As a standout high school football player at Chardon in the mid-1990s, Scott Platz played linebacker under legendary Hilltoppers Head Coach Bob Doyle.
As a standout high school football player at Chardon in the mid-1990s, Scott Platz played linebacker under legendary Hilltoppers Head Coach Bob Doyle.
For Coach Doyle, instilling a positive attitude among his team was paramount to gridiron success. In fact, Doyle told the Maple Leaf in 2014 that when he coached Hilltoppers Football he wanted his athletes to focus on the mantra, “If you believe, you can achieve.”
By developing a culture that instilled a high level of belief in self and team, Coach Doyle led Platz and his teammates to the Hilltoppers first state championship in 1994 when they defeated Buckeye Local,17-6.
After a successful high school football career under Coach Doyle, Platz went on to play college football at Mercyhurst University.
While a student-athlete at Mercyhurst, Platz broke the school record for all-time tackles.
Moving on to work in the financial sector after graduation, Platz also returned to his alma mater to coach football, boys lacrosse and girls basketball.
Now, following in the footsteps of Coach Doyle, Platz is focused on implementing a growth mindset as he enters his first year as the Hilltoppers Head Boys Lacrosse Coach.
With a positive approach to inspiring his team, Platz picked up his first career victory as when the Hilltoppers defeated Cathedral Prep, 15-3, in the season opener in Erie, Pennsylvania on March 21.
“There is a guy I coached with that used to say: ‘How did you get one percent better today?’” Coach Platz said. “If everyday you get one percent better then eventually the sky’s the limit. And that’s what we’re trying to do.”
In implementing this approach, Coach Platz teaches his players to focus on controlling the controllables.
“We got to control what we can control, that’s our play, that’s our discipline, that’s our execution,” Coach Platz said. “What other team’s do, we have to react to appropriately and we have to be able to adapt to them, but we (still) have to control what we can control.”
After losses at Memorial Field to St. Edward on March 27 and a 5-4 overtime defeat to Bay on April 1, Coach Platz helped his team learn from mistakes so that they could move forward in a positive direction.
In particular, the Hilltoppers watched film and went through walk-throughs to understand how they could improve.
“They came out learning from some of the mistakes they made,” said Coach Platz. “That’s all you can ask for as a coach. Which is how are you continuing to grow, how are you learning from those mistakes, and (then) taking the next step.”
With a focus on improvement and positive growth, the Hilltoppers corrected their mistakes and defeated the Hawken Hawks 9-2 on April 3 at Memorial Field.
Afterwards, in assessing his team’s performance, Coach Platz highlighted the focus, effort, and energy his team demonstrated.
“The kids came really locked in today,” Coach Platz said. “They executed really well, (and showed) high energy, all day, all game, and that’s really all you can ask for, execution and energy.”
Platz said that the Hilltoppers came into the contest looking to play fast and force the action.
In playing quickly, Coach Platz was happy with how the offense kept the ball moving and also how they stayed aggressive throughout the contest.
Exemplifying the offensive aggressiveness Platz was looking for was junior captain Nick Meyer who netted four goals in the contest.
“Nick stayed very aggressive, he took his opportunities when they presented themselves,” Coach Platz said. “He was, I like to say, patiently aggressive. So he didn’t force too much, he didn’t try to do more than what was in front of him. He made the best of the opportunities he had.”
In addition to Meyer leading the Hilltoppers offensively with four goals against the Hawks, they were also led by Nate Bosiacki (2 goals), Luke Vucetic (2) and Dylan Conroy (1).
Defensively, Coach Platz has been focused on teaching his players to aggressively slide when the situation calls for it.
In observing the Hilltoppers defense against the Hawks, Coach Platz saw improvement.
“We’re getting much better (on defense),” said Coach Platz. “I think they’ve taken to a lot of the coaching points and we’re staying disciplined in knowing what our assignments are and executing those.”
Helping to lead the defense was freshman goalie, Corbin Rice who had 14 saves.
“They were throwing some bouncers but they really couldn’t get them past me to be honest,” Corbin said. “They got a lot of good shooters and our defense was sliding pretty good, laying some good hits down, really getting the ball out. And our middies (midfielders) came and played great defense too, and they just really locked them down.”
With a growth mindset and a focus on getting one percent better each day, look for the Hilltoppers Boys Lacrosse Team to have an excellent 2025 season.
