coach. From 2006-12, Ken James’ crew dominated, winning seven games in a row over the Flyers.
The two teams played together in the Suburban Lakes League for four years from 1996-2000. Then Northwood left for the Toledo Area Athletic Conference and Lake stayed in the SLL until it folded in 2011 and then joined the Northern Buckeye Conference.
Last year, the Flyers dominated, winning, 35-0. Sam Sciffers accounted for three touchdowns, two of which came via the rushing attack, and another through the air. He carried the ball 13 times for 149 yards and two scores. Sciffers’ had a 72-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, Noah Robie scored on a 3-yard run and caught a 40-yard touchdown pass from Sciffers to give Lake a 21-0 lead at the half.
In the second half, Sciffers scored on a 10-yard run, and Joe Clay had a 7-yard touchdown run, rushing eight times for 101 yards.
Montonio Baker was the lone bright spot for Northwood, rushing 22 times for 100 yards.
James, now in his 36th year coaching the Rangers, talked about what makes the rivalry so special.
“It’s big for both communities, and it’s important,” he said. “We play them virtually every year, even though we’re not in a league together, but it’s like we are because we play them in virtually every sport. We see them a lot, and the fan bases see each other.
“I think there’s a lot of history here because the communities are so closely connected,” he said. “It’s makes for a great atmosphere. There are people who went to Northwood and their kids go to Lake, and vice versa. There’s a lot of interesting, unusual connections. In the Northwood city limits, there are kids that live there that are in the Lake School District.
“It’s a good rivalry; it’s not a dirty rivalry. It’s a healthy rivalry — these are good communities. It was a big deal when Lake had the tornado (in 2010), and we were their first game. We had some people help clean up at the school after the tornado. And financially, it’s a big deal for our athletic department, and it’s a good gate for both sides,” he said.
James notes that two of Lake’s players — Colin Haas and Jay Blazevich — are the sons of two of his former players — Ron Haas and Jason Blazevich — who were on Northwood’s 1991 SLL championship team.
“I see them around and give them a hard time about it,” James said.
James’ counterpart, Andrews, gave his take on the rivalry.
“The fact that the two schools are so close, and I think the fact that we’re familiar with each other (means) you know it’s going to be a good football game,” he said. “It’s 14- to 18-year-old kids, and they have pride in their school. Year in and year out, regardless of the records, you just always know it’s going to be a nice, physical football game. “Northwood kids look forward to it, Lake kids look forward to it, the communities look forward to it,” Andrews said. “It’s a great atmosphere on a Friday night for small-town football.”
The Rangers, as they have for years, employ the wishbone/flexbone offense. Mason Smith is back under center, and Baker and Zaegan Byington are the fullbacks, with Brandon Gomez and Logan Collins as the wing backs.
“Credit Coach James – he’s been at it for a long time, been successful for a long time. They have an athletic quarterback, they can run it, and a couple of years ago, they threw it more; they’re tough, hard-nosed kids. You know they’re going to be very, very good at it,” said Andrews. “We have to be gap-sound, and if there’s a missed assignment, that’s where the ball seems to end up. We have to trust our teammates that they’re going to do their job. It’s a tough, physical four quarters of football.”
The Flyers, meanwhile, employ the Wing-T out of the shotgun formation. In Andrews’ offense, the quarterback runs the ball a good portion of the time. After starting the last four games of last season, Joe Clay begins the season at quarterback. Anthony Andazula is the H-back and Joah Herman is the wing back, and both players were voted captains.
“They’ve had some athletic quarterbacks the last few years. The biggest thing up front is we have to be gap-sound. There’s a size disadvantage, which will be the case for us for a lot of weeks this year,” said James. “We have to angle more than play straight and make sure everybody is in the right gap.
“Defending the Wing-T is making sure your eyes are looking where they are supposed to look,” he said. “With the Wing-T, they’ll fake it, and they can gain an advantage on you that way. We have to tackle well in space. With their size, they can wear you down a bit. We’ve got to drive the ball as much as we possibly can (on offense).”