This week, your Lakewood Rangers football program prepares for a high stakes game at Brush in Cleveland. The Rangers (sitting at 2-7) are currently the 16 seed in Division 2 Region 5. Only 16 teams make the playoffs in each region, and Lakewood has a very slight edge over the 3-6 Amherst Comets, coached by former Lakewood Head Coach Tom Thome. This has been a rallying point for the Rangers, as Senior Captain Edward Horton says “We have a good shot at knocking Amherst and Coach Thome out of the playoffs if we win this week, so that’s a big incentive to win too.”

But before we look forward into the playoffs, the Rangers need to focus and beat the Brush Arcs this week. The Arcs should be a good game as they are 1-8 with their lone win coming against Cleveland Central Catholic 25-6. Brush has come close a couple times with a 33-32 loss to Willoughby and a 42-40 loss to Benedictine. Brush won’t be pushovers and the team knows this, with Senior Captain Alex Symons said “Everyone needs to do their job on the field, it makes winning 100 times easier”

Now a sneak peek into the play-offs; Lakewood doesn’t control their own destiny. The Rangers need to win, then need some help getting into the play-offs. The way the OHSAA play-offs are formatted, if you beat a team in the regular season their wins count as points for you. Lakewood’s 41-40 thriller against Clearview has been our biggest asset, as they are currently 7-2 and have an extremely favorable matchup this week. The John Marshall win has been very helpful as well and they sit at 4-4, however have a very tough game against Glenville on Friday. If Lakewood and Clearview win Friday, then the Rangers have a very good chance at beating Amherst out for the 16 seed and an opportunity to play Avon.