Blitz Insider

Earlier this week, I was reading our Coaches Q&A with Western Reserve’s Andy Hake when something occurred to me.

“Andy?” I thought. “I thought his name was Anthony.”

I looked at my cell phone. Anthony.

Then I looked at our preseason Blitz section. Anthony.

Then I looked at our preseason Western Reserve questionnaire. Andrew.

Then I realized I’m an idiot.

So, I sent Hake a text apologizing and asking why he hadn’t corrected me.

“I thought it was funny,” he wrote. “It’s cool. You got a lot of names to remember.”

I mention this story not to confirm my idiocy — it’s been well-documented — but because I’m about to spend a few paragraphs patting myself on the back for my terrific preseason predictions and I want to remind all our readers who they’re dealing with here.

But first, a couple of regular season awards.

Player of the year

Braylon Heard, Mooney.

He’s the best player on the best team, which is as good a reason as any to pick him. But that’s not the only reason.

I covered four of Mooney’s games, and in each one he made at least one game-changing play, either at running back or at cornerback.

Plus, he passes the big-time player test (he’s already committed to West Virginia) and the eyeball test (even if you know nothing about football, he’s the type of player that pops out at you).

My runner up is Crestview QB Carter Hill, who was the driving force behind the ITCL Tier One champs. Hill isn’t a major Division I prospect, but I tend to think of this more as a most valuable player award. And few players were more valuable to their teams this season than Hill.

Coach of the year

When Mike Kopachy left behind a playoff-ready Western Reserve team last year to take over an 0-10 Salem team, I thought he was nuts.

But he saw something no one else did, and led the Quakers to an 8-2 season and the first playoff appearance in school history. Their two losses were to a 10-0 Girard team and a 9-1 Hubbard team.

Kopachy gets the nod.

Runner-up: Jeff Bayuk, Campbell. The Red Devils went 7-3 — their first winning record since 2003 — and made the playoffs for the first time since 1999.

Also, this year’s win total equals the combined number of wins from 2004-08. Three of those wins came last year under Bayuk.

Clearly, he’s doing something right in Soup City.

Preseason predictions

In my first Insider column on Aug. 28, I predicted playoff and league championship teams.

With the playoffs, I limited myself to 15 teams (turns out, we had 17). With league titles, I limited myself to one team per conference.

Let’s start with the playoffs.

Prediction: Warren Harding (I), Howland (II), Canfield (II), Mooney (III), Hubbard (III), Poland (III), Girard (IV), Ursuline (V), Mineral Ridge (VI), Crestview (VI), McDonald (VI), Warren JFK (VI), Western Reserve (VI), Columbiana (VI), Leetonia (VI).

Result: 12 out of 15 (80 percent). Pretty darn good.

Two of my misses were Warren Harding (which finished 10th in its region) and Mineral Ridge (ninth). I failed to include Boardman, Salem, Lakeview, Campbell and East Palestine. (And anyone who said he — or she — predicted Salem or Campbell to make the playoffs is either a super fan or a liar.) (Or both.)

I also predicted a state championship for Mooney, which isn’t looking too bad right now. I think Ursuline has to be the favorite in Div. V, too.

League predictions: Hoover (Federal League), Poland (AAC Red), Hubbard (AAC White), Girard (AAC Blue), Columbiana (ITCL Tier One) and McDonald (ITCL Tier Two).

Result: Four out of six correct (Hubbard, Girard and McDonald won their leagues outright, while Poland shared it with Canfield and Howland). The other two — Columbiana and North Canton Hoover — finished second in their leagues.

Not too shabby.

Power poll

Big schools (Division I-III): 1. Mooney, 2. Boardman, 3. Canfield, 4. Poland, 5. Howland. Honorable mention: Hubbard.

Small schools (Division IV-VI): 1. Ursuline, 2. Girard, 3. Crestview, 4. McDonald, 5. Lakeview. Honorable mention: Warren JFK, Columbiana.

Other notes

UThe Valley has 17 area teams in the playoffs, a record.

The previous-high was 15, done in both 2002 and 2007. The lowest since the OHSAA expanded to six divisions in 1999 was 10, which happened in 2003.

The average is 13.

UEight of the 16 All-American Conference teams made the postseason. Impressive.

The conference isn’t perfect, but it came pretty close this year.

As longtime Campbell fan Scooter Trgovac told me, “Why would anyone want to leave this league?”

UHere’s the breakdown of the area’s other major leagues:

Federal League (Boardman, Canton McKinley, Canton GlenOak and North Canton Hoover), ITCL Tier One (Crestview, East Palestine and Columbiana) and ITCL Tier Two (McDonald and Western Reserve).

Mooney, Ursuline and Warren JFK are independent.

UTwo of my pet peeves are marching-band uniforms and marching bands that dance, but I have to give credit to Poland’s band, which impressed me last week with its rhythm.

(I’d give the Bulldogs credit for sounding good, too, but then they always sound good.)

As for the uniforms, eh. I still maintain there is no reason to force teenagers to wear those ridiculous feathers above their hats.

X Joe Scalzo covers high school football for The Vindicator. Write him at scalzo@vindy.com.