Archbishop Hoban fights off tough battle from Glenville to remain undefeated
AKRON, Ohio – Sometimes in a long football season, a team needs a reality check when things seem to be going too well.
For Archbishop Hoban, that just might have come Friday night in a 28-16 win over Glenville.
While the final score says the Knights came away victorious and remained unbeaten on the season at 7-0, it was the toughest challenge this Hoban team, ranked No. 2 in the latest SBLive Ohio Power 25, has faced all year.
“We wanted this as coaches to be honest with you, we wanted a closer, physical game because our kids need that,” Hoban head coach Tim Tyrrell said. “We haven't had that yet. So it's just one of the things we have to learn from. We're blessed that we are learning from a win rather than a loss.”
After Hoban punted on its first possession, Glenville came down and scored on a 27-yard run by Damarion Witten, who was rotating in and out at the quarterback position for the Tarblooders. On the first play of the drive, running back D’Shawntae Jones broke free for a 50-yard run.
“Coach told us yesterday that we came into the walkthrough not really focused so he gave us a talk at the end of practice and basically told us we needed to get it together,” Hoban senior defensive lineman Jordan Pritchard-Sewell said. “In the postgame speech, he just said what he said yesterday didn't really sink in, so we came out kind of got hit in the mouth.”
On the ensuing kickoff, Hoban's Elbert "Rock" Hill IV caught the ball at the 8-yard-line and took it 92 yards for a touchdown to get the Knights on the board.
Freshman running back Brayton Feister then scored two touchdowns for the Knights- one on a 19-yard pass from Tylan “Juice” Boykin and another on a 2-yard run - to give Hoban a 21-8 lead.
Boykin found Deon Rodgers for an 11-yard touchdown pass to finish out the first half scoring and give the Knights a 28-8 halftime lead.
Boykin finished the game 9-of-13 for 107 yards and a pair of touchdown passes and also ran for 30 yards. Caleb Jones had 16 carries for 115 yards for the Knights.
“(Boykin) does what's asked of him and he doesn't make many mental mistakes,” Tyrrell said. “He makes runs when he needs to make runs, he made some huge throws when he needs to make huge throws.”
Glenville closed the gap to 12 with three seconds left in the third quarter on a touchdown run by D'Shawntae Jones and were driving midway through the fourth quarter, but an interception by Hill sealed the deal for Hoban. Jones finished the game with 161 yards rushing on 21 carries.
“If we don't shoot ourselves in the foot, we got a game,” Glenville head coach Ted Ginn, Sr. said. “All we can do is concentrate on not making mistakes and playing football and stick to the game plan that we come up with.”
Photo of Archbishop Hoban defensive back Elbert "Rock" Hill by Jeff Harwell
Jeff Harwell, SBLive Sports
Four takeaways
Glenville toughening up for postseason
After going undefeated and winning the OHSAA Division IV state championship last season, Glenville beefed up its schedule even more this year. The Tarblooders played Avon, ranked No. 4 in the current SBLive Ohio Power 25, for the second straight season but added IMG Academy (Florida), currently the No. 3 team in the SBLive/Sports Illustrated national Power 25, and Hoban.
Despite a 24-16 loss to Avon and a 28-6 loss to IMG, Ginn, Sr. hopes that playing these teams will translate into success come the postseason.
“I hope it prepares us well,” Ginn, Sr. said. “What else can you see, we done saw at all. And everything that we saw, we know we are just as good as them. If you look at any game, Hoban, IMG, same thing happened, (we made) mistakes. You learn from losing. We played Avon, same thing. If we can get away from (the mistakes), we can be a great team.”
Tyrrell enjoys coaching against legends
This was the first time Tyrrell and Ginn, Sr. have matched up as head coaches, which was something special for the Hoban coach.
“There are two people to be honest with you that when I started coaching high school a long time ago, I always wanted to coach against and I've been blessed to be able to coach against (former St. Ignatius head coach Chuck) Kyle and Teddy Ginn,” Tyrrell said. “There's no two better people in the state of Ohio.”
Tyrrell got the chance to coach against Kyle five times, with wins in 2018 and 2022 and finally against Ginn, Sr. this year.
“We've tried before and schedules have just never matched,” Tyrrell said of facing Ginn, Sr. “We always talk in the offseason, we've seen each other scouting before, we sit down, we have a lot of stories to tell between the both of us and we have a lot of common friends. He's a legend.”
Hoban defense up to the challenge
Hoban came into the game outscoring opponents 254-31 on the season and Friday marked the first time since Week 2 against Erie Cathedral Prep that the Hoban first-team defense had given up a score and it was also the first time the Knights had trailed in a game since that 44-12 win over Cathedral Prep.
After Glenville scored on its first drive, the Hoban defense knew they had to be better, and they were, allowing just one more score in the game.
“We knew we had to lock in on defense, we weren’t taking this game lightly at all,” Hoban junior linebacker Eli Lee said. “We knew it would be a hard, tough battle and we really stuck it to them.”
But the Knights know they weren’t perfect and want to come back even stronger next week when they travel to Buffalo to take on St. Francis New York).
“Like coach (Tyrrell) said, we got the win, but we have to get a hell of a lot better,” Pritchard-Sewell said. “We have to come back and focus on the film, get back to little things and come back ready for week nine.”
Rock still getting better
Even with a kickoff return for a touchdown and an interception, it wasn’t a perfect game for Hill, and his coach sometimes has to remind himself that Hill is just a sophomore.
“Rock is an unbelievable player, he's an unbelievable talent,” Tyrrell said. “He made one real big mental mistake but he just keeps battling. He's a good kid to coach because he's easy to coach. When he makes mistakes, you can get on him and he gets it. So I'm proud of him. He's a sophomore and sometimes I forget that because of how good he is and sophomores make mistakes. So I give him a hug and tell him he's still a really good football player.”
