Warren G. Harding 2024

Worm, I thought at first maybe the Flowers kid might be related to Shawn Flowers who was a few years ahead of me at Turner and Reserve, but then I saw he came over from Mooney so I wasn’t so sure. Any relation? Shawn was a good player growing up, but trouble has always found him no matter where he goes.
 
Steel Valley FB said:
Worm, I thought at first maybe the Flowers kid might be related to Shawn Flowers who was a few years ahead of me at Turner and Reserve, but then I saw he came over from Mooney so I wasn’t so sure. Any relation? Shawn was a good player growing up, but trouble has always found him no matter where he goes.
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Shawn is his great uncle (grandfather’s brother).
 
Just curious, speaking of Flowers from Turner back in the day, was he the Jr. high version of Myron Elzy (size wise)? I remember we played Turner and they had a huge back named Flowers that was insanely hard to tackle.
 
NEOne said:
Just curious, speaking of Flowers from Turner back in the day, was he the Jr. high version of Myron Elzy (size wise)? I remember we played Turner and they had a huge back named Flowers that was insanely hard to tackle.
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That was Shawn Flowers. Yes, he was a beast in Jr High. He’d have been three years ahead of me, but my neighbor Mike Hoover (RIP) played with him and I used to watch their games after school because my dad worked at Turner, though he was no longer an assistant coach by then. I remember Shawn used to shake tacklers off just by snap-twisting his shoulders lol. My dad coached at East with Ralph Henry before he moved to Turner. Dave Ross was the coach at Turner back then. Funny, I grew up with Myron Elzy who you mentioned. I remember I was supposed to fight him once after school in sixth grade. He was in third grade, but he had 50+ lbs on me even being three years behind me lol.

Turner had another good player then in Jay Spade, who is also no longer with us. I’m sure you knew him from Harding, based on your age.
 
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Steel Valley FB said:
That was Shawn Flowers. Yes, he was a beast in Jr High. He’d have been three years ahead of me, but my neighbor Mike Hoover (RIP) played with him and I used to watch their games after school because my dad worked at Turner, though he was no longer an assistant coach by then. I remember Shawn used to shake tacklers off just by snap-twisting his shoulders lol. My dad coached at East with Ralph Henry before he moved to Turner. Dave Ross was the coach at Turner back then. Funny, I grew up with Myron Elzy who you mentioned. I remember I was supposed to fight him once after school in sixth grade. He was in third grade, but he had 50+ lbs on me even being three years behind me lol.

Turner had another good player then in Jay Spade, who is also no longer with us. I’m sure you knew him from Harding, based on your age.
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Man, Warren had some bad@$% kids in Jr. High back then. It all transformed over to Harding and Reserve which in my opinion was the best Rivalry in all of high school football in the state of Ohio when they were both huge. Remember I said IMO. Crazy athletic talent everywhere. Still there but the days of old were awesome. Since we're on the topic of Harding, I have to say that of all the BA's that played in Warren my down right number one has to be Mr. O. Provitt. Now I know there are so many to name and deserve the title, but imo he was something so special that even the best that made it to college teams and the league would probably agree that he was a man amongst boys.
 
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We are officially 30 days away from Warren G. Harding’s 2024 football season opener against Canton McKinley!

Today’s “legend of the day” is Mario Manningham, who wore the now-retired #30 during his sophomore season in 2002. He’s shown here scoring his 1st career touchdown on a 68-yard punt return vs. Massillon. He finished the USA Today’s “National Game of the Week” with 4 catches for 67 yards & 4 total TDs (punt return, kickoff return, 2 receiving) in the Raiders’ dramatic 31-27 victory over the Tigers.

Today, Manningham is Harding’s all-time leader in catches (102), receiving yards (1,895), and receiving TDs (24). Nearly two decades after his three-year college football career at the University of Michigan (2005-07), he still ranks 4th in career TD catches (27), 5th in career receiving yards (2,310), and 12th in career catches (137) as a Wolverine.

In 2007, Manningham scored the longest offensive TD in Michigan history on a 97-yard TD pass from the late Ryan Mallett against Wisconsin. That same year, he also set their all-time record for the most consecutive games w/ 100+ receiving (6).

In 2008, the New York Giants selected Manningham with the 95th pick of the NFL Draft. On February 5, 2012, he made a clutch 38-yard catch in the 4th quarter of Super Bowl XLVI that helped propel the Giants to a 21-17 victory over the New England Patriots. He finished the game with 5 catches for 75 yards.

