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Clyde's Schwartz intent on becoming Buckeye
At the news conference Monday for the Time Warner East-West All Star football game, West coach Cliff Hite talked about his most famous pupil.
Hite, the outgoing coach at Findlay, talked about Ben Roethlisberger, particularly the tackle the Steelers quarterback made in a playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts that likely saved the game for the eventual Super Bowl Champions.
"I get no credit, and I'm very bitter about this," Hite said with mock indignation, "But I taught him how to tackle."
West coach Marc Gibson, who played straight man to Hite's comic, talked about Eric Schwartz.Don't know the name? Just wait.
In two weeks, Schwartz will take the field with the Ohio State football team when practice starts.
The college freshman will get a chance to prove to Jim Tressel and his assistants what people in Northwest Ohio already know: That he's got the talent and drive to play on Saturday afternoons.
The journey to Columbus wasn't an easy one for Schwartz. He'll be a preferred walk-on, one of 20 among the 105, and his road won't get any easier.
"They just signed five linebackers," he said.
But if the past year is any indication, he's up to the challenge -- and will likely overcome it.
"He won't embarrass himself," Gibson said.
Schwartz was the first player Gibson met when he arrived in Clyde this year. It was the Sidney native's first year with the Fliers after coaching in the Dayton area. Gibson's initial impression was of a calm, quiet player with a good work ethic from a good family.
He had already gotten some looks at football camps over the summer from some Mid-American Conference schools, and even Big Ten schools like Northwestern and Ohio State.
Being a Buckeye was Schwartz's dream.
"The only thing he wanted to do is play football for Ohio State," Gibson said.
Schwartz spent a lot of the summer in the weight room as well, gaining more than 20 pounds and playing most of the season around 250 pounds.
"I thought coming in that the bigger I was, the better I'd be," he said.
The Fliers' season started off with a bang, as they overcame a 14-point halftime deficit to beat Eastwood 26-14. The following week, Clyde won a brutal game, 7-0, against Tiffin Columbian. They went to Bellevue with a 2-0 record and beat their Route 20 rivals for the first time in a decade.
Schwartz watched the game from a wheelchair on the sidelines, with a staph infection in his knee. He probably shouldn't have even been at the game.
"His knee had just ballooned," Gibson said. "Just swelled up immensely."
Schwartz was determined to give his teammates whatever support he could muster. He couldn't be on the field bodily, but spiritually, he was.
"I'm not going to lie, one of the hardest things I had to do was sit on the sidelines for the Bellevue game," Schwartz said.
He missed the next two games as well, including the Fliers' lone regular-season loss, a 21-14 overtime setback to Sandusky Bay Conference rivals Oak Harbor.
He returned in Week Six, but by that time, many of the colleges that had been looking at him had made up their minds -- and it wasn't in his favor.
Gibson said Schwartz's health might have scared off some coaches. There is no injury like a knee injury in an athlete to scare off coaches and scouts.
But Schwartz knew that he hadn't done enough to impress them.
"They all wanted some film from the first three or four games," he said. "Once I was 100 percent, it was too late."
The Fliers finished the season 9-1 and won a share of the SBC title and the right to host a playoff game -- a first in the program's history.
Schwartz formed a brutal tandem with senior Matt Guhn in the offensive backfield and as linebackers. Guhn, who is going to the University of Michigan on a wrestling scholarship, was named the state Division III Defensive Player of the Year, registering 16 sacks and 70 tackles during the season.
All Schwartz did was lead the team with 130 tackles -- despite missing three games.
Schwartz then got into wrestling season. Wrestