Copley, Revere Battle for the Bell

The Suburban League title is not on the line - neither is a state playoff berth.

What is on the line are bragging rights to a backyard rivlary that began when Harry Truman was president and the privlege of becoming the caretaker to the symbol of victory in this bitter contest - the bell.

For the 61st time, Revere and Copley will meet on the gridiron to do battle in one of the more storied rivalries in northeast Ohio high school football.

The Minutemen hold the edge in the series with a record of 29-31.  However, Copley has dominated the last two meetings winning last year 27-14 and blowing out Revere in the 2010 contest 40-7, the year Copley was 9-2  and qualified for the state playoffs.

Once again, Copley (2-4, 5-4) is favored over Revere (1-5, 1-8) and a pretty good bet to extend their winning streak in the bell game to three.

However, the Indians are coming off a two-game losing streak to Wadsworth and Green and really haven't had a decent performance since beating Cloverleaf on October 5.  Revere, on the other hand, is coming off of its only win of the season, also against Cloverleaf.  Factor in all of the untangibles of a heated rivalry, and the fact that Revere is playing on home turf, and this latest grudge match might be a lot closer than many people think.

Need more information, including year-by-year scores, on the Copley-Revere rivalry?  Check out the Bell page of CopleyIndiansFootball.org.

Tomahawk Chops

• The loss to Green last week put the playoff hopes of the Indians out of reach. Copley is ranked 10th in the Division II, Region 5 computer ratings. Only the top eight teams from each region qualify for the state playoffs.

• Star running back Aregeros "Ducie" Turner has made an oral committment to the University of Cincinnati.  Turner, who has started at Copley since his freshman year, was highly recruited by several major Division I schools.Senior kicker Josh Brebant is out for the season with a broken foot.  He was in crutches for the Green game.  Josh, who only had two kick offs returned the entire season, is one heck of a talent and is being courted by at least two Division I colleges.  

• A coach from Northern Illinois University was roaming the sidelines at the Copley-Green game last week checking out a number of prospects. Northern Illinois played the University of Akron the next day.

• A recent inventory of Copley Indians who are still in uniform is rather impressive.  Delone Carter, 2005 Ohio Mr. Football, plays for the Indianapolis Colts.  Ten other Indians are currently playing college football: Connor Seeman and Martel Durant (University of Akron), Joe Connoly (John Carroll University), Jordan Moses (University of Mount Union), Shawn Taylor (Kent State University), Jordan Muraco (Walsh University), C.J. Chatman (Walsh University), Alexander Garrett (Baldwin Wallace University) Louie Gigliotti (University of Toledo) and R.J. Karam (Lake Erie College).