Greater Cleveland Conference 2019

Is Strongsville going to drop off a ton? The QB who took over for Major midway through the season is back. They return their two defensive ends, who both had strong seasons last year. They have an offensive tackle picking up a bunch of offers. Not sure what else is back, but I wouldn’t completely discount Strongsville. If they can start 3-0 in a very winnable non-conference schedule, they could be in the playoff mix even with a middle of the road finish in the GCC.
 
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cardzfan1234 said:
Is Strongsville going to drop off a ton? The QB who took over for Major midway through the season is back. They return their two defensive ends, who both had string seasons last year. They have an offensive tackle picking up a bunch of offers. Not sure what else is back, but I wouldn’t completely discount Strongsville. If they can start 3-0 in a very winnable non-conference schedule, they could be in the playoff mix even with a middle of the road finish in the GCC.
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Maybe they will be better than I assumed they would be. But yeah, the QB is back and the big offensive lineman was a freshman and he is probably going to be a big time recruit. If they indeed have 75-80 kids working out over the summer, they either got a bunch of kids to join who didn't play last year or that is essentially everybody 9-12. Either way, maybe they won't fall completely off.

Still, think they are sitting at the 5 spot in the league, but if they are decent, a good thing for the strength of the GCC (which did have 5 of the top 9 R1 teams, points wise, a year ago.)
 
Friday night light said:
Elyrias new stadium is very nice. A little bit smaller than most of the other facilities in the league but still nice. The parking behind the visitor stands was not completed last year but shuttle from the high school and other lots make for easy access. Definitely a massive upgrade from old Eli stadium.
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Its very nice but definitely small. But 1,000 times better than the old one. I'm still getting used to it sitting a couple hundred yards west of the old stadium. I miss that turn onto Fuller coming home all the time because I was so used to it being after the stadium, lol.
 
My bold predictions!

My school; Elyria will win 3 games. Very bold here.

Lorain will Join the GCC for 20-21 school year. We all assume Berea-Midpark would jump at the opportunity but they are very very comfortable in the SWC.

Lorain is working out trying to elevate the community and schools joining a new league with upgrading George Daniel Stadium I could see them reaching out at the very least. The athletics have been on a great trend with football being consistent. Lorain basketball is elite. Yeah that’s my bold prediction.
 
I agree with Sville grad regarding the evolution of Medina. The coaching staff is stable. The D coordinator for those successful Lombardo teams at Highland is now the D coordinator for the Bees. There will be significant improvement on that side of the ball. Offensively the Bees will be wide open and fun to watch. If they can be consistent Medina will surprise a lot of the naysayers.
 
Mike Gully said:
My bold predictions!

My school; Elyria will win 3 games. Very bold here.

Lorain will Join the GCC for 20-21 school year. We all assume Berea-Midpark would jump at the opportunity but they are very very comfortable in the SWC.

Lorain is working out trying to elevate the community and schools joining a new league with upgrading George Daniel Stadium I could see them reaching out at the very least. The athletics have been on a great trend with football being consistent. Lorain basketball is elite. Yeah that’s my bold prediction.
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I thought Lorain was very comfortable in the LEL. They would be with more westside schools in the gcc though.

2020 is probably too soon to move with fall sports in 2019 already about to start with no announcement made. Nobody has even applied to the gcc at this point in time
 
MentorGrad2002 said:
I thought Lorain was very comfortable in the LEL. They would be with more westside schools in the gcc though.

2020 is probably too soon to move with fall sports in 2019 already about to start with no announcement made. Nobody has even applied to the gcc at this point in time
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You are correct; Lorain has a great situation in the LEL. However they are looking to build something better. We all know that associations are an important part of. They key part is the other west side schools and expenses for travel etc.
 
Interesting scheduling going on for 2020 with Shaker hts leaving the GCC. 5 of the 7 teams left have filled their spot on the schedule. Each team will have to schedule an out of conference game in one of the weeks 4-10

Lakewood is leaving the SWC next year as well. 4 of the 5 scheduled games involve the SWC and GCC playing each other in each of the weeks they lost their league member

4-. Strongsville vs Midview
6. Brunswick vs Olmsted Falls
7. Elyria vs Avon Lake
8. Mentor vs Berea Midpark

The other game is Medina vs Warren Harding in week 9

Have Solon fans heard anything for week 5 and Euclid for week 10 yet? They aren't listed on arbiter
 
