Now in his third season as head coach, Bob Abbey has changed the culture at Lake High School and has the Flyers

Lake sophomore running back Ben Swartz runs through traffic in the Flyer’s home opener against Northwood. (Photo by Don Thompson/picasaweb.google.com/ donrachael)

 looking to take down Eastwood on Friday night and compete for a league title.

“Our focus each day is to practice hard, get better, and compete for an SLL championship.”

However, Jerry Rutherford’s Eastwood Eagles are ready to continue their recent dominance against the Flyers and make it back to the playoffs. It has been over six years since Lake last beat Eastwood. The Eagles have dominated the flyers since 2004, outscoring Lake by a combined 253 to 45 in six meetings, but both coaches know that Friday’s game will be much different.

“We can’t take them lightly,” says Rutherford. “They played us tough last year. We were fortunate to come out with a two point win. We know Lake’s a good team and we have a lot of respect for all of our opponents.  Coach Abbey has got things going right now.” 

Like last season’s contest, one in which Eastwood edged out a 9-7 victory against Lake in rainy Pemberville, another tight battle is expected Friday night at Lake Community Stadium.

“Last year, we made a mistake on special teams that resulted in a safety and was the difference in the game,” says Abbey, who turned Lake into a winner last season, winning seven games and guiding the Flyers to a 4-2 finish in the SLL. “It was a physical, hard fought game and hopefully we can come out on top Friday night.”

One senior who has been a key for Lake’s success the past two seasons has been Kurt McKee, a senior wide receiver and defensive back. McKee has played exceptionally well so far this season and has been a difference maker on the field for the Flyers. McKee helped the Flyers remain unbeaten in the SLL a few weeks ago on the road at Otsego, hauling in a 36-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Nathan Pennington with 37 seconds remaining to force the game to overtime.

McKee, a second team SLL and all-district honorable mention selection last season, and Pennington, also a second team SLL defensive back last season, will have to be difference makers Friday to help the Flyers get a long awaited win against Eastwood.

Pennington has completed 34-of-69 passes for 614 yards and seven touchdowns, with only four interceptions, and on defense he leads the team with 38 tackles. McKee has three touchdowns and caught 14 passes for 242 yards after five games.

“Kurt has played well all season for us on both sides of the ball.  We are very pleased with him. He is one of our captains and has been a great leader,” says Abbey. “Nathan is inexperienced but has done a real nice job. He has made some mistakes, but those are to be expected for a quarterback who has only played four games. He will only continue to get better.”

Dylan Hirzel has caught nine passes for 149 yards and Ryan Kohlhofer has caught eight passes for 134 yards.

Abbey says senior quarterback Alan Martinez, an honorable mention SLL selection for the Flyers last season, is recovering from an injury and will see many snaps behind center. 

Martinez and Pennington will be handing off to junior Tim Lohman, who has filled in nicely at running back for the Flyers since Josh Tantari was sidelined with an injury. Tantari was a second team All-SLL performer a year ago and Coach Abbey was expecting big things from him this season, but he is more than happy with what he has seen from Lohman. Lohman has 251 yards rushing on 51 carries, plus he leads the Flyers in scoring four touchdowns.

“He has played well at running back and has progressed each week.  He has done a good job for us,” Abbey said.

Carl Brown has scored three touchdowns and garnered 209 yards rushing on 43 carries for the Flyers. Place kicker Jake Bandeen has scored 21 points on 12 conversion kicks and three field goals.

On defense, Wes Socie has 36 tackles and Hirzel and Cory Hotmer each have 31. McKee leads the team with four interceptions and Ben Swartz has two.

Coach Rutherford has a running back that has done a nice job the last few years.  Pernell Connor, a senior fullback and 2009 SLL first team selection, has carried the load for Eastwood all season long.

“He has really come on,” says Rutherford, “and for us to win, he is going to have to have a big night.  We have relied on him all season.  He’s what we got; we’re going to run the ball.”

Coach Rutherford said his defense, which returns only three starters from last season, is starting to play much better and needs to keep playing well against a good Lake offense. Rutherford took over the defense this season for the first time in his long tenure as head coach. He is having fun coaching the defense and likes what he sees.

"The defense is starting to understand what we want and everything is starting to come together. We don’t have one stand out guy on defense. The whole unit has worked together well. They know their roles and they know the other guys will pick them up,” Rutherford said.

Rutherford has four returning letter winners on his offensive line, including his son Jeff, and thinks they will make a difference. Senior quarterback Matt Klink will also have to play mistake free football. It can be assumed that he will only throw six to seven times in the game and that the Eagles will rely heavily on Pernell Connor.

“We cannot turn the ball over. Klink has to keep taking care of the football and let Pernell do his job and we will be just fine. It should be a great game,” Rutherford added.

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Eastwood senior running back Pernell Connor runs through traffic. (Press photo by Lee Welch/www.FamilyPhotoGroup.com)

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