Genoa senior defensive end/wingback Devin Sibby scored on a 12-yard touchdown run late in the second half of the Comets' 51-13 rout of Ottawa County rival Oak Harbor last Friday night.

That, however, wasn't the most fun the 5-foot-9, 205-pound Sibby had against the Rockets that night. That came earlier in the game, when he and fellow end Jarrod Adkins played “meet me at the quarterback.”

“We're real cool with each other,” Sibby said. “The Oak Harbor game, we made a bet who would get the first sack. He got the first sack and forced a fumble, and I gave him his props. Then he gave me mine late in the second quarter, when I had back-to-back plays – one on a sack and another when their quarterback passed the ball a split second before he would have been sacked by me. We just try to have fun with it.”

Genoa's Devin Sibby(44) tries to turn the corner around the outside in Genoa's win over Ottawa Hills. (Press photo by HaroldHamilton/HEHPhotos. lifepics.com)

Sibby has been having a ball ever since he moved to Genoa from Perrysburg following his freshman year. The native of Concord, N.C., who moved to Ohio late in his fifth grade year, is in his second season as a starting defensive end, and this season he also starts at wingback.

Last year Sibby tied the school single-season record for sacks. He and Ryan Bless, a Division IV first-team All-Ohio end in 2008, share the mark with nine sacks apiece.

“I like defense a lot better than offense,” Sibby said. “I'm not the type of person who likes to get hit. I've been the type of person who likes to do the hitting, ever since I was 5 years old playing football. If I have my choice, I would most definitely play defense first.”

Genoa coach Mike Vicars said the Comets' staff converted Sibby from linebacker to end before the start of last season. Sibby, it turns out, is also a bruising blocker out of the offensive backfield.

“He's a great blocker,” Vicars said. “He is just one of those unsung heroes, a kid who is talented that people don't know about. He is a great kid. We moved him from linebacker to defensive end and he's kind of found a home there.”

Sibby rushed five times for 29 yards and one TD against Oak Harbor, and he also recorded four tackles and had a sack on defense. Last season Sibby earned first-team All-Press honors as an end after recording 59 tackles, including 23 for a loss.

“He's a dominant force on the defensive front,” said Vicars, who guided Genoa to the last four Suburban Lakes League titles. “He's a really, really good defensive end. He started for us last year and now he's a two-way starter for the first time.”

Sibby's parents, Curtis and Amy, moved the family into Devin's grandfather's house in the Genoa school district three years ago. The family now lives in Clay Center.

“We didn't really like Perrysburg that much,” Sibby said. “It was all politics. We had a chance to move into my grandpa's old house and we took that chance. We decided to give it a try. We moved here and fell in love with it.”

It wasn't peaches and cream right away for Sibby, who was entering his sophomore year of high school.

“The first time I saw him,” Vicars said, “he was kind of a cocky kid. He used to tell us, 'We didn't do it like this at Perrysburg.' We were rough on him at first, and we knocked that (attitude) out of him. He's become a tough, hard-nosed ballplayer, a very physical ballplayer. He is very tough to block, and he's a great blocker on offense. If it wasn't for (junior) Kyle Nutter, he'd be getting the ball more on offense. He's one of those guys who is always under the radar. I would hate to lose him.”

Sibby said prior to moving to Genoa, the only thing he knew about the Comets' football program was what he'd heard through the grapevine. Genoa's football program struggled before Vicars arrived five years ago, but the Comets have since won four league titles and made four state playoff appearances, including an unexpected run to the D-IV state semifinals in 2008.

“I didn't know anything about Genoa,” Sibby said. “I didn't think it would be anything like Perrysburg, but it's a lot better than Perrysburg. This school is just more relaxed and the teachers have more time to help you because there aren't as many students.”

Sibby, 18, and the Comets (2-0) take a 41-game regular-season winning streak into Friday's game at Port Clinton (2-0). Sibby said the Genoa players take a lot of pride in every victory, and the losses – though rare – only make them want to work that much harder.

Sibby said he has two goals in 2011: to break the QB sack record he shares with Bless, and to lead the Comets to a state championship.

“Team-wise we don't talk about it much, but I know I've been dreaming about winning the state,” he said. “I think about all of us being on that one island – that's what the coaches talk about - just being on that island and having that one heartbeat and enjoying playing with each other. I think that will get us there.”

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