LEETONIA - Leetonia’s Selway has the heart of a Bear
Leetonia quarterback/safety Josh Selway
By Tom Williams
He’s beating cancer off the field and beating opponents on it.
LEETONIA — The Leetonia High football team’s 4-0 start is merely a bonus.
Remission of a rare form of cancer that has afflicted quarterback/safety Josh Selway is the top reason for the Bears to celebrate this season.
A year ago as the football season was getting under way, Selway was diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
After months of treatment and recovery, Selway is feeling strong again and he’s proving it on the field. The Bears quarterback has rushed for 815 yards on 93 carries and scored seven touchdowns. (Only Liberty’s Fitzgerald Toussaint has gained more yardage).
“Everything is fine, I’m physically fine,” the 5-foot-11, 170-pound senior said as the team prepared for this week’s home game against Southern (3-1).
Selway also has completed 16 of the 29 passes he’s thrown, producing 190 yards and two more scores. He’s been picked off once. He’s also averaging 34.5 yards per punt.
“He’s definitely a very competitive kid,” Leetonia coach Matt Altomare said. “He has to get checked up every couple of months, but technically he’s in remission. Last year was a very rough year ... [with] chemo and radiation [treatments]. It was a lot to take for a 16-year-old kid.”
A starter at cornerback as a freshman, Selway played every position in the backfield — quarterback, halfback, fullback — during his sophomore season.
“We had a lot of injuries that year,” Altomare said of Selway’s multiple roles.
So a lot of was expected from Selway in his junior season. But that mattered little once a nightmare came to life.
In early summer, a lump on Selway’s neck was surgically removed. Post-operative tests showed cancer, prompting three cycles of chemotherapy treatments that began after the 2007 season began.
While being treated, Selway’s playing was limited to punts, holding on extra points and a few plays on defense.
He eventually was cleared to resume playing quarterback, helping the Bears finish 7-3 to earn a Division VI playoff berth.
Senior tight end Andrew Trummer, Selway’s favorite target, says the quarterback impresses his teammates because he “never lets anything get him down.
“No matter what he’s been through, he’s always wanting to do everything,” Trummer said. “It’s great to have him out here.”
Trummer said Selway’s teammates realized their loss when his treatments continued into winter.
“In basketball season when he wasn’t there, the team, you could tell, just wasn’t all there,” Trummer said.
Once his treatments were completed, Selway felt well enough to play varsity baseball last spring.
Now, his focus is on what could be his final football season.
Selway says his college plans are “still up in the air. I don’t plan on playing sports.”
Among his possible destinations are Ohio State and Youngstown State.
“It will be somewhere in Ohio,” Selway said. “I’m a big Buckeye fan.”
Coaches from smaller college programs have looked at him “with good reason,” Altomare said.
Selway has his family’s support. His dad, Randy, is an assistant coach. Selway said his mother, Cathy, struggled last October whenever he was hit, but added that she’s handling it this season.
Altomare, who became head coach in 2007, said inheriting someone with Selway’s experience “was great. He’s almost like another assistant coach out on the field. He puts kids in the right positions, he knows all 11 positions on offense and what everybody is doing.”
Asked to explain Selway’s gift, Trummer said, “It’s a little of everything — he’s just great all-around.
“He’s quick, he’s really agile, he can throw. Everybody wants to have him on their team.”
Selway and Trummer say the Bears have worked hard to earn their strong start.
“Winning is always fun but at the same time you have to keep yourself down to earth, you have to keep working hard because in any week you can come up short,” Selway said. “You have to keep working hard despite the success.”
Wins over Lisbon, Columbiana, Mathews and Sebring have the Bears in the No. 6 spot in this week’s computer playoff ratings for Region 21.
Trummer said the Bears “have had a lot of teams in the past that probably should have [won their first four].
“Everybody underestimated us this year, saying we weren’t supposed to do that great, that we were missing half of our line and our whole backfield besides Selway,” Trummer said.
Leetonia is tied for first place in the Inter Tri-County League Tier Two standings with McDonald (Region 21’s number three), Western Reserve (number four) and Lowellville.
To return to the playoffs, the Bears probably will need a win over Western Reserve (Week 8) or McDonald (Week 9).
So far, the highlight for the Bears was Week 2’s 19-6 win over Columbiana, another Region 21 team (number seven this week).
In that game, Selway rushed for touchdowns covering 34, 1 and 45 yards.
Although they are no longer league rivals (the Clippers are in the ITCL Tier One), the former Tri-County League teams take this annual showdown seriously.
Before the game, Selway said he told his teammates “to just appreciate [the moment]. Sometimes you have to remind yourself how lucky we all are to play.
“I’ve been there and it sucks not being able to go out there. Every moment, every play of the game, you have to remember how lucky you are.”
williams@vindy.com
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