There’s a simple rule when it comes to the All-Lorain County football teams: Practice makes perfect, but the postseason clears room for your players.
The four county football programs that earned playoff appearances this season were well-represented on the 2008 All-Lorain County lists, and the four coaches of those teams earned Coach of the Year honors.
Avon Lake — which earned a Division II playoff berth — swept the Big School lineman special awards, as Adam Schneid was named the county’s Most Valuable Offensive Lineman and Sean McCann was picked as the Most Valuable Defensive Lineman.
Avon — which made it to the regional championship game in Division III — earned three special awards in the Small School division. Senior quarterback Ryan O’Rourke was named the co-Most Valuable Offensive Back with junior running back Anthony Hitchens of Clearview — which earned a playoff spot in Division IV — Matt Kiessling was named the county’s Most Valuable Defensive Lineman and Garrett Gronowski was picked as the Most Valuable Defensive Back.
Also coming away with special awards were Oberlin’s Hugh Thornton, who was named the Small School’s Most Valuable Offensive Lineman, North Ridgeville’s Shane Friend was named the Big School’s Most Valuable Defensive Back and Admiral King’s Anthony Harrison was picked as the Big School’s Most Valuable Offensive Back.
Avon Lake’s Dave Dlugosz and Kevin Fell of Amherst — who was the fourth county team to earn a playoff spot, in Division I — were named co-Coaches of the Year for the Big Schools, while Avon’s Mike Elder and Clearview’s Mike Collier split the award for the Small Schools.
Contact the Chronicle sports department at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.
ALL-LORAIN COUNTY FOOTBALL TEAMS
BIG SCHOOLS FIRST TEAM OFFENSE
LINE
Elyria: Greg Davison; Vermilion: Logan Wright; Avon Lake: Adam Schneid, Joe Coyne; Amherst: Paul Brown; North Ridgeville: John Howells; Admiral King: Andre James
TIGHT END
Vermilion: Derek Hoebing; Amherst: Ryan Bartizal
RUNNING BACK
Admiral King: Anthony Harrison; Elyria: Travis Noble; Avon Lake: Mike Mansnerus; Amherst: Brandon Morgan, Brandon Kish; MIdview: Josiah Holt
QUARTERBACK
Amherst: Andrew Eliopoulos; Vermilion: Tim Clark
WIDE RECEIVER
North Ridgeville: Nick Rogerson; Midview: Mike Schmittle; Southview: Josh Biber; Elyria: D.J. Hallauer; Vermilion: Ray Anthony; Amherst: Josh Gonzalez
PUNTER
Avon Lake: Dan Ohlemacher
BIG SCHOOLS HONORABLE MENTION OFFENSE
LINE
Elyria: Isaiah Byler; Avon Lake: Christian Pace; Admiral King: Sheldon Bell
TIGHT END
Avon Lake: Dan Schneider
RUNNING BACK
Vermilion: John Hawkins; Amherst: Shane Bockey
QUARTERBACK
Elyria: Dan Poskocil
BIG SCHOOLS FIRST TEAM DEFENSE
LINE
Admiral King: Dale Linder; North Ridgeville: Alex Lovasz; Amherst: T.J. Harrah; Vermilion: Dustin Hendricks; Avon Lake: Sean McCann, James Lekan
END
Admiral King: Michael Taylor; Avon Lake: Zach Murray, Joe Gaydosh
LINEBACKER
Avon Lake: Cody Bennington; Admiral King: John Gerber; North Ridgeville: Derek Lozano; Midview: Jeff Miller; Amherst: Cody Wenrich; Vermilion: Justin Turner
