On the Mark: Waid leads Girard into state semifinal

By Greg Gulas

sports@vindy.com

GIRARD

The greatest motivator in life and sports is when you are told that you cannot do something.

After 673 completions, 11,029 passing yards, 113 touchdowns, a meager 18 interceptions and a quarterback rating of 120.228 during his four years under center, Girard High quarterback Mark Waid has more than proven that he can, in fact, do what the naysayers said he couldn’t do and that is play quarterback for the Indians.

Waid and 17 other seniors will lead the Indians (12-1) into Saturday night’s Division IV state semifinal against Newark Licking Valley (10-3), poised for action and looking to advance to yet another Monday practice session.

For Waid, it has been four years of learning, growing and maturing as the leader of the Indians’ offense, leading them to uncharted territory and just a win away from playing for the school’s first ever state championship.

“The thing I learned most after my freshman season is that I can play at this level,” Waid said, as he watched his team struggle to a 2-8 overall mark in 2015. “I learned that at Girard, it’s not about this or that or about this guy or that guy. It’s a true family atmosphere.

“From the bottom of my heart — and I really mean this — this is something special. You don’t see many area programs with the type of family atmosphere that we have here. I count on everyone one of my brothers and they count on me. We hold each other accountable and it’s just a very special place to be right now.”

Head coach Pat Pearson, who has guided the Indians to a 22-3 mark the last two seasons, is in his fifth year and ninth overall with the program. He served as defensive coordinator for four years prior to becoming head coach. He calls this senior class a very special group.

“As freshmen, 12 players lettered and eight started at some point during the season,” Pearson said. “As sophomores they went 3-7, losing four games by a touchdown or less, which brought them together even more.

“The strength of that unit is how close they have become. They’re unselfish and it’s special to be around kids like that.”

He called Waid, who has committed to Fordham University, one of the most unselfish players he has coached.

“Mark is an unselfish superstar,” Pearson said. “He’s the quarterback at Girard, has put together great statistics, is a winner and leader yet no one has worked harder than he has. The thing that makes him so special is that as good as he is on the field, that’s how good he is off the field.”

Waid’s classmate Terrance Davis, a wide receiver offensively and cornerback on defense, is a four-year starter who was also part of the program’s growing pains as a freshman and sophomore.

He said his classmate is something special for a variety of reasons.

“Mark is one talented kid. Honestly, in my eyes he’s the best quarterback around and probably the best quarterback in Girard football history,” Davis stated. “I absolutely love him. He makes plays, has an excellent work ethic and everything about him is perfect.”

Waid, who has also run for 3,828 yards on 675 carries (5.67 per carry) and 61 touchdowns, has rushed for 1,580 yards (on 189 carries, an average of 8.4 yards per carry) and 22 scores this season alone.

He’s accounted for 14,857 total yards (330.2 per game) since taking his first snap four seasons ago, also accounting for 174 touchdowns or an average of 3.7 touchdowns.

Current athletic director and former Indians head coach Nick Cochran knows something about coaching hard-nosed Indians quarterbacks. Cochran was a celebrated quarterback at Girard himself and led Youngstown State to the national championship game in 1992.

“Randy Mason and Nick Cardiero were the smartest quarterbacks that I coached while Danny Graziano was the best runner,” Cochran said. “Bobby Ovesny and Jason Collins were the best throwers and Matt Zuppo the toughest. Mark is all of them combined and then some. I haven’t seen a purer passer and he has my endorsement as one of the very best, if not the best, to ever bark signals under center for Girard High School.

“I think he took to heart the fact that he was told back in sixth and seventh grade that he wasn’t a quarterback. Now, he’s a student of the game. When coaches draw things on the board, he’s already seen it all. You simply cannot fool him.

“He knows what to do in any given situation and he has us clicking at the right time, especially these last seven or eight games of the season. Mark is a big part of our success, but he has his teammates following his lead because they saw how hard he worked in the off-season, then emulated him. With an offense like ours, everyone is enjoying this run right now.”

The Indians (12-1) are making the their ninth ever play-off appearance and with a 3-0 mark this post season, are now 11-8 all-time in 19 games played.

Girard is anything but a one-dimensional team for in addition to 3,814 passing yards accrued, they’ve racked up 2,590 rushing yards as well with Morgan Clardy’s 696 yards (on 92 carries) and 13 touchdowns second only to Waid’s leading numbers.

Senior Jack DelGarbino, another four-year starter on both the offensive and defensive line, said their loss to Hubbard back in week No. 2 (48-32 on the road) served as a wake-up call.

“That loss told us that we need to get ourselves up and keep moving forward,” DelGarbino added. “We realized that we weren’t playing like we should. We expected everything to be handed to us and that’s simply not the case, so we started working harder and began playing as a unit.”

He described the Indians’ offensive line as a focused group.

“Defensively, we have a lot of guys that like to play fast and hit people while our offensive line is a solid group of guys that play together, keep our heads down and just do what we need to do,” he stated. “Mark is a fantastic quarterback and you know that he is going to give you everything he’s got on every play. He does whatever he can to get yards, move the offense and get us a touchdown.”

Waid loves to spread the ball around and the proof is that five Indians receivers have caught at least 27 passes this season.

Aiden Warga, another four-year starter, leads the team with 61 catches (870 yards, seven TD’s), Nick Malito has 45 grabs for a team-leading 13 touchdowns and 23.1 yards per catch, Davis has caught 36 passes (690 yards) and 10 touchdowns, Jimmy Jones is the recipient of 30 balls thrown his way for 515 yards and six scores while Clardy has caught 27 aerials for 475 yards and two scores.

Each player averages over 14.3 yards per reception with Malito’s 23.1 average tops each time he touches the ball.

“The first two years was getting the freshmen and sophomores experience, getting us out on the field and experience under the lights,” Warga said. “That was crucial to how we are now in our comfort level and preparation. We have a defense that adds tons of new stuff every week, just to be able to stop every play opponents throw at us.

“It’s all about communication. We’ve worked hard with our offense and defensively, and probably know an opponents’ offense better than they know their offense. We’ve been studying Licking Valley, have 13 games on them and I guarantee you every defensive player has been studying them all night long.

“As long as we play Girard football, let Marky do his thing and pick up blocks, then we should be all right.”