H-L on verge of SBC history with just rival Calvert standing in the way

BASCOM – Hopewell-Loudon senior Will Nutter put it best: "It's championship week … that's all I gotta say."Week 10s have been special for the Chieftains for the past four seasons as each time it's claimed a SBC River championship. In fact, including this season, the Chieftains have dominated the SBC River not suffering a league loss since Nov. 1, 2019 when H-L lost to Gibsonburg in Week 10. Last year's senior class never lost a league contest, and the same goes for this one this season. But it's not just championship week, it's also Calvert week. Can it get any better? "I mean there is no other motivation needed. It's two small schools going at each other that have been rivals for some time and they were rivals back when my dad was in school," H-L do-it-all senior Braylon Martinez said. "This has always been a big, heated game."His coach, Brian Colatruglio echoed Martinez's comments."It's a fun game and for our kids, they all know each other and a lot of them grew up together playing baseball or basketball together and a majority of their players' dads I went to school with, so there's this familiarity between all of us," he said. "This is what small town football is all about and you have a great rivalry there and you just want to beat their brains in. But I know we're going to get their best game Friday."Being the best has been the standard for the Chieftains since Colatruglio's return nine years ago. In his 24th season as a head football coach, he's been at Van Buren for three years, H-L for six, six at Tiffin Columbian and then he returned to H-L for the last nine. In those 24 years, he has accumulated 201 wins as he tallied his 200th in a win over Willard a few weeks ago."I mean (200 wins) is special and to have my brother with me for all 200 of them and being the defensive coordinator for the last 15 or 16 years, he's a huge part of what we do," Colatruglio said. "All of our kids, my mom, mother- and father-in-law … it's such a big part of our family's lives to have that success. It is a milestone, but I've been thinking a lot about all of the guys we've had over the years. I've just been so fortunate to have the talented football players we've had and the amount of hard work and time they've dedicated to us as coaches and I've had some great assistant coaches a part of it as well."I've told people before that most of the decisions I've made in my career were based on football, but this decision to come back wasn't. It was based on what was best for our kids and our family and it was based on wanting our kids in this environment and this community."Colatruglio hit a personal milestone this season, but his team and his program can also achieve one if the Chieftains can take down the rival Senecas. It would be the fifth-straight SBC title, which has been done before in the SBC, but no team has ever won five outright."It's really just the tradition around here. All the seniors my freshman year really installed in us that we don't lose in the league. We gotta keep fighting our way through it even if when we were down at halftime to Gibsonburg, we just have to fight and win the game, no matter if it's ugly or not," Martinez said. To someone like Nutter – who was an all-Ohio player his sophomore season and then suffering a season-ending injury during a scrimmage last year – another championship isn't a given, but he has fought to get back on the field with his teammates and to get another taste of a title."After my junior season was taken away it really made me realize that nothing is guaranteed in football," he said. "I mean I went to (physical) therapy three times a week waking up at 6 a.m. to get there and get my work done. I watched my teammates last year have that success and my mindset during the hard times was just to get back on the field."It was surreal. I vividly remember standing on the sideline for the kickoff and I saw the ball fly across the sky and I was like, 'Wow, this is crazy. I'm back out here and went into the game.' What a surreal moment," Nutter said about the Week 1 game at Carey this season.H-L (8-0, 5-0 SBC River) surely is confident heading into the game at Calvert (6-3, 3-2), but the Senecas certainly are no pushover.The Senecas have a powerful run game led by a big offensive line and the second-leading back in the league in Cal Warnement. Warnement has 162 carries for 1,060 yards with 13 touchdowns. Freshman quarterback Tucker Coleman is 70 of 130 passing for 985 yards with 10 scores and five picks and the leading receiver is Logan DeMoss with 22 grabs for 408 yards and a pair of TDs. But Carter Wolph (20 catches, 234 yards, 4 TDs) and John Schumacher (17 catches, 234 yards, 2 TDs) are also viable options.The game does feature two of the best defenses in the league with H-L having the No. 1 defense, allowing just 477 rushing yards all season (59.6 rushing yards per game) and only 1,078 yards of total offense in eight games."There will a lot of good offensive and defensive players flying around the field on both teams Friday," Colatruglio said. "They have some big kids up front, and that (Cameron) Bagent and (Carter) Wolph kids are really physical, tough football players. They're definitely going to pose a challenge for us and they also have some good speed and skill too. So I think it will be a good matchup, and it will be won up front. We've leaned on our offensive and defensive lines all season and Friday will be no different."H-L has consistently played two quarterbacks this season as Jacoby Ellis (83-127 passing for 1,014 yards, 8 Tds, 3 INTs) and Kellen Frankart (18-28 passing for 261 yards, 4 TDs, 3 INTs, 81 carries, 4487 yards rushing, 5 TDs) have both shown the ability to contribute.Martinez leads the backfield with 104 carries for 700 yards with 15 scores on the ground and adds 25 catches for 302 yards with four more TDs receiving. Jack Colatruglio is the top target with 35 grabs for 552 yards and three TDs. "They're literally in our back yard, so it's a true backyard rivalry," Calvert coach Mike Lento said on Coaches Corner from Heart of Ohio Sports Tuesday night. "We know Hopewell is coming to win the title outright and we have the opportunity to stand in their way."Coach Codge and his staff do a great job of staying within themselves and within their system and the kids do what they're coached to do. We have to methodically move the ball, we have to execute when we can execute, we have to elongate drives, so we need to convert third downs and fourth downs. We need to help our defense. We just need to match Hopewell's play."