MentorGrad2002 said:
Interesting scheduling going on for 2020 with Shaker hts leaving the GCC. 5 of the 7 teams left have filled their spot on the schedule. Each team will have to schedule an out of conference game in one of the weeks 4-10

Lakewood is leaving the SWC next year as well. 4 of the 5 scheduled games involve the SWC and GCC playing each other in each of the weeks they lost their league member

4-. Strongsville vs Midview
6. Brunswick vs Olmsted Falls
7. Elyria vs Avon Lake
8. Mentor vs Berea Midpark

The other game is Medina vs Warren Harding in week 9

Have Solon fans heard anything for week 5 and Euclid for week 10 yet? They aren't listed on arbiter
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I like the GCC/SWC connection. Who knows how long that could last. North Olmsted (5-5 in 2018) and North Ridgeville (4-6) are open in the slots where Solon and Euclid are. Those two would have to get pretty desperate in scheduling if they would want to schedule the Comets or Panthers. I'm sure Solon and Euclid are looking elsewhere. In the Fed, another 7 team league, the teams that are going to be open in Weeks 5 and 9 are Perry and Hoover. Perry plays Louisville and Hoover plays SVSM. I doubt Perry would drop a local draw against Louisville for Euclid or Solon. Hoover might be willing to play Solon, but I bet they are in a two year deal with SVSM for next year.
 
Wow, what a start for the league. I didn't make any predictions on Week 1, but it turned out better than I would have expected. The league went 7-1 this weekend. The most surprising win was definitely Brunswick over Lorain, a team that was ranked #13 on Cleveland.com. Medina over Cleveland Heights (#12 on Cleveland.com) was a good one too.

Mentor 29 St Edward 28 (Thursday)
Solon 46 Hudson 41
Euclid 29 Glenville 24
Medina 21 Cleveland Heights 10
Strongsville 41 Berea 13
Shaker 17 Garfield 10 (2OT)
Brunswick 31 Lorain 7
Midview 36 Elyria 22
 
It's early but this was an eye opening week for sure.

Obviously, Mentor had the biggest win but its Mentor so it wasn't exactly a shocker that they knocked off Ed's, but to avenge the playoff rematch loss to the defending state champ and a preseason nationally ranked team was a huge statement.

Then, Brunswick and Shaker also showed the "bottom" of the league may be way better than anybody expected.

I know Garfield Heights graduated a ton but it was still a team that went 11-1 last year with the loss being to Hoban and they did get a big time transfer in Kentucky RB commit Torrance Davis.

I'm actually not shocked Brunswick beat Lorain, but doing so as convincing as they did was a surprise. The Blue Devils have another shot at turning heads next week against a North Royalton team that I think will be in the Suburban League mix due to their D1 QB.

Medina's "upset" really wasn't an upset. The Bees did what they had to to beat a very good Cleveland Heights team that has a couple big time college prospects. Heights is good but so is Medina.

Still those were the best four wins, IMO.

Euclid over Glenville was expected but I thought it would be by a bigger margin. But even though the Tarblooders lost Torrance Davis, they should be a team to be reckoned with in D3 (probably would've won their region and possibly the state title last year if eligible). So can't knock Euclid for that.

It'll be really interesting to see how Strongsville does next week. I thought this would be a transition year since Strongsville graduated a pretty talented senior class ladt year and has a tiny senior class this year (only about 10 seniors). Berea-Midpark has the hazing stuff lingering so who knows how they will be so it's hard to read much into how good Strongsville will be (though they did beat a Benedictine team that is highly thought of by Cleveland.com last week in a scrimmage.) But they have Hudson next week who gave Solon a scare.

As for Solon, I know last year was an aberration for Hudson, but still thought the Comets would win tonight with relative ease. If Hudson comes out and beats Strongsville handily then that is a quality win. But if Strongsville handles Hudson, maybe some questions as to whether Solon is in the pack instead of the Mentor/Euclid tier.

Finally, Elyria is Elyria. Midview was probably their best chance at a win. Probably now looking at another 0-10 season. Oh well.
 
Hudson looked pretty good against Solon. They lost the turnover battle 5-1 (including giving up an 80 yard int return for a TD) but still almost came away with the win. Solon is really big and they have some skill but something is missing. The game really turned in the middle of the 3rd quarter with Hudson up 27-15. Solon was facing a 3rd and 11 in their own territory and a Hudson defender came in free on a blitz but failed to break down for the sack. The Solon QB was able to avoid the pressure and hit an open WR running a crossing route for a 75 yard TD. Solon did a really nice job in the 2nd half of getting their fast players the ball in space.

