The North Royalton High School football season begins on Friday night, August 26, at Serpentini Chevrolet Stadium against North Ridgeville. Kickoff will be at 7 p.m.
At the recent “Media Day” held for football teams in the Suburban League, North Royalton Head Football Coach Nick Ciulli gave the Royalton Recorder a sneak peek into his 2016 Varsity team.
“This group is focused and has been together more than we have had in the past couple of years,” said Coach Ciulli. “It’s a very coachable group and they have bought in. They’re ready to win and get our ship straightened again.”
Last year’s 3-7 record was a disappointment to Coach Ciulli, the players and to the fans of the Bears. “We lost four games by seven points or less, and we lost to Wadsworth (9-0) on basically one play right before halftime,” said Ciulli.
Among some of the strengths of this year’s team is the senior class. “Our senior class is not very big, numbers wise (only 16), but every one of them has an impact. The leadership that they provide is important.”
“We were so young last year and we gave up scores just before halftime and we couldn’t come back. I’m hoping our seniors will provide the necessary leadership to the rest of the team.”
Another area of strength for the Bears is athleticism. “We’ve got some kids with some speed. We have some juniors this year who were not ready to play varsity as sophomores. They are moving up. It’s a nice mix. Many of our seniors are linemen and when you combine that with our underclassmen, we will be more athletic than we have been,” said Ciulli.
Finding a quarterback to run the offense is one area that Coach Ciulli is working on. “We have a junior, a sophomore and a freshman working at the position.”
But, Ciulli is not concerned with the lack of experience at QB. “You have to deal with it every two years anyhow. What takes my concern down is if we are good at running back. We have a couple of kids battling to start at that position.”
Ciulli compares it to a situation he had a few years ago that Bears fans remember. “When Travis Tarnowski was a sophomore, I had Logan Pearce to run the ball in the backfield. I was able to bring Travis along slowly.”
North Royalton has four returning starters on offense. But, the Bears have other players on offense that didn’t start last year but played in all ten games. Ciulli has a new football term for that, calling the offense “deceivingly experienced.”
Another strength for North Royalton is on defense where two senior defensive backs and two linebackers return, as does defensive end Nick Coberly, who Coach Ciulli thinks could draw some interest from Division One schools.
After the Bears open the season against North Ridgeville, they’ll take on the Parma Redmen at home and the Highland Hornets on the road. Then, North Royalton will begin play in the Suburban League.

By JOE JASTRZEMSKI
Contributing Writer