Ronnie Willoughby catches a TD last season.

Avon Lake's Ronnie Willoughby and Andrew Bohan have made their respective decisions to continue their football careers, playing at a Division I level.

Willoughby, a 6-foot-4 wide receiver has verbally committed to the University of Buffalo to continue his football career. Willoughby led the Shoremen with 29 receptions for 723 yards and nine touchdowns, while earning All-Southwestern Conference, All-Lorain County and All-District honors. He was also a first teamer in basketball.

Bohan, a 6-4, 270 pound offensive lineman, has verbally committed to the University of Akron. Bohan has anchored the Shoremen's offensive line, earning All-SWC and All-Lorain County honors. He is a three-sport athlete that also plays basketball and track.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Baldwin-Wallace College head football coach John Snell has completed his full-time offensive staff for the 2010 season by promoting Avon Lake native Keith Grabowski to offensive coordinator, while also adding Mark Jochum as the Yellow Jackets’ new offensive line coach.

Grabowski, 1992 graduate of B-W, enters his second season on the Yellow Jacket coaching staff. He served as quarterbacks coach during his first season in 2009.

"Keith has done a great job in our program with recruiting and working with our quarterbacks and offense," said Snell through a press release. "He understands our offense and has experience calling plays. He has worked very hard over the past year to help improve our program and he certainly deserves the opportunity to be our offensive coordinator."

"We had a great offseason and we worked hard at putting together a system that fits our personnel," said Grabowski. "Personally, I am grateful and excited about the opportunity to lead the offense. With all of the work we did in the offseason, it feels like a natural progression to be able to step in and keep things moving forward."

In 2009, Grabowski guided then senior quarterback Anthony Gardner, who turned in an All-Ohio Athletic Conference season before signing to play professionally in France. The Yellow Jacket offense ranked fourth in the OAC at 378.4 yards per game and sixth in scoring at 24.6 points per game.

Prior to coming to B-W, Grabowski made head coaching stops at Brookside, Brush and Ashtabula Lakeside. He also was at the helm at Amherst from 2004-07 and was named the 2004 Southwestern Conference Coach of the Year and Lorain County Co-Coach of the Year. Grabowski led the 2004 Comets to the second-best record in school history and the program’s second playoff victory all-time. Grabowski coached on the Amherst staff for three seasons before taking over in 2004 and ran the football program at Fairview High School from 2001-2003.

Area athletes on the roster for the upcoming season include: John McGraw (North Ridgeville), Ryan Kish (Amherst), Rudy Ackerman (Brookside), Dave Cantu (Amherst), Sonny Hazelwood (Elyria), Matthew Kiessling (Avon), Matt Lewis (Bay), Josh Oswald (Edison) and Mitch Tulk (Elyria).

courtesty of Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple

Oberlin High School and Oberlin College graduate Chris Schubert just completed an outstanding season for the Richmond Raiders of the American Indoor Football League (AIFL).

Schubert, who holds multiple Oberlin College records, was the top receiver for the Raiders this season. He led the team in nearly every statistical category including receptions (73), yards (805) and touchdowns (21).

He started all 14 games, averaging 57.5 yards per game and 5.21 receptions per game. He accounted for 132 total points on the season. Richmond missed the AIFL playoffs – finishing 6-8 on the year.

“I had a great experience down in Richmond from the ownership to the coaching staff, everyone was great to work with,” Schubert said through a press release. “I met a lot of good people while playing a high level of football. Hopefully things will work out so I can return to the team next season.”

This offseason, Schubert is continuing to workout while exploring options in the Canadian Football League as well as the possibility of returning to the Raiders in 2011.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

After earning the Rawlings All-Mideast Region Gold Glove last month as voted on by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), Avon’s Phil Brua, who pitches for Oberlin College, has been tabbed as the national Gold Glove winner as a pitcher, the organization announced earlier this month.

Brua, who works inside and induces many slow rollers back to the mound, had 23 assists and five putouts in 28 chances on the mound this season. He finished the season error-free on the mound and was a part of three double plays.

Currently, Brua pitches for the Lorain County Ironmen of the Prospect League, a wooden bat collegiate league. He leads the league in appearances (21) and is third in ERA (1.16), saves (6) and wins (4).

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Amherst’s Ryan Rua was named the MVP of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League All-Star game as his Red All-Stars defeated the Blue Stars, 8-7 on Wednesday night at Western Hills' McCartney Stadium in Cincinnati. Rua went 2-for-5 with three RBIs to lead the Red All-Stars. His big hit was a two-run double down the third base line.

