linkedinfacebooktwitter

Home Sports Sports Eastwood football season captured in highlight film
Banner
Eastwood football season captured in highlight film
Written by Mark Griffin   
Thursday, 05 January 2012 14:35

The 2011 football season was one that Eastwood's players and fans won't soon forget.

The Eagles won the inaugural Northern Buckeye Conference championship – their first league title in five years – and won a Division IV playoff game before losing to No. 2 ranked Columbus Bishop Hartley in the second round.

Coach Jerry Rutherford's squad, ranked fourth in the state, finished 11-1 overall after ending the regular season with a 10-0 record for just the third time in school history. The only other Eastwood teams to finish 10-0 were the 1977 and '88 squads.

The Eagles capped their perfect regular season by traveling to rival Genoa and ending the Comets' 48-game regular-season winning streak.

And now, anyone with access to YouTube can check out a four-minute video trailer of Eastwood's season. The video was put together by Rutherford's son, Eric, who played football for his father from 2004-07.

Eastwood's players got to see the video trailer during their football awards night on Dec. 5.

“My dad had had always done a highlight film, from late 1990s on,” Eric said. “My brother did it while he was in high school for his junior and senior year. When my younger brother (Jeff), myself and my older brother (Craig) were in middle school, we filmed from the sidelines to get different angles. We always had that sideline footage. While we've been playing football and (been) in college, it's been difficult to get someone (to film) every week. A couple of my friends helped this year.”

All three Rutherford brothers coached in the Eastwood program in 2011. Craig was the defensive coordinator, Eric helped out with the defensive backs and Jeff coached the freshman team.

Former Eastwood players Nick Eckel, Nick Schling, Jake Rogers and Forest Ickes helped videotape every one of the team's games in 2011. Another Eastwood graduate, D.J. Michel, and Eagles track coach Brian Sabo filmed every game from the press box.

The end result is a 16-minute, 30-second video. The trailer, which lasts 4:09, was posted on YouTube on Dec. 28 and had 323 views as of Jan. 2. Michael used his YouTube account to put the trailer online.

“D.J. said, 'Hey, you want to put the football trailer on YouTube?' ” Eric Rutherford said. “I said, 'let's do it.' I went over to his house and gave him the file, and it took about an hour to upload.”

Rutherford said highlights of all 12 games are shown on the 16-minute version.

“It's just a mix and match,” he said. “We looked through every play of every game, more than 1,400 plays with different camera angles. We used four cameras and used plays that guys will remember from the season. The final play on that highlight film on YouTube was the final go-ahead touchdown against Genoa. That was kind of the play that capped the season. Beating Genoa was a big deal for us.”

The trailer is mixed with the song All The Above, by Maino. The 16-minute video has a mixture of other songs, including rock and country.

“The song (All The Above) is one I've been planning on using for our team,” Rutherford said. “Some of the lyrics go with the attitude of the team.”

Rutherford, a student teacher at Firelands Middle School in Oberlin, said he waited to edit all of the Eagles' game films until the season ended.

“There were days I would spend five or six hours just looking through plays, to see if I would want to use them or not,” he said. “You have to go through more plays than you're actually going to use, then you have to see how plays fit together.”

Rutherford said the 16-minute video will be put onto a DVD this month and given to the Eastwood players.

“They really enjoyed the trailer,” he said. “We're going to try to get together as a team sometime to have an opening night for the final highlight of the season. We had a heck of a season.”

Jerry Rutherford said he couldn't be happier with the way the video turned out.

“You watch it and think back and you remember every play and when it was and everything that's happened,” the coach said. “It brings back a lot of great memories. Hopefully, that's what it will be for the players.”

Comments (0)Add Comment

Post a comment
Login on the right column to post a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.

busy
 

By: Mark Griffin

Contact e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Show Other Articles

Banner
Banner
Banner
Banner
Banner
Banner

Polls

Will you visit the Toledo Hollywood Casino when it opens?
 

Login




Login

Listen to HS Games Live

WRSC Radio

Toledo Sports Radio

The Current Weather for Millbury, OH USA