Head coach Dan DeGeorge felt his Lake High School football team was getting a little too predictable on offense, and he let his assistants know that during their Sunday coaches meeting heading into Week 6.
In particular, he believed the Blue Streaks were relying too much on the legs of running back Davis Matson and quarterback Alex Quior.
“I said to everybody, we’ve got to make a move and get someone else the ball, particularly someone else running the ball besides Davis,” DeGeorge said. “And Alex is running the ball really well here and there, but we’ve got to protect him also.”
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Keep in mind, Lake lost DeGeorge’s son, Ty, to a broken ankle in Week 3, and the junior was as dynamic as a high school football player gets.
The good news is the Blue Streaks are not short on athletes this season.
DeGeorge utilized Zach Novak, and the senior came through in a big way, scoring both of Lake’s touchdowns and gaining 130 yards of offense in a 13-10 home win against Northwest.
“I’m super happy for him,” DeGeorge said.
The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Novak entered the game with zero carries on the season and five receptions for 138 yards and one TD.
He was much busier in Week 6, with Lake putting him in the pistol with Matson and Quior. Novak ran the ball six times for 50 yards and a touchdown. He added two receptions for 80 yards and another score.
His 71-yard TD catch in the second quarter tied the game 7-7.
His 27-yard TD run midway through the fourth quarter gave Lake a lead it would not relinquish.
“I decided to do with Novak a little bit of what we were doing with Ty early on,” DeGeorge said. “We put him in a couple of different spots. He responded well and I’m super happy for him. He had a big night. He’s really good with the ball in his hands. We’ve got to find more creative ways of getting that done as we move forward.”
Novak was one of Lake’s best football players in his eighth grade class. But he stopped playing football at that point to focus on basketball.
DeGeorge stayed on him about throughout his high school career and was excited when Novak chose to come out for football this season.
His persistence certainly paid off last week.
“He had a big night,” DeGeorge said, “and we needed it.”
Lake will need a lot from multiple sources coming down the stretch. After hosting a dangerous Jackson team (3-3, 1-1) this week, Lake goes to Canton McKinley (5-1, 3-0) next week and hosts Hoover (6-0, 2-0) the following week.
“We just need to be more consistent,” DeGeorge said. “We beat some good teams. We played some good quarters. To be successful these next few weeks, we’ve got to put it all together. We can’t have a bad quarter. We can’t have a drive or two where we stall and don’t get a first down. Being consistent is going to be the key because the competition is getting better. It’s just a tough stretch.”
Canton McKinley football looks to put it all together
McKinley coach Renzy Parnell sounded like he was channeling DeGeorge’s sentiments for his Bulldogs.
McKinley goes to Hoover this week in a battle of Federal League unbeatens.
When asked about a key for this showdown, Parnell said, “I always talk about being consistent. We’re getting better at playing four quarters of football. We’ve kind of been in this thing where the defense picks the offense up and the offense picks the defense up. And special teams is included in that, too, which we’ve made strides in.
“We’re trying to get to the point where everybody is on the same page and everybody is playing at a high level. You’re not necessarily picking each other up. You’re all playing well together.”
The Pups defense certainly was playing at a high level last week when it sacked Green’s Tyson Hunka seven times and allowed 94 yards of offense in a 21-3 win.
Back to normal for Hoover football
Hoover QB John Collins is expected to return this week from an ankle injury, which means Jack Andes can return to receiver after filling in at quarterback.
Head coach Brian Baum doesn’t think Andes, who carried the ball 31 times for a Stark County season-high 260 yards and three touchdowns against GlenOak last week, will shed any tears about the move.
“He’s probably damn tired,” Baum said with a laugh. “He’s probably happy someone else is taking over. I mean, 31 carries? I know we didn’t call that many runs, but he turned them into runs. That’s a lot of times to tote the rock.”
The explosive Andes ran for 103 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries, while attempting one pass (a 26-yard completion), in Hoover’s 31-13 Week 5 win at Louisville.
Basically, he was a wildcat quarterback.
Against GlenOak, he was more than that, going 7-of-11 passing for 73 yards and no interceptions in addition to all the running he did.
As good as the 5-11, 175-pound Andes was running the show, Hoover becomes much more dynamic with the 6-3, 193-pound Collins back.
Another dangerous athlete, Collins has run for 289 yards at 6.9 a carry and five touchdowns. He’s completed 61.4% of his passes for 695 yards, eight TDs and one interception. And now defenses have to account for Andes and Brycen Beyer all over the offense.
Jackson football in good hands with Lucas Ecrement or Carter Muhleman
It’s been a frustating season for Jackson quarterback Lucas Ecrement.
The four-year varsity performer missed the first two games of the season after tweaking his surgically repaired knee. Then he took a hard shot late in the first half of last week’s 21-19 loss to Perry and had to sit out the second half because of concussion concerns.
As of earlier this week, Ecrement was questionable for the Lake game.
The bright side for Jackson is it can turn to someone as capable as Carter Muhleman.
The 6-5, 200-pound junior has thrown for 506 yards, three TDs and two interceptions. In his one full start, Muhleman was 9-of-13 passing for 309 yards, three TDs and no picks in the season-opening win vs. Chardon. The 309 yards still are the highest by a Stark County quarterback this season.
“With a guy like Carter, you can’t teach 6-5 and the ability to throw like he’s capable of doing,” Jackson coach Jay Rohr said. “We’re certainly blessed to have someone like Carter as a backup. We have the utmost trust and belief in him.”
Reach Josh at josh.weir@cantonrep.com
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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Federal League high school football news. Lake’s Zach Novak stepping up and more
Reporting by Josh Weir, Canton Repository / The Repository
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