BACK
Southview: Nick Gerace; Vermilion: Michael Virgin; Avon Lake: Nick Brill; Amherst: Ben Schwinn; North Ridgeville: Shane Friend; Admiral King: Chris KImbro, Miles Jones
KICKER
Amherst: Matt Elbert
BIG SCHOOLS HONORABLE MENTION DEFENSE
LINE
Southview: Jacob Moran
END
Amherst: Brandon Ervin
LINEBACKER
Southview: Aaron Serrano; Vermilion: Derek Barbato
BACK
Elyria: Jacob Neuschaefer
BIG SCHOOLS SPECIAL HONORS
Most Valuable Offensive Line: Adam Schneid (Avon Lake); Most Valuable Defensive Line: Sean McCann (Avon Lake); Most Valuable Offensive Back: Anthony Harrison (Admiral King); Most Valuable Defensive Back: Shane Friend (North Ridgeville); Co-Coaches of the Year: Kevin Fell (Amherst) and Dave Dlugosz (Avon Lake)
SMALL SCHOOLS FIRST TEAM OFFENSE
LINE
Oberlin: Hugh Thornton; Avon: Josh Pierce; Wellington: Ken Wulfhoop; Clearview: Quentin Snipes; Elyria Catholic: Jared Schuster; Oberlin: Dorian Pretlow
TIGHT END
Clearview: Lucas Wright; Keystone: Matt Herb; Avon: Vic Jenkins
RUNNING BACK
Wellington: Austin Gray; Avon: Marquis Harrell; Clearview: Anthony Hitchens; Firelands: Mitch Hagg, Paul Garcia; Oberlin: Jarron Hicks; Elyria Catholic: Alex Alicea
QUARTERBACK
Wellington: Steve Simonson; Avon: Ryan O’Rourke
WIDE RECEIVER
Elyria Catholic: Josh Russ, Danny Accorti; Brookside: Cory Shoemaker; Oberlin: Tim Hill; Avon: Brett Jensen; Clearview: James Washington
PUNTER
Columbia: Matt Frye
SMALL SCHOOLS HONORABLE MENTION OFFENSE
LINE
Keystone: Andrew Holland; Brookside: Paul Grattan; Avon: Albert Tomechko
TIGHT END
Firelands: Ryan Waldman; Columbia: Brett Doutt
QUARTERBACK
Clearview: Zach Anderson
WIDE RECEIVER
Brookside: Luke Ackerman
PUNTER
Oberlin: Gilbert Harris
SMALL SCHOOLS FIRST TEAM DEFENSE
LINE
Elyria Catholic: Zach Drews; Keystone: Forrest Smith; Columbia: Ethan Garafolo; Avon: Matt Kiessling; Wellington: Matt Ramage; Clearview: Miguel Couvertier, Tyrone Brannon
END
Columbia: Brett Doutt; Wellington: Greg Knapp; Clearview: Alex Zsigray; Oberlin: Devin Martin; Elyria Catholic: Danny Devilia
LINEBACKER
Keystone: Matt Osborne; Clearview: John Rosser; Wellington: Neil Switzer; Avon: Alex Tabar; Oberlin: Sev Holsworth; Firelands: Matt Delcher
BACK
Elyria Catholic: Nick Ksenich; Keystone: Kyle Smith; Brookside: Dan Wise; Avon: Garrett Gronowski, Matt Logan; Clearview: Matt Mealing; Wellington: Jerry Herman
KICKER
Clearview: Lucas Wright
SMALL SCHOOLS HONORABLE MENTION DEFENSE
LINE
Firelands: Jacob Sosinski; Brookside: Paul Grattan
END
Elyria Catholic: Zach Poling
LINEBACKER
Elyria Catholic: Adam Kirsch; Firelands: Jake Niece; Brookside: James Boesken
BACK
Clearview: Tony Williams
SMALL SCHOOLS SPECIAL HONORS
Most Valuable Offensive Line: Hugh Thornton (Oberlin); Most Valuable Defensive Line: Matt Kiessling (Avon); Co-Most Valuable Offensive Backs: Ryan O’Rourke (Avon) and Anthony Hitchens (Clearview); Most Valuable Defensive Back: Garrett Gronowski (Avon); Co-Coaches of the Year: Mike Elder (Avon) and Mike Collier (Clearview)

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