LUCAS — Nobody ever said winning a regional championship would be easy.
Nor should it be, but Lucas is ready to take another swing at it.
The second-seeded Cubs (10-2) will take on top-seed Cuyahoga Heights (10-1) for the Division VII, Region 25 crown at 7 p.m. Saturday at Canal Fulton Northwest High School.
The Cubs, who reached regional finals in 2015 and again last year only to come up short, will have to slay a small-school giant to reach the Final Four for the first time in program history. Cuyahoga Heights is making its 22nd playoff appearance and has won three straight regional titles. Cuyahoga Heights was the Division VI state runner-up in 2016 and the Division VII state runner-up in 2017.
The Cubs played for the Region 27 final last fall before falling 21-14 to Trimble in a game decided in the final seconds. Trimble would beat Cuyahoga Heights 47-21 in the state semifinals before falling to McComb in the Division VII championship game.
Lucas was relocated to Region 25 when the Ohio High School Athletic Association reshuffled its regional deck last year. The region encompasses the northeast part of the state and includes schools in the Cleveland, Akron, Canton and Youngstown areas.
“It’s a new region, but we’re back where we want to be,” Lucas coach Scott Spitler said after last week’s 35-21 win over Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas in the regional semifinals.
Running back Tommy Zirzow rushed for a career-high 257 yards and all five touchdowns on 33 carries behind an offensive line anchored by Blake Coffman.
The Cubs didn’t attempt a single pass in their regional semifinal victory.
“I give all the credit to my linemen,” Zirzow said. “We all played for each other.
“I just tried to do my job and follow my guys.”
The Cubs will have their hands full with Cuyahoga Heights. Including the playoffs, the Redskins have given up eight or fewer points nine times in 11 games and are coming off a 33-14 win over Warren JFK.
Quarterback Sam Shafer threw for 196 yards and two touchdowns in the win over JFK, but it was a pass from punter Kyle Polack to Jason Bartosik on fourth-and-long early in the second half that changed the complexion of the game. The Redskins were leading 26-14 but JFK had forced a punting situation on the first possession of the secondhalf. Bartosik was left unguarded and hauled in a 55 yard touchdown pass from Polack. It would be the final score of the game.
“I saw the guy on Jason motion over. I wasn’t even going to throw it to him,” Polack told clevelanddotcom afterward. “Through our cadence, Jason was yelling my name. It was in the moment — just go with it. I threw it up there and he made a nice play. It was a great play by him.”
Cuyahoga Heights averages 36.6 points a game and has scored 40 or more five times. The best defense against the Redskins is an offense that sustains long drives and chews up the clock — Lucas specialties.
“We want to control the line of scrimmage,” Spitler said. “That’s what we’ve got to do and that started in the weight room in the offseason and the schedule that we played helped us.”
A win would send Lucas to the state semifinals for the first time in program history.
“Last year we lost in the Elite Eight,” Zirzow said. “We want to finish it this time.”
