After a difficult few years of football, the West Geauga Wolverines are on the cusp of qualifying for the OHSAA playoffs for the first time since 2021.
After a difficult few years of football, the West Geauga Wolverines are on the cusp of qualifying for the OHSAA playoffs for the first time since 2021.
With their third head coach in four years, former state championship Kirtland Hornets assistant coach Rossi Santo, now in his first year as Wolverines Head Coach, has his team positioned for the final playoff spot in OHSAA Div. III, Region 9.
Going into the final week of the regular season, the Wolverines are ranked No. 12 with 10.58 points. According to JoeEitel.com, with a win over the Orange Lions, the Wolverines will make the OHSAA playoffs for the first time in four years.
After winning five out of six games to get into playoff contention, the Wolverines lost to the Perry Pirates, 35-21 on Oct. 17 at Howell Field.
Against the Pirates, Coach Santo said that the Wolverines came out a bit flat.
“We spotted them 28 points,” Coach Santo said.
To Coach Santo and the Wolverines credit, they did not give up.
In the second half, they had the second best Wolverines’ performance against the Pirates in the past decade.
To keep his team focused, at halftime, Coach Santo said that he told his team to keep competing.
“We told them to come out and compete and I just wanted the guys to come out and play hard,” Coach Santo said.
The Wolverines heeded their coach’s advice as they outscored the Pirates 21-7 in the second half.
In helping lead the Wolverines to 21 second half points, senior quarterback Finn Keenan said it was important to stay calm, cool and collected as they attempted their comeback.
“Really just tried to keep guys calm,” said Keenan. “In football, you’re not going to play well when guys are screaming at each other and getting mad. You just got to play the game and you can’t look at the scoreboard.”
Trailing 28-0 at intermission, the Wolverines got on the scoreboard in the third quarter on a short touchdown run by senior quarterback, Finn Keenan. After the extra point by Adison Cook, the Wolverines trailed 28-7.
Keenan said that on the first drive of the second half, the Wolverines did a good job of forgetting about the score.
“We forgot about the scoreboard, we toughened up and went toe to toe with them for a whole drive, it was really cool to see,” Keenan said.
After Keenan’s touchdown, the Wolverines then made the score 28-14 on a Miles Baker 29-yard touchdown run and Cook’s second straight extra point with 9:47 left in the fourth quarter.
With under five minutes left in the game, the Wolverines defense rose to the occasion and stuffed the Pirates on a fourth down attempt.
Unfortunately, the Wolverines were not able to capitalize on the defensive stop as they turned the ball over on the next play.
But still, the Wolverines did not quit.
After the Pirates scored quickly on a short field, to make the score 35-14, the Wolverines and Miles Baker found the endzone again with 54 seconds left in regulation.
Trailing 35-21, the Wolverines successfully recovered the onside kick. Unfortunately, they were not able to score a final touchdown.
Afterwards, Baker said that the Wolverines offensive line did a great job of opening holes for him against the Pirates, particularly on his two touchdown runs.
“I can’t thank the guys up front enough,” said Baker. “They blocked those two (touchdown) plays very well. They just left me a great lane to cut and we got after it.”
After losing their first two games of the 2025- 2026 season to the Geneva Eagles and the NDCL Lions, the Wolverines have played extremely well over the last seven games, winning five of their last seven.
Over the previous seven games, including contests against Chagrin Falls (42-14), Conneaut (42-0), Edgewood (36-12), Hawken (33-36) Harvey (28-14), Lutheran West (42-13), and Perry (21-35), the Wolverines offense has averaged 34.8 points per game.
In order to have an effective offense, the Wolverines have been a run heavy team relying on a strong offensive line and great running from senior running back Miles Baker.
For the season, through the first eight games Baker ran for 1212 yards on 124 carries for a 9.8 yards per carry average and an average of 151.5 yards per game.
With such a great season, Baker is looking to break the Wolverines single season rushing record in Week 10 against the Lions
Although the Wolverines have focused on the run, Keenan, the senior quarterback has had a good season both through the air and also on the ground. In fact, against the Lutheran West Longhorns on Oct. 10, he had his second 5 touchdown performance of the season. He threw four touchdown passes and also ran for one touchdown.
Against the Longhorns, Keenan threw touchdown passes of 49 yards, 18 yards, and eight yards to senior wide receiver Dominic Paros and a 33-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Tyler Fink.
Earlier in the season on Sept. 19, Keenan ran for five touchdowns in the Wolverines 36-12 victory over the Edgewood Warriors.
In Week 10, look for the Wolverines to have strong performances from Keenan and Baker on Oct. 24 at Orange High School as they punch their ticket to the 2025 OHSAA playoffs.
