By Austin Beamer

The Bulldogs once again have made it to the playoffs, finishing the regular season with a record of 9-1.

The entire Bulldogs team practiced all season and has been waiting for the upcoming games with their eyes set now on a state championship. Now, they are only three games away.

“Our team has prepared all year for the playoffs. The regular season was just the beginning. The playoffs mark the beginning  of a fresh start to a new season that lasts five weeks long,” sophomore linebacker Dalton Oshinsky said.

Their first opponent was Canton McKinley (6-4). Stow handled them with little trouble, winning the game 35-10 and ending McKinley’s 2016 season.

On Fri., November 11, the Bulldogs will face their toughest opponent yet, St. Edwards. The two teams met last year in the final four; Stow’s season came to an end when Eds defeated them 45-7.

“Our feeling going into the game against St. Eds is the same as it is every week. Come to work every day with the same mentality as always, which is to stay focused on our assignments as players and to prepare for our upcoming opponent,” Oshinsky said.

When the Bulldogs play St. Eds on Friday, it will begin at 7:30 at Twinsburgh. The theme for the game is pajamas. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday.

As winter comes closer and closer to starting, so does the basketball season. The boys basketball team began official tryouts on Nov 4. They had a two and a half hour practice before the football game.

The tryouts are composed of all grades, freshman through seniors, but they are split up into the three different teams: freshman, junior varsity (jv), and varsity. Coach Boyle is in charge of coaching the freshman, Coach O’Keefe is with the jv, and Coach Close and Coach Culp run the varsity tryouts. Each coach is in charge of choosing their teams and picking who they are going to cut and keep. The teams usually consist of about 12 players, but sometimes a couple more or less.

During the tryouts, all the athletes participating go through a bunch of skill work and concept work. At the beginning of each tryout everyone is together doing dribbling and passing drills to get warmed up. Then the players break off to their assigned team and work on more dribbling drills as well as some shooting drills.

Next the coaches run their players through some defensive concepts. Everyone then shoots free throws and takes a water break. Free throws are very  important during a game so they are practiced a lot. Following the break, coaches run their players through some offensive concepts and let their teams play up and down the court five on five. At the end of tryouts, coaches line their players up and he gives them a certain number of free throws the team has to make, and if the team gets it they are done, but if they do not, then they have to run a line drill and try again.
Coaches can make cuts as they feel they are apparent to them at anytime during the tryout. When the coaches have picked a final team, the official practices begin. When the football season ends all of those kids on the team wanting to play will have a fair and equal chance to tryout for the team. This means that some kids that make the team now, might not be on the team after the football players tryout. Before the season starts the team will have many practices and also a few scrimmages to get ready for their first game on Dec 2 against Kent Roosevelt. Everyone who makes the team will get the opportunity to play in a total of 22 season games plus however far they make it in the playoffs.

The girls field hockey season came to an end with an average record of 8-8. Senior captains Maddy Fink and Gabby Kingston led the team throughout the season.

The key players for the Stow Bulldogs defense were the captains, Maddy Fink and Gabby Kingston. Sophomore, Katie Goodenow and Sam Houk.

 The team’s toughest game was by far against Magnificat. The team’s weakest competition was the Orange Bulldogs.   

The team was coached by Virginia Wohlabaugh. This was her second season coaching the lady bulldogs.

Fink said “Im really glad we have her. She’s a great coach and is there for us but doesn’t coddle us to much and pushes us to be our best.”

The girls traveled to Pennsylvania and played two games, and ending the tournament with an astonishing record of 2-0, considering their rough start of the season.

Goodenow said “My favorite part of playing in Pennsylvania was getting our confidence as a team back, after our shaky start.”

The field hockey team’s biggest victory was against Hawken. They went into overtime and with time running out, Houk found the back of the goal and won the game with the help of senior, Jessica Lloyd.

Houk said “My favorite game was Hawken because even though it was a challenging game, we stayed positive and worked together as a team.”

As the season progressed, the team improved their skills and started to win more games.

Junior, Audrey Grone said “Towards the end of the season we got to know each other’s chemistry and started to play like a team with passing and trusting each other with the ball more.”

Open season started for the Bulldogs as they hunted down and humbled a team full of Grizzlies.

The Stow Bulldogs took on the Wadsworth Grizzlies on Sept. 17 after coming off 0f a nail-biting 13-10 win the previous week against Solon. Stow sat with a 3-0 record going into Week 4.

Wadsworth held a 1-2 record after being handled by Medina 42-6 in Week 3. It would have been easy for Stow to look past a game like this, but memories of last year’s match up with this Wadsworth team were fresh in their minds.

With a perfect record on the line, the Bulldogs just barely edged out a 24-21 win over the Grizzlies in their last bout together. This time, however, there would be no doubt of who had the better team.

It was all Stow from the start and all Stow to the end. Senior quarterback Kyle Vantrease led the way with a 20-yard touchdown pass to receiver Joe Andrassy to help put the first seven of the night on the board. From there, the Bulldog defense came up with a stop, forcing a punt by the Grizzlies. The result was another efficient drive by Vantrease and his receivers which culminated in a 10-yard sweep ran in by junior Terrian Wray.

As if that was not enough, following an interception by safety Bryce Sheppert, Vantrease found Andrassy yet again for a 10-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 21-0 to end the first quarter.

If Wadsworth could have packed up their bags and left, they probably would have but unfortunately that was not the case.

The entire Stow football team was a well-oiled machine. Led by Vantrease’s 6’3 big body, and an entourage of reliably efficient receivers that could only be compared to a Ford Fusion, the team could essentially score at will.

Couple that with a wall of defense that Trump could only dream of, it was quite obviously a dismal time to be a Grizzly.

Senior Matt Esterle put his, “slow feet don’t eat” motto to work, staying light on his toes with a hook-and-ladder play successful enough to consider getting the 240-pound guard some more touches with the ball.

Vantrease capped off the Bulldog offensive with a 13-yard pass to senior receiver–and Valparaiso University commit–Logan Lindsay to pull the lead out to 28-0 with seven minutes left in the first half.

With the absence of senior kicker Austin Burnham, Stow has been up in the air with their kicking situation. Vantrease initially filled the void, showing his versatility not only with his arm but his foot as well.

Still, expecting a quarterback to handle the kicking responsibility is a large task and certainly would cause a bit of concern for close game situations.

This week, the Bulldogs brought the boot of junior Gavin Costello to the field, and his successful field goal attempt pulled Stow to a 31-0 lead to end the first half.

Burnham, who suffered a torn quad just before the first game, is ready to get back on the field.

“It’s been extremely hard not playing the past month and a half. I never missed a game before so missing the first four of my senior year was tough,” Burnham said.

What Stow may have been missing in kicking they made up for in everything else. Their defense allowed no points to be put on the board by Wadsworth, and the offense led 365-95 in terms of total yardage over the Grizzlies all in the first half.

Cruising through the second half, Stow finished the game with a 38-15 win, putting them at 4-0 and gaining their first win in the Suburban League National Conference this year.

Vantrease completed 15 of 17 passes totalling 245 yards with three touchdowns, and Wray led the rushing game with a total of 51 yards and a touchdown of his own.

Stow will take on the Nordonia Knights Sept. 23 at home for their next game. While it is the school’s homecoming game, it should also feature the return of Burnham and hopefully a restoration of confidence for the Bulldogs in the only area they are struggling in.

Burnham said, “My quad’s feeling 100 percent. I haven’t lost any confidence, I’m just really eager to get back out and help out the team.”