It’s been a quarter-century since Hall of Fame coach Dave Melaragno led the Edgewood Warriors to the Northeastern Conference football championship in the fall of 1986.
Included in that run to a championship, led by the likes of Hall of Fame back Lou Wisnyai and quarterback Brad Petro, was a 19-14 win by the Warriors at Geneva on Friday, Oct. 3 that year.
Since then, the Warriors and the Eagles have met each fall on the gridiron and Geneva, which hosts Edgewood in a matchup of Ashtabula County teams on Friday night at Spire Stadium (7, WFUN), has dominated the series.
In the last 25 meetings, the Warriors have emerged victorious only three times, the most recent being a 28-20 double-overtime triumph on Oct. 6, 2006 at the Eagles’ former home, Memorial Field.
Last fall, Geneva invaded Corlew Stadium and made it its own, pouncing on the Warriors early and often — exploding to a 28-0 second-quarter advantage — en route to a 52-20 win.
Coach Tony Hassett’s Eagles, though, lost 15 seniors to graduation from that squad. Meanwhile, coach Dom Iarocci’s Warriors were laden with sophomores at many key positions.
All of which makes Friday night’s matchup even more intriguing.
“I think the important thing is that we’re one year older,” Iarocci said. “Most of my guys were sophomores last year. I’m getting three two-way players back that missed the entire season last year. I think our quarterback is very comfortable in our offense and lastly, I’ve been very impressed with the team athleticism and team chemistry.
“I believe we have an outstanding group of running backs and I believe we have the line to go along with it this year. Our defense, I think, is 100 percent improved over last year because of the athleticism this year.”
Hassett understands the situation has kind of reversed from a year ago as it’s his team that is the younger of the two that will take to the turf at Spire Stadium on Friday night.
“We need to focus on Edgewood — they are a good football team,” he said. “We must execute on offense and get 11 hats on the ball on defense.
“If we can do that, we should be in the game with them. Our scrimmages went very well. I thought we executed fairly well for such a young team. We got after it on both sides of the ball. We saw a number of young players perform for the first time. They saw how much faster and intense the game is at this level. We learned and got better each week and that is what you want to accomplish.”
Edgewood, which runs a robust T and slot I on offense and a 4-4 on defense impresses Hassett.
“Dom runs a variety of offensive fronts. They will run two tights, rip/liz, T-formation and spread,” he said. “We will have to be very sharp so as not miss any assignments. Their offensive linemen come off the ball well and they know who to block.
“On defense, they come up field hard and swarm the ball. They run a 4-4 and are well-coached.”
Hassett said the Warriors, who went 2-8 a year ago, have plenty of weapons.
“I have seen two tough runners in their backfield during their scrimmages — they both have good power and excellent speed to get outside,” he said. “They can break one anywhere on the field. Their QB, Louie Wisnyai, is very good. He sees the field well and has a good arm. He can throw deep or short to a number of good receivers. He also can scramble and run when he has to. He manages their offense very well.
“Their offensive line gets to their blocks and opens holes for their backs. We certainly will have to be at our best to be with them.”
Iarocci, in turn, has nothing but good things to say about the Eagles.
“I think they have two good tailbacks. They have a good fullback and a very good quarterback (Brandon Pakkala) and tight end (Eric Juncker) and a fairly good offensive line,” he said. “On offense, they have speed with one tailback and a lot of power with the other tailback. Their quarterback is in his second year as a varsity starter and he looked very good on film. As always, they are well-coached.
“On offense, we saw slot I, pro I and we also saw a little spread with trips. On defense, they run a 4-4 and a stack 3, and they like to blitz a lot of linebackers.”
Iarocci added that the Eagles, who went 3-7 last season, use their feet well.
“They have speed to the perimeter, and they want to run the ball with power between the tackles,” he said. “If the opportunity presents itself, they like to throw to their tight end.”
This will be the 46th meeting all-time between the county rivals, Geneva leading series, 35-10-1.
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