On January 2, 2011, Manningham also scored the 2nd longest offensive TD in Giants’ history on a 92-yard pass from quarterback Eli Manning against the Washington Redskins.

In six total NFL seasons, Manningham hauled in 223 catches for 3,038 yards & 22 touchdowns.
 
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Lefthook37 said:
Your first game will be not easy, Mckinley won there 20 team 7 on 7 tournament 7/13 there were some good teams there , some
from out of state Good luck!!
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It definitely won’t be. I really liked the talent that McKinley already had coming back, but they loaded up on transfers. Should be fun!
 
Is the buchtel game going to be a daytime game? Blows my mind they won’t play Saturday night somewhere if that’s the case still
 
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We are officially 29 days away from Warren G. Harding’s 2024 football season opener against Canton McKinley!

Today’s “legend of the day” is the late Davion Rogers, who wore the #29 during his playing days as a Raider. At 6-foot-6, 205 pounds, his height was just one of the several attributes that he brought to the gridiron. His size, speed, and keen nose for the football made him an attractive 3-star prospect at outside linebacker according to ESPN, Rivals, and Scout.com (now known as 247 Sports).

Shortly after his first season of varsity football in 2008, Rogers received his first scholarship offer from Michigan State on February 19, 2009. By the end of that month, he also collected offers from West Virginia and Toledo. Originally, he verbally committed to the Mountaineers of WVU on April 18, 2009. However, a stellar senior football season the following fall only poured gasoline onto the fire that was his recruitment. So much so, on Sunday, January 17, 2010, he switched his verbal to the University of Michigan as then-head coach Rich Rodriguez was able to sell him on their proud tradition.

Of course, that "tradition" included a long history of having athletes from Warren. In the 2000's alone, Harding alumni Carl Diggs ('99 alum), Prescott Burgess ('03 alum), and Mario Manningham ('05 alum) all represented the maize & blue during the century-opening decade. However, after one year in Ann Arbor, Rogers would transfer to Youngstown State University. There, he was one of five former Raiders on the roster as Demond Hymes, Jimmy May, Ian Folmar II, and the late Santiago Mason were all battling for playing time as Penguins. That season, Rogers started in 10 of his 11 games while being credited with 45 tackles.

Shortly after his college football career, Rogers returned home to Warren and got into coaching. In fact, many of today's athletes in the school system developed their skillsets under his watch a decade ago when he coached for the Little Raiders. While he was incapable of passing along his God-given height onto his young athletes, what he did do was help them fuel their passions for the game that he once excelled at.

Sadly, Rogers took his last breath on October 31, 2023. However, a huge part of his legacy of love is the knowledge and toughness that he instilled in the young ones who looked up to him.

R.I.P. my guy.
 
Worm02 said:
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We are officially 29 days away from Warren G. Harding’s 2024 football season opener against Canton McKinley!

Today’s “legend of the day” is the late Davion Rogers, who wore the #29 during his playing days as a Raider. At 6-foot-6, 205 pounds, his height was just one of the several attributes that he brought to the gridiron. His size, speed, and keen nose for the football made him an attractive 3-star prospect at outside linebacker according to ESPN, Rivals, and Scout.com (now known as 247 Sports).

Shortly after his first season of varsity football in 2008, Rogers received his first scholarship offer from Michigan State on February 19, 2009. By the end of that month, he also collected offers from West Virginia and Toledo. Originally, he verbally committed to the Mountaineers of WVU on April 18, 2009. However, a stellar senior football season the following fall only poured gasoline onto the fire that was his recruitment. So much so, on Sunday, January 17, 2010, he switched his verbal to the University of Michigan as then-head coach Rich Rodriguez was able to sell him on their proud tradition.

Of course, that "tradition" included a long history of having athletes from Warren. In the 2000's alone, Harding alumni Carl Diggs ('99 alum), Prescott Burgess ('03 alum), and Mario Manningham ('05 alum) all represented the maize & blue during the century-opening decade. However, after one year in Ann Arbor, Rogers would transfer to Youngstown State University. There, he was one of five former Raiders on the roster as Demond Hymes, Jimmy May, Ian Folmar II, and the late Santiago Mason were all battling for playing time as Penguins. That season, Rogers started in 10 of his 11 games while being credited with 45 tackles.

Shortly after his college football career, Rogers returned home to Warren and got into coaching. In fact, many of today's athletes in the school system developed their skillsets under his watch a decade ago when he coached for the Little Raiders. While he was incapable of passing along his God-given height onto his young athletes, what he did do was help them fuel their passions for the game that he once excelled at.

