East is officially in the 2016 Ohio High School Athletic Association football playoffs for the first time in program history.
The OHSAA announced the playoff pairings Sunday, and East is in the Division III, Region 9 eight-team bracket along with defending state champion Archbishop Hoban, St. Vincent-St. Mary, Marlington and Buckeye.
“I like the way the guys keep playing,” East coach Marques Hayes said. “We have a never-give-up mentality and have rattled off six straight wins. When we look back at our losses, two out of the three losses that we have are against playoff teams. Jackson is sitting at No. 5 in Division I, Region 1 and Dover is No. 3 in our region.”
A total of 716 schools played football in 2016, and 224 are in the playoffs. Divisions I, II, IV and VI will play Friday at 7:30 p.m., and III, V and VII will play Saturday at 7 p.m.
“This year is a lot of fun,” East junior running back Devanier Floyd said. “I didn’t expect that we would get this far. Over the years our team has been progressing and we have become brothers. I heard one year we went 0-10, then 2-8, then 5-5, then 4-7 and now we are at 7-3. I love all of my players and coaches.”
East is a No. 8 seed and will travel to No. 1 seed Marlington (10-0) for a regional quarterfinal. Hoban (9-1) will host Warren Howland (7-3), Buckeye (9-1) will host New Philadelphia (8-2) and St. V-M (6-4) will visit Dover (7-3).
“I played pee-wee football for East and I never left,” said senior running back Jemarulin Suggs, who is a University of Akron recruit along with East defensive standouts De’Andre Brimage and Marquess Callaway.
Juniors Tanner Kelly, Ramon Fields, Kendrick Buckley and Armani Farrey and sophomores DeeArius Reese and Derell Glover are solid along the offensive line.
Hayes said East had 27 players in grades 9-12 in 2012 and now have over 60 players. Sophomore Ryan Collins is East’s quarterback and senior Matthew Woodley, juniors Jayvon Jones, Daishawn Brimage and River Collins and sophomore Kyre Williams are receivers.
“I am proud of my teammates and thank the coaches who have prepared us,” East senior linebacker Jaleel Ervin said. “It all starts with coach Hayes. He built this program up from basically nothing and turned it into a championship team.”
Williams, Floyd, seniors Kerriyon Somerville and Lamontae Shaver, juniors Trey Kelly, Lemontee Stevenson, Daishawn Brimage and Jayshawn Robinson are other key East defenders.
A total of 10 Summit County teams are postseason bound, including Stow (9-1), which will host Canton McKinley (6-4) in Division I, Region 1. GlenOak (6-4) will visit Solon (9-1) and Jackson (7-3) will visit Cleveland St. Ignatius (9-1) in Region 1, and Medina (8-2) will visit Toledo Whitmer (8-2) in Region 2.
Division II, Region 5 has interesting matchups with Barberton (8-2) at Aurora (9-1), Brecksville (8-2) at Warren G. Harding (9-1) and Copley (8-2) at Hudson (8-2). Perry (8-2) will host Lake (6-4) and Massillon (8-2) will host Dublin Scioto (7-3) in Region 7.
The Division IV, Region 13 bracket includes Woodridge (10-0) hosting Struthers (9-1) and Crestwood (9-1) hosting Chardon Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin (7-3).
Manchester (7-3), which has won seven in a row and is a playoff entry in Division V, Region 17, will play at Canton Central Catholic (6-3). Mogadore (8-2) is back in the playoffs in Division VII, Region 25, and will host Jackson-Milton (7-3).
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the #ABJVarsity high school blog at www.ohio.com/preps. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBeavenABJ.