Welcome to a Throwback Thursday (TBT) edition of the 2020 Cleveland Browns High School Game of the Week "Inside the Hudl".
The High School Game of the Week is presented by Ohio CAT and in association with Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) and Raising Cane's.
Our 2019 Senate League Championship game featured the John Hay Hornets and John Adams Rebels. The Hornets would win the ball game 35-12.
Coach Rodney Decipeda (John Hay) and Coach Gary Jackson (John Adams).
Now let's go "Inside the Hudl" where we'll discuss top plays from the 2019 Senate League Championship game.
Cleveland Browns: Thinking back to the 2019 Senate League Championship Game – do you remember your game plan?
Coach Jackson: Not to take anything away from Coach Decipeda because he's one of the best coaches in the Senate League. The game plan going into this game was just to survive. Unfortunately, this was a game where we only had twelve or thirteen eligible players. We had eligibility concerns on our team. Once again, going up against a Coach Decipeda coached team, we were just trying to survive.
Coach Decipeda: Our gameplan was to run the ball. Specifically, our right side of the line was really doing well. Our left guard, which is a junior now, those guys were growing every week. With our tailback, #4, we just felt that he could be the bell cow and we could just run. When we saw the weather forecast, we knew we were not going to have a lot of luck throwing. Our idea was to go off tackle on the right side and sweeps/counters to the left. We felt like we would have a really good chance to do that from an offensive standpoint.
Defensively, every Adams team has tremendous athletes, so we just felt like we had to stop big plays and be disciplined. Our secondary, specifically, to not mess up their assignments. I remember that game they were still completing big plays. The year before they beat us with incredible talent.
Browns: John Hay received the opening kickoff. The opening possession the Hornets drove the ball down the field but were denied on 4th and goal. Coach tell us about the play.
Jackson: That play was all heart. John Hay always has great offensive linemen. We overloaded one side and brought the house (blitz). We were in the right place at the right time. It was all heart.
Browns: After a defensive stand and a blocked punt, John Hay took over at the 12-yard line and eventually scored. Coach, can you tell us about this play?
Decipeda: It was a quarterback sneak from the six-yard line. It wasn't our normal quarterback. We just said find a little crease, go for it, and follow the push. We took our two biggest offensive linemen and put them at the guard positions. Our whole idea was to go foot to foot and just push.
Browns: Later in the second quarter, Adams would get on the board with a 60-yard touchdown reception. Coach Jackson run us through this play...
Jackson: Again, that was just pure athleticism. We overloaded one side – we knew we had one-on-one coverage. We thought that we could take advantage of the matchup and beat them on that one-on-one.
Browns: Despite not having a Fall 2020 season, how are you preparing your players for potentially a Spring season?
Decipeda: Each week I spend time with our guys. I take food to a few of them and just chat. It's great to just spend time with our guys and just chat about life and football.
Jackson: It's difficult because we are remote, but we're doing our best to keep our kids engaged and ready to go should we have a season.
Thank you coaches!