Sadly, Rogers took his last breath on October 31, 2023. However, a huge part of his legacy of love is the knowledge and toughness that he instilled in the young ones who looked up to him.

R.I.P. my guy.
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Harding has had some absolute 330 legends
 
We have lights but they are weak IMO.
All are games are Friday night except McKinley is a Thursday night.
 
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We are officially 28 days away from Warren G. Harding’s 2024 football season opener against Canton McKinley!

Today’s “legend of the day” is Mandes "Omar" Provitt, who wore #28 during his playing days as a Raider. Over three decades after he roamed the halls at 860 Elm Rd. in Warren, his name remains heavily mentioned in "barber shop conversations" regarding the greatest athletes in Harding history. While I certainly can't speak for them, I'd think that it's safe to assume that representatives of Cincinnati Princeton, who are at least 50 years of age, would vouch for Omar as he absolutely torched them in the 1990 OHSAA Division I state championship game.

Thirty-four years is an awful long time to draw back memories, but all one would have to do is glance at the OHSAA record books. To this day, quarterback Chris Ensign's 84-yard touchdown pass to Omar remains the longest score via airmail in Division I state championship game history. What's even crazier is that it's highly debatable that it wasn't even his most impressive score of the quarter, let alone the game, as the two later connected on a 55-yard touchdown pass with Omar splitting double coverage as he was hauling it in. In any case, he finished the game with five catches for 187 yards and the pair of second quarter scores as Harding held off the Vikings 28-21 to win their first playoff title since the 1974 season.

For his career, Omar hauled in 84 catches for 1,578 yards (both rank 2nd in school history) and 15 touchdowns (ranks 3rd in school history). As impressive as those stat lines are, he holds a distinction that nobody else in Harding history does as he scored seven non-offensive touchdowns in his career. Those include returns of two kickoffs (98 & 89 yards), four punts (76, 62, 58, & 44 yards), and one interception (48 yards). That doesn't even take into account his wilingness to absolutely lay opposing players out with big hits.

His 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Niles in 1990 is tied for the longest score in Harding history. Six years prior in 1984, Willie Perez scored on a 98-yard touchdown run against Youngstown Ursuline.

Today, Omar has two sons on Harding's varsity football team in Mandes Jr. and Mi'king Adair (who has chosen to wear the #28 like his father did back in the day) (who has chosen to wear the #28 like his father did back in the day) and another son, Mardes “Cash” Provitt, on the freshmen team. With the storied legacy that the entire Provitt family has in Warren athletics, it's an exciting to know that more chapters are upon us.
 
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We are officially 27 days away from Warren G. Harding’s 2024 football season opener against Canton McKinley!

Today’s “legend of the day” is Richard Davis, who wore #27 during his playing days as a Raider.

In 2001, Harding compiled a then-school record 3,484 rushing yards in 13 total games (recently eclipsed by the 2016 squad's 3,696 rushing yards). A huge chunk of that was the then-school record 2,249 rushing yards by Maurice Clarett (edged by Lynn Bowden's 2,277 rushing yards in 2016), who also ran for 30 touchdowns. While it was the furthest thing from anybody's mind during the Raiders' often-dominant '01 campaign, it was going to be an awful lot of production to replace the following season.

That said, the very first offensive play of the post-Clarett era on August 23, 2002 against Cleveland South was a handoff to Davis, who took it down the right side of the field for a 62-yard touchdown. He finished the contest with four carries for 88 yards and two touchdowns in the Raiders' 53-8 grounding of the Flyers. It was more of the same the following week as he finished with 91 rushing yards and a score in Harding's 35-0 handling of Cleveland JFK, but his first big matchup in week 3 is what really set the tone for the rest of his career.

The first ever game in Strongsville High School's Pat Catan Stadium was on September 6, 2002. The Mustangs entered that game far from empty handed themselves as they were armed with Miami of Ohio commit Brandon Murphy. To this day, he ranks eighth in OHSAA history with 6,982 rushing yards and even more to his credit, he'd run for 101 yards and score two total touchdowns (one receiving) vs. Harding. However, Davis was ready for the challenge as he finished the night with 17 carries for 162 rushing yards and what would be a career-long 86-yard touchdown run in Harding's thrilling 28-21 road victory. He'd go on to finish his junior season with 1,448 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns on 219 carries as the Raiders finished the season as the Division I state runner-up.

