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Hospitalized player motivates, but team unable to come back
By Jonas Fortune
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Saturday, Nov 07, 2009
WARREN: Kory Wiita couldn't physically attend Highland's first-round Division II playoff game against Warren Howland.
Wiita, the Highland senior defensive back who fractured three vertebrae in his neck making a tackle last week, is still fighting the battle of his young life at Akron Children's Hospital.
Yet he was definitely there.
His spirit was strewn across Highland T-shirts. Some read ''Kory We Believe,'' others simply read ''HOPE'' with his initials inside a heart that formed the ''O.''
Wiita was with every player on the field, regardless of team. His ''No. 32'' was stuck on a sticker on the back of their helmets.
And Wiita was in every teardrop that slid down the faces of his teammates or ''brothers,'' and the cheerleaders and fans after the 28-21 loss.
''It is about what life is,'' Highland coach Tom Lombardo said after the game.
''You have ups and downs. Right now as a community, we have a down. But it is certainly not down and out. We think we are going to battle back. What they learned on the football field, I hope they learn for life.''
He also told his players how proud he was of them and how they are going to continue to fight.
''That was our main focus,'' senior Aaron Maslowski said. ''We were playing for him. He couldn't be out here. He is one of our brothers and we gave it our best shot.''
The Hornets never quit in a game in which they trailed 20-0 at one point. They also played without starting quarterback Jerry Scholle, who broke his wrist in last week's game. They never quit, despite carrying a heavy heart for Wiita.
''We never said, 'Oh, woe is me.' We just said, 'We are going to find a way to do it,' and we almost did. But we didn't quite,'' Lombardo said.
Scholle still played receiver and rushed seven times for 70 yards, but the injury forced the Hornets to run a different offense than they had all season: the Wildcat with Maslowski at the helm.
The only time Scholle went ''under center'' Friday was when the Hornets were on the Howland goal line. With 38.8 seconds remaining before halftime, Scholle lined up as if he was taking the snap, but was behind the left guard instead.
The shotgun snap went back to Maslowski, who scored to bring the total to 20-7.
After recovering an onside kick to start the second half, the Hornets used the same play again. Scholle, lining up behind the right guard this time, helped Maslowski find the end zone again to make the score 20-14. The touchdown capped a 14-play, 51-yard drive that took nearly seven minutes.
But the Tigers were able to take advantage of two crucial mistakes by the Hornets — a bad snap on a punt in the first quarter and a fumble at the beginning of the fourth — and ride the legs of senior Mike Mangiarelli and freshman Deveon Smith.
Mangiarelli had touchdown rushes of 33, 26 and 24 yards and narrowly stepped out of bounds on a carry of 51 yards. He finished the game with 195 yards on 16 carries.
Maslowski made all three Highland touchdowns, scoring the final one with 1:16 left in the game.
''It would have been a hell of a story to find a way to get the victory but we came up a little bit short,'' Lombardo said.
Jonas Fortune can be reached at jfortune@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Varsity Letters high school sports blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/varsity_letters/. Also on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ABJ_Preps.
WARREN: Kory Wiita couldn't physically attend Highland's first-round Division II playoff game against Warren Howland.
Wiita, the Highland senior defensive back who fractured three vertebrae in his neck making a tackle last week, is still fighting the battle of his young life at Akron Children's Hospital.
Yet he was definitely there.
His spirit was strewn across Highland T-shirts. Some read ''Kory We Believe,'' others simply read ''HOPE'' with his initials inside a heart that formed the ''O.''
Wiita was with every player on the field, regardless of team. His ''No. 32'' was stuck on a sticker on the back of their helmets.
And Wiita was in every teardrop that slid down the faces of his teammates or ''brothers,'' and the cheerleaders and fans after the 28-21 loss.
''It is about what life is,'' Highland coach Tom Lombardo said after the game.
''You have ups and downs. Right now as a community, we have a down. But it is certainly not down and out. We think we are going to battle back. What they learned on the football field, I hope they learn for life.''
He also told his players how proud he was of them and how they are going to continue to fight.
''That was our main focus,'' senior Aaron Maslowski said. ''We were playing for him. He couldn't be out here. He is one of our brothers and we gave it our best shot.''
The Hornets never quit in a game in which they trailed 20-0 at one point. They also played without starting quarterback Jerry Scholle, who broke his wrist in last week's game. They never quit, despite carrying a heavy heart for Wiita.
''We never said, 'Oh, woe is me.' We just said, 'We are going to find a way to do it,' and we almost did. But we didn't quite,'' Lombardo said.
Scholle still played receiver and rushed seven times for 70 yards, but the injury forced the Hornets to run a different offense than they had all season: the Wildcat with Maslowski at the helm.
The only time Scholle went ''under center'' Friday was when the Hornets were on the Howland goal line. With 38.8 seconds remaining before halftime, Scholle lined up as if he was taking the snap, but was behind the left guard instead.
The shotgun snap went back to Maslowski, who scored to bring the total to 20-7.
After recovering an onside kick to start the second half, the Hornets used the same play again. Scholle, lining up behind the right guard this time, helped Maslowski find the end zone again to make the score 20-14. The touchdown capped a 14-play, 51-yard drive that took nearly seven minutes.
But the Tigers were able to take advantage of two crucial mistakes by the Hornets — a bad snap on a punt in the first quarter and a fumble at the beginning of the fourth — and ride the legs of senior Mike Mangiarelli and freshman Deveon Smith.
Mangiarelli had touchdown rushes of 33, 26 and 24 yards and narrowly stepped out of bounds on a carry of 51 yards. He finished the game with 195 yards on 16 carries.
Maslowski made all three Highland touchdowns, scoring the final one with 1:16 left in the game.
''It would have been a hell of a story to find a way to get the victory but we came up a little bit short,'' Lombardo said.
Jonas Fortune can be reached at jfortune@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Varsity Letters high school sports blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/varsity_letters/. Also on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ABJ_Preps.
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