WHO: Amherst (8-2) vs. Twinsburg (8-2)
WHAT: Division I, Region 2 quarterfinal
WHEN: Tonight, 7 o’clock
WHERE: Twinsburg Tiger Stadium
RADIO: WOBL 1320-AM
 

When Kevin Fell was new to his job at Amherst, he saw something he couldn’t remember ever having seen before in his more than 20 years of coaching high school football.
“Last year we had a passing scrimmage,” the Comets coach said. “I saw Brandon Morgan rolling on the ground with another kid. They were angry at each other for some reason, but it was only a passing scrimmage. I never saw two kids go at it like that in a passing scrimmage before.”
So Fell knew he had a fighter. He wasn’t sure he had a football player.
Obviously, he does. Morgan needs only 43 more yards rushing to reach the
1,000-yard plateau for this season. He will try to arrive there tonight when Amherst goes to Twinsburg for a Division I regional quarterfinal.
One reason Fell wasn’t sure Morgan was going to be a star for him was size. Morgan is somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-foot-8 and 155 pounds. But Morgan has emerged this season as a player who leads both by example and by giving his teammates a verbal kick in the shins once in a while.
A casual observer might think Morgan merely stepped into that role when Brandon Kish, Amherst’s best-known player, was lost for the season because of a broken ankle suffered in Week 6. With Kish shelved, Morgan assumed the job of No. 1 running back.
“No, I think he’s always been like that,” Fell said. “I don’t think it matters much who we have or who we don’t have. Brandon will be feisty.”
“Since second grade, when I started playing football, I’ve always been that guy,” Morgan said. “I’m always excited about playing football, so I want everyone else to feel the same way.
“Being little you have to have that mentality or you’ll be knocked around. Obviously, I don’t want to fight those (big) guys, but you need to let them know you’re there.”
Morgan is there, even if the Comets’ best offensive player isn’t.
“Everyone had to step up in that situation, not just me,” Morgan said. “It was tough to see him go down. Brandon loves football. And he was my friend. The team had to use it as an inspiration.”
Morgan has had his own injury issue. He hurt a knee in Week 6 of 2007, against Westlake. Surgery was performed and Morgan was out for the rest of the season.
“My knee filled up with blood,” he said. “The doctors couldn’t just drain it because it was so big, so they ended up operating on it. It was just one of those freak injuries.”
Luckily, none of the ligaments were damaged and Morgan came into this season none the worse for it.
Another reason Morgan might not have been seen more as a firebrand than a real football player was a shaky beginning to the 2007 season. 
“Last year I played on defense, but it didn’t work out,” he said. “I gave up a couple of big pass plays so they switched me to offense and things got much better after that. My speed was better used on offense.”
Morgan is also one of the better students on the Comets. He plans to be at either Ohio State or Ohio University next year, in a pre-medicine program. His grade-point average is 3.99.
Contact Steve Bryne at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. 

AMHERST COMETS

COLORS: Green and Gold
CONFERENCE: Southwestern Conference (third, 5-2)
COACH: Kevin Fell (12-8)

Noteworthy

• Kevin Fell is coaching a playoff team for the ninth time in his career. Amherst is the fifth team he has taken to post-season play. The others are Delphos Jefferson (1985, ’87), Sidney (1989, only playoff appearance in history), Lakewood (1991, ’95, ’99. ’03) and Wapakoneta (2006).
• The closest Fell has come to a state championship was in his first playoff appearance when he guided Delphos Jefferson to the runner-up spot in 1985.
• In Fell’s previous playoff appearance, Wapakoneta defeated Olentangy Liberty, 28-21, and lost to eventual Division II state champion Piqua, 40-21.
• This is the seventh playoff appearance for Amherst. In their last playoff season, 2004
(Division II), the Comets beat Sylvania Southview, 14-7, and lost to Avon Lake, 30-7. Both losses that season were to Avon Lake.

TWINSBURG TIGERS

COLORS: Blue and White
CONFERENCE: Northeast Ohio Conference, Lake Division (first, 5-0)
COACH: Mark Solis, 2nd year (11-9)

Noteworthy

• Twinsburg is in the playoffs for the fifth time. In the Tigers’ previous postseason appearance in 2003 they lost to Howland, 24-17 in two overtimes in a Division II game.
• Mark Solis coached Elyria for three seasons from 2004-06, compiling a 20-12 record and one playoff berth.
• Solis began his Twinsburg career with six losses. Since then, the Tigers have won 11 of their last 14 games.

Scouting report

Mark Solis is a happy camper in 2008, and not merely because he finds himself coaching a playoff team in his second season at Twinsburg.
“This is the best, most enjoyable season I’ve been a coach,” said Solis, who formerly was head coach at Elyria. “We have no superstars. This team is just a bunch of kids who play well together.”
• The Tigers play a spread offense. Their top rusher is the quarterback, Cory Eden. “Amherst is more a smash-mouth team,” Solis said. “We can play that way if we must, but we want to make teams defend a field 120 yards long and 55 yards wide.” Amherst coach Kevin Fell likened the Tigers to SWC rivals Berea and Midpark.
• Amherst might be less smash-mouth than it once was. The Comets lost running back Brandon Kish, headed for Ball State University next year on a football scholarship, when Kish broke an ankle in Week 6. Kish gained 549 yards on 113 carries (4.8 per carry) and ran for five touchdowns before the injury.
• Twinsburg’s defense has registered 32 sacks this season. Their big gun in that department is 6-foot, 250-pound sophomore Brandon Bucknell with 10.

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