For his career, Davis finished with 377 carries for 2,515 yards (ranks 6th in school history) and 39 touchdowns (ranks 4th in school history). The photo is from the signature performance of his career in the Raiders' 2003 first round playoff game against Solon when he rushed for 194 yards and three touchdowns on just 10 carries in a 49-7 victory.

Collectively, Harding's class of 2004 has the most football victories in school history as they compiled a three-year varsity record of 36-4.

Upon graduation, Davis furthered his academic and athletic career at the University of Toledo. In 2005, he ranked 8th in the nation with an averaged of 22.9 yards per kickoff return and for his career, his average of 22.2 yards per kickoff return ranks 5th in Rockets' history.

For the past three years, Davis has served as the head track & field coach at Toledo Scott High School. On June 4, 2024, they hired him to double up as their head football coach.
 
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We are officially 26 days away from Warren G. Harding’s 2024 football season opener against Canton McKinley!

Today’s “legend of the day” is Thomas "Teco" Powell, who wore #26 during his playing days as a Raider.

Ladies and gentlemen, and especially to those who are heavily involved in "barber shop discussions" regarding the greatest athletes in Warren history, we need to have an emergency round table discussion as to why Teco, a 1991 alum of Harding, isn't mentioned more among the GOATs. On my end, the 7-year old version of myself was too busy playing Hide & Seek, Duck Duck Goose, and games on the original Nintendo Entertainment System to have this given this topic much thought in the early 90's. Before you ask, that doesn't apply to Omar Provitt, who I've known literally all of my life due to our days of being at The Delaney Center on Burton Street every summer in the old days.

In any event, I openly apologize for what was over 20+ years worth of negligence to the point that both film and statistics make clear as day... Teco is one of the greatest athletes to ever grace the football field in Warren.

As a senior on the state championship winning Harding Raiders in 1990, I'm not sure that it was phyically possible for him to have contributed any more than he did as he led the team in catches (32) and touchdown catches (10) while finishing second in receiving yards (684) and total touchdowns (13). Oh, I should mention that he also set a single-season school record with 10 interceptions, which still stands to this day.

Mind you, that was just in one season at Harding as Teco spent the previous three years at Warren Western Reserve. I don't even have his numbers from those years, but it's a safe assumption that if I did, his case for the greatest ever would be much stronger. Hypothetically speaking, while we'll never truly know how it would've turned out, but it's been argued that if Reserve would've stayed open (as a high school) through the 1990-91 school year, they still would've won the '90 Division I state championship with the talent that they would've had coming back.

That's a debate for another day, but ultimately, the consolidation with Harding, who finished with a record of 3-5 in 1989, led to the school winning eleven more games the following year during their 14-0 state championship run with Teco being one of the main enforcers.

They may never retire the #26 at Harding, but it'd be a crime if all of Warren, both young & old, doesn't recognize as Teco as one of the greatest of all time. On my end, that will never happen again.
 
Worm02 said:
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We are officially 26 days away from Warren G. Harding’s 2024 football season opener against Canton McKinley!

Today’s “legend of the day” is Thomas "Teco" Powell, who wore #26 during his playing days as a Raider.

Ladies and gentlemen, and especially to those who are heavily involved in "barber shop discussions" regarding the greatest athletes in Warren history, we need to have an emergency round table discussion as to why Teco, a 1991 alum of Harding, isn't mentioned more among the GOATs. On my end, the 7-year old version of myself was too busy playing Hide & Seek, Duck Duck Goose, and games on the original Nintendo Entertainment System to have this given this topic much thought in the early 90's. Before you ask, that doesn't apply to Omar Provitt, who I've known literally all of my life due to our days of being at The Delaney Center on Burton Street every summer in the old days.

In any event, I openly apologize for what was over 20+ years worth of negligence to the point that both film and statistics make clear as day... Teco is one of the greatest athletes to ever grace the football field in Warren.

As a senior on the state championship winning Harding Raiders in 1990, I'm not sure that it was phyically possible for him to have contributed any more than he did as he led the team in catches (32) and touchdown catches (10) while finishing second in receiving yards (684) and total touchdowns (13). Oh, I should mention that he also set a single-season school record with 10 interceptions, which still stands to this day.

Mind you, that was just in one season at Harding as Teco spent the previous three years at Warren Western Reserve. I don't even have his numbers from those years, but it's a safe assumption that if I did, his case for the greatest ever would be much stronger. Hypothetically speaking, while we'll never truly know how it would've turned out, but it's been argued that if Reserve would've stayed open (as a high school) through the 1990-91 school year, they still would've won the '90 Division I state championship with the talent that they would've had coming back.

