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Firestone makes history with its first City Series outright title, playoff spot
By David Lee Morgan Jr. Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Monday, Oct 29, 2007
It's been a season of dreams for the Firestone Falcons.
After finishing the regular season at 7-3 and winning their first outright City Series championship, coach Tim Flossie's Falcons are preparing for another first an appearance in the state playoffs .
Firestone finished seventh in the Division II, Region 5 computer playoff rankings with the top eight teams in each region qualifying for the playoffs. The Falcons will face Tallmadge (9-1), which defeated Firestone 35-20 in Week 3.
''We've come a long way since last year,'' said Flossie, who was 4-6 in his first season with the Falcons in 2006 . ''We just started out setting goals to win one City Series game at a time, then everything just started to come together for us.''
Flossie is no stranger to the postseason. He coached 15 years at Buchtel, where he won back-to-back Division II state championships in 1987 and 1988. But Flossie never thought he'd be able to turn around the Firestone program this fast.
''You just take the job and do the best you can,'' he said. ''It's getting the kids to work hard and that takes a long time. First you have to start hanging in games, then you have to finish games, then you have to win big games.''
Flossie looked to Firestone's 41-34 overtime win against City foe Garfield in Week 7 as a turning point in the season.
''I think the kids found out if you hang in there long enough, you'll find a way to win,'' Flossie said. ''We've got great kids who are talented, and they're starting to use their full potential.''
Flossie isn't concerned about last week's 63-27 loss at Walsh Jesuit shaking the Falcons' confidence.
''We just didn't play well and you can't do that against a good team like Walsh,'' Flossie said. ''But you have to forget it and let it go. It's no different than in college or the pros. If you won last week, it doesn't do you any good the following week because it's a new game and a different opponent. It's the same thing with a loss.''
Ben White, a 5-foot-11, 195-pound two-way starter on the Falcons' offensive and defensive lines, said the season has been about believing in each other.
''We've always felt that we could go as far as we wanted as long as we worked hard,'' White said. ''We have the skill players, we have a small but good line on both sides of the ball and the biggest thing is that we have a great coach.''
Senior quarterback Trevor Kennedy said Flossie's motto of taking one game at a time was important to the team. But Kennedy said team unity also has been a key to the successful regular season.
''There may be some people who say, 'Ah, that's Firestone, they can't be for real.' But that doesn't bother us because we believe in each other and we know what we can do. We're just going to keep working hard to get ready for the playoffs,'' Kennedy said.
Richard Braucci, another two-way starter on the offensive and defensive lines said: ''After last year, we lost some key seniors, but we had a bunch of really good sophomores and juniors and we practiced hard all summer.
''We knew if we all stuck together and worked hard we could do something special this year. But it all starts with coach Flossie, and I can't tell you how much I love him for making me a better player.''
David Lee Morgan Jr. can be reachedat dlmorgan@thebeaconjournal.com. Readhis blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mac_attack/.
It's been a season of dreams for the Firestone Falcons.
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