Rua, a Lake Erie College player, is currently playing for the Hamilton Joes in the GLSCL, where he is batting .310 (26-for-84) with five doubles, three triples, a home run, 13 RBIs and 16 runs scored.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Lake Erie College recently announced the addition of wrestling and men’s and women’s swimming and diving to the College’s stable of Division II sports.

Kevin Hoogenboom, a former assistant coach at Mercyhurst College, has been named the first head wrestling coach in school history.

"I’m really grateful to President Victor and Griz Zimmermann for this opportunity and I am truly honored to be selected as the first wrestling coach at Lake Erie College," Hoogenboom said through a press release. "Having previously been part of a new program as a student-athlete and then an emerging one as an assistant coach, I am looking forward to building a great program here.

"Kevin has considerable experience at the NCAA Division II level and has helped develop quality student-athletes, both on the mat and in the classroom," said Zimmermann. "We realize there is a real passion and desire on the part of students and parents to compete in wrestling at the collegiate level. Kevin is someone who understands those passions and desires, having not only coached but also been a college wrestler himself, and that will aid him in recruiting quality student-athletes and building a strong wrestling tradition at Lake Erie College."

Hoogenboom was part of the first wrestling recruiting class in Mercyhurst history and after his career ended in 2004, he headed to the bench as an assistant coach under Tony Cipollone. During his tenure, he coached 11 Division II All-Americans and 26 national qualifiers. The Lakers never finished worse than third in the Division II East Regional Championships during his time. As impressively, he coached 26 student-athletes who garnered all-academic team recognition.

The only area athlete on the team that includes the majority freshmen, is Avon Lake’s Kevin Brunner, who was a district qualifier last season.

courtesy of Jason Tirotta, Sports Information & Marketing Coordinator

It’s always been a dream for Geoff Mogus to play football in the Big Ten.

And as of Tuesday night, it became official.

Mogus, a Lorain native who will be a senior guard at St. Ed’s this upcoming season, will continue his football career in college, committing to Northwestern University at 8:30 p.m. last night.

"Big Ten football, you can’t pass that up," said Mogus, a 6-foot-5, 285 pound tackle/guard. "It’s been my dream to play in the Big Ten, so I’m excited."

Mogus entertained offers from schools such as Toledo, Ball State, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Youngstown State, Ohio University, Akron, Bowling Green, Air Force, Vanderbilt, Illinois and West Virginia, before settling for a full football scholarship from the Big Ten school — Northwestern.

"I liked the academics part of it," Mogus said. "To have a Northwestern degree on my resume would be great. They’re pretty much up-and-coming, they were 9-3 last year and they have a good program. I can’t wait to be a Wildcat."

Mogus, a lifelong Lorainite, attended Longfellow Elementary and played CYO Football at St. Jude’s in Elyria. He’s been playing on the varsity at St. Ed’s since his sophomore season.

"It’s a relief," Mogus said. "Now I can just focus on my season at St. Ed’s and focus on winning a state championship. I’m pumped for my senior season."

Mogus is not only relieved with his decision, but is determined to excel at the next level.

He is also appreciative to everyone who got him to this point.

"I definitely want to thank my mom and dad," Mogus said. "I also want to thank my coaches to this point. LeCharles Bentley and Mike D’Andrea has also helped me a lot too."

swalker@MorningJournal.com

During the college offseason, I will be categorizing, by schools, all our Morning Journal coverage-area athletes that are playing college sports.

Coaches, parents and friends, please feel free to submit to me any area athletes that are playing college sports. In the weeks to come, I will post each school with all the area athletes that I know and that you have sent to me, that are playing or will be playing college sports in the upcoming seasons.

If I leave anyone off, please feel free to email me and I will add him/her to database for future feature story ideas and College Insider updates.
Email me at swalker@MorningJournal.com

The Morning Journal coverage area includes graduates from: Admiral King, Southview, Elyria Catholic, Brookside, Keystone, Wellington, Clearview, Oberlin, Columbia, Elyria, Amherst, Avon Lake, Westlake, Avon, Bay, Firelands, Midview, North Ridgeville, Vermilion, Sandusky, Monroeville, New London, St. Paul, Western Reserve, Norwalk, Edison, Huron, Perkins, St. Mary, First Baptist, Open Door and Lake Ridge.

swalker@MorningJournal.com