That's a debate for another day, but ultimately, the consolidation with Harding, who finished with a record of 3-5 in 1989, led to the school winning eleven more games the following year during their 14-0 state championship run with Teco being one of the main enforcers.

They may never retire the #26 at Harding, but it'd be a crime if all of Warren, both young & old, doesn't recognize as Teco as one of the greatest of all time. On my end, that will never happen again.
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Worm,

Mr. Powell did not play at Reserve until after the Raiders left the SVC so I never saw any official numbers for him but I did see him play at WR a few times. The last time was the last game Reserve ever played, the 1989 playoff game against defending D1 state champion Cleveland St. Ignatius at Finnie Stadium in Berea. The Wildcats came into the game on a 25-game winning streak. Reserve missed 2 games due to a teacher's strike I think it was so they were 8-0.

FB Myron Elzy did not play for the Raiders due to injury and that was a big loss, literally and figuratively, as that dude was a LOAD! The Raiders were down 9-0 until QB Jermaine Richardson hit Mr. Powell with about a 60-65 yard TD to make in 9-7 at halftime. The Raiders lost starting TB Hank Powell not long after halftime so their entire offense then was pretty much Mr. Richardson. Trent Zenkewicz and company had him running for his life the rest of the game. The Raiders D was knocking Ignatius' QB Joe PIckens around pretty good also, he took a beating. It was a very physical game. Reserve played them tough but Ignatius added another TD and beat the Raiders, 16-7 and went on to win their 2nd straight D1 title. It turned out that Mr. Powell scored the last points in the football history of WWR with that TD catch from Mr. Richardson.
 
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We are officially 25 days away from Warren G. Harding’s 2024 football season opener against Canton McKinley!

Today’s “legend of the day” is Prescott Burgess, who wore #25 in the 2003 U.S. Army All American Bowl. Let's press "Rewind" and discuss how he got there...

At 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, Burgess was a monstrous 3-year starter at strong safety. In his junior season of 2001, he played a huge role for a 1st string defense that didn't get scored on until week 6 vs. Austintown Fitch, which still resulted in a 21-13 road victory for the Raiders. Besides making numerous tackles, his stat line for the season also included three fumble recoveries, two interceptions and one sack, which led to two defensive touchdowns. As a result, he was one of six defensive backs statewide that were named OHSAA Division I 1st TeamAll-Ohio selections.

While Burgess' senior season of 2002 was plagued by injuries that caused him to miss five games, he finished Harding's Division I state runner-up campaign with 52 tackles (22 solo), six pass deflections, one sack, one fumble recovery, and a blocked punt. Collective, Harding's class of 2003 finished with a three-year varsity football record of 32-6. That included a record of 20-0 at Mollenkopf Stadium.

Nationwide, college scouts and recruiting services was more than convinced that he was worth the hype as he received the following national rankings...

-Rivals.com
...#1 Overall Prospect in Ohio
...#1 Strong Safety Prospect in the Nation
...#6 Overall Prospect in the Nation

-Scout.com (now known as 247 Sports)...
...#1 Overall Prospect in Ohio
...#1 Strong Safety Prospect in the Nation
...#5 Overall Prospect in the Nation

On Sunday, January 6, 2003, Burgess showed the world why he was so highly thought of as he started for the East All-Stars in the U.S. Army All American Bowl. At the 0:54 of the first quarter, he intercepted a pass from then-future NFL quarterback Kyle Wright at the East's 1-yard line. With 4:17 remaining in the second quarter, Burgess made a live announcement that he was verbally committing to the University of Michigan. Other notable schools in contention included Ohio State, Florida, Notre Dame, Tennessee, etc. The East would go on to dominate the West by the score of 47-3.

In 35 games played as an outside linebacker at Michigan from 2003 thru 2006, Burgess recorded 129 tackles (80 solo), 10.5 tackles for a loss, 4 sacks, 4 interceptions, and his 32-yard interception return for a touchdown on the second play of their 2006 matchup against Notre Dame, who came into the matchup ranked #2 in the country. Michigan won the contest 47-21.

In 2007, the Baltimore Ravens selected Burgess with the 207th pick of the NFL Draft. He'd go on to spend five seasons in the NFL.

 
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Harding/Reserve had so many greats. Worm I love your bio's on these great athletes. I just hope and pray Matty Rich can keep it going. If anyone can, he's the one. Keep em coming Worm.
 
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