My takeaways from the game were Solon probably isn't a real threat to Mentor/Eds/Iggy in the region, despite their talent, and Hudson might be a playoff team in a brutal region 5. I really like Hudson's QB. He is more of an athlete than a true QB but he had 204 yards rushing and he led a really nice hurry-up attack that will confuse defenses this year. Solon's D was big and fast but Hudson had 500 yards of total offense.
 
I was surprised Hudson scored so much. It is pretty rare for Solon to give up 40+ points. Hudson is coming off a losing season, but they are probably going to get back to their usual winning ways.

Euclid got off to a good start before falling behind to Glenville. Still a good win for the Panthers after graduating basically every starter.

I still can’t believe Brunswick beat Lorain, let alone easily. Not sure if that says more about Brunswick or Lorain.
 
Lep2002 said:
Hudson looked pretty good against Solon. They lost the turnover battle 5-1 (including giving up an 80 yard int return for a TD) but still almost came away with the win. Solon is really big and they have some skill but something is missing. The game really turned in the middle of the 3rd quarter with Hudson up 27-15. Solon was facing a 3rd and 11 in their own territory and a Hudson defender came in free on a blitz but failed to break down for the sack. The Solon QB was able to avoid the pressure and hit an open WR running a crossing route for a 75 yard TD. Solon did a really nice job in the 2nd half of getting their fast players the ball in space.

My takeaways from the game were Solon probably isn't a real threat to Mentor/Eds/Iggy in the region, despite their talent, and Hudson might be a playoff team in a brutal region 5. I really like Hudson's QB. He is more of an athlete than a true QB but he had 204 yards rushing and he led a really nice hurry-up attack that will confuse defenses this year. Solon's D was big and fast but Hudson had 500 yards of total offense.
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Watching the game, I think the biggest problem for Solon was simply discipline and penalties. There were too many drives stalled because of flags, a couple of which were horrible calls (head to head contact on #27 when the picture on the front of Cleveland.com literally shows his shoulder lowered and zero helmet). They would’ve scored a lot more if it wasn’t for that. Hudson’s hurry up attack was very effective and kept Solon confused. Let’s see the improvements after week 1. Solon definitely has the raw talent to be a very good team and challenge those top schools but they have to fix a lot of simple stuff.
 
Comets604 said:
Watching the game, I think the biggest problem for Solon was simply discipline and penalties. There were too many drives stalled because of flags, a couple of which were horrible calls (head to head contact on #27 when the picture on the front of Cleveland.com literally shows his shoulder lowered and zero helmet). They would’ve scored a lot more if it wasn’t for that. Hudson’s hurry up attack was very effective and kept Solon confused. Let’s see the improvements after week 1. Solon definitely has the raw talent to be a very good team and challenge those top schools but they have to fix a lot of simple stuff.
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Solon certainly made mistakes as well but in terms of penalties there wasn't a huge difference. Solon had 8 for 85 and Hudson had 6 for 60. Hudson losing the turnover battle 5-1 had more of an impact on the game. If I told you Solon would be +4 in the turnover column, including a 75 yard INT return for a TD, would you really expect the final score to be 46-41? I don't know if that means Hudson is much better than people thought or Solon is not as good but it is surprising.
 
I think it's safe to say that the GCC is finally shaping out how it was envisioned. After two weeks, you can probably make a case for it being the best league in Ohio. I'm assuming Euclid will win (last I saw was up 14 on the Canisius team in the 4th.) That would put the GCC at 14-2.

Still early, but how would you rank them? To me, Mentor is clearly at top but after that, the next five looks like put a name in the hat and pick them. Even the bottom of Shaker and Elyria is looking better than expected (at least Elyria).

I'll take a stab:

1. Mentor: No question deserves to be the no. 1 ranked D1 team in Ohio. They should win the league but it may not be 8-0 just because there is enough landmines where they could slip up one time.


2. Medina: This is where the debate begins. I'll put the Bees here, despite the offense not really clicking because the defense is making up for it. The Cleveland Heights win looks better with them blanking Glenville 17-0 tonight.

3. Brunswick: No way can you ignore what they've done over two teams that were considered top 25 in the area preseason. Both Lorain and North Royalton are probably bottom of the top 25 list but Brunswick blew both out the water.

4. Strongsville: I was wrong on my alma mater. Thought this was a step back year before they would be back in the playoff mix. Think their win over a good Hudson team was slightly more impressive than Solon's in Week 1. The blowout of Berea was probably more impressive than Solon's blowout of Twinsburg.

5. Solon: See above.

6. Euclid: I'll preface this as you can have them no. 2 and get no argument. That's how close it is and Euclid has a track record. This ranking is more how the others above have performed.


7. Shaker: The Garfield Heights win not looking as good seeing how GH only beat Lakewood by 10. But the 35-6 loss to a good Benedictine seems deceiving. I saw it was 14-6 in the 4th with Shaker in Benedictine territory. Looks like it fell apart from there. Overall, they have pulled upsets the last couple years and are capable this year if they catch one of the 2nd tier sleeping.

8. Elyria: imo, this was the story of the week. The Pioneers got a win over a Bedford team that in Week 1 had a win over a Nordonia team that went 9-1 last year. I thought it was gonna be 0-10 again, but now looks like they will at least be competitive and may be in the Shaker tier in being a team that could stun a second GCC team. I'm gonna leave that jury out until I see how they do against Lorain next week.
 
For the second straight week, the GCC goes 7-1. Very strong start for the league. Brunswick's 2-0 start is very surprising. Elyria finally got a win. Strongsville and Medina both are off to good starts. I think reasonably, the league would have probably been predicted to be 10-6 or 11-5 at this point. Mentor beating both Eds/Ignatius, Brunswick over Lorain, Elyria beating anybody, and Shaker over Garfield are among the more surprising wins. This creates better opportunities for 4 GCC teams to make the playoffs.
 
Good competition breeds success. Whatever on bottom feeder Shaker leaving. Hope these other 7 teams play a long time going forward. It will only help all of them improve
 
I hope the westside schools keep ascending. That is why I was excited for the league. Big public schools who play the same way and do well across many sports.
 
I was at the Wadsworth vs Medina highland game in week 1. Highland was pretty awful. Time will tell as the season goes on though as teams can improve gradually
 
Week 3:

Mentor (2-0) vs Clarkson (Canada) Football North (1-1): Should be a pretty comfortable win for Mentor as long as they take care of the football and play decent defense. Football North has several DI guys on their roster, but Mentor has a lot of advantages - namely continuity, depth, and coaching.

Euclid (2-0) @ Canton McKinley (2-0): This is a coin flip game. I think it should be pretty high scoring, but will give Euclid the edge due to the experience at QB to go along with their playmakers.

Solon (2-0) @ Stow (2-0): The winner of this game puts themselves in excellent shape to make the playoffs. Lots of computer points at stake. Solon has lost three of the last four against the Bulldogs, but I predict they win on the road this week.

Medina (2-0) vs Wadsworth (2-0): Last year Medina started off 2-0 before a 5 game losing streak began with a loss to Wadsworth. This time around, it seems like this is a much more even match. A big opportunity for both teams. This could go either way.

Strongsville (2-0) vs Brecksville (1-1): A lot of people counted out Strongsville after they graduated a lot of their starters from last year. But now they are in good position to start 3-0 once again and try to finish middle of the pack in the GCC to make the playoffs.

Brunswick (2-0) vs Rhodes (0-2): One of the biggest surprise teams of the area, Brunswick should easily win this game.

Shaker (1-1) vs Cleveland Heights (2-0): I believe this is the first time these two played football since Shaker left the LEL in 2012. It might be close, but I don't see Shaker winning this one.

Elyria (1-1) @ Lorain (0-2): I predicted Lorain to get 7 or 8 wins and make the playoffs in Region 1. Now they will be scrambling to try and finish with 5 wins. Elyria is improved and Lorain has been disappointing, but I don't think Elyris wins this one.

Anything better than 5-3 for the GCC this week would be really, really good. This is a tough week with a couple games being underdogs (Shaker/Elyria) and a few 50/50 games (Euclid, Solon, and Medina). If Medina, Brunswick, and Strongsville all start 3-0, things in the league will get interesting.
 
Is the Strongsville-Brecksville game going to finish? I haven't seen anything. I checked Twitter and only thing I see is from last night saying "tentatively" to begin at 4 p.m. today.
 
Strongsville/Brecksville did resume at 4:00. Last update I see is 21-13 Strongsville just before halftime.

Medina ended up beating Wadsworth today, 31-28. A huge win for the Bees as I said before.

Shaker got crushed today by Cleveland Heights

The GCC is 4-3 with the Strongsville/Brecksville game being the only one undecided. A must win game for Strongsville.
 
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