By KEVIN CONNELLY

kconnelly@vindy.com

Two years ago, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary football coach Dan Boarman called Hubbard a bunch of “young pups.”

Prior to last year’s Division III regional final win over the Eagles, he saw a “mature, tough, hard-nosed football team.”

Reasonable progression should lead to a pretty good idea of what the Irish’s eighth-year head coach had to say about the state’s top-ranked team this season.

“Hubbard’s the best team we’ve played all year,” Boarman said on Wednesday. “Skill across the board and D-I talent on the field.

“We’re going to be in for a battle, because they’re a very good football team.”

Playing well into November and December has become somewhat of an expectation at the Akron school over the years. Under Boarman, SV-SM has missed the playoffs only once (2008) and are winners of the last two state championships in Division III.

A school best-known for its affiliation with basketball royalty LeBron James, a 2003 graduate, has been producing its best athletes on the football field lately. The Irish sent last year’s Mr. Football, Dante Booker, to Ohio State, where he was joined by the district’s Division III offensive player of the year, Parris Campbell.

The good news for the Eagles is those two won’t be on the field Friday night in Ravenna. The bad news is the Irish don’t rebuild — they reload.

“I mean, we lost a lot of great players,” Boarman said. “We’re not the same team we’ve been in the past, but we’re playing well right now.”

A lot of that has to do with the culture Boarman’s built in Akron. Players like Vince Lockett, a senior running back who’s rushed for 1,200 yards and 14 touchdowns this season, have been willing to take a backseat to upperclassmen until it’s their time.

While the Irish offense is built through their running game, junior quarterback Dom Davis is a reliable passer if called upon.

“Dom Davis and Vince Lockett have been our leaders,” Boarman said. “They’ve been two guys who have really stepped up for us.

“Defensively, we’ve just been pretty solid all the way around.”

The names most-often called are senior linebacker Patrick Oliverio, who has 88.5 tackles to go along with 3.5 sacks and two interceptions, and senior lineman Dre’k Brumley, a disruptive pass rusher who has 4.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss.

“Yeah, they’ve been real solid for us,” Boarman said.

Early losses to Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit and Cardinal Mooney can be attributed to learning about life without the two studs now in Columbus, among others.

“We’re a young football tam,” Boarman said. “We’re playing five sophomores, so any time you do that it’s going to be a learning process.

“We’re trying to develop kids here.”

SV-SM is a team that’s had Hubbard’s number in recent years and won’t be intimidated by the Eagles’ talent. In fact, history tells us it may be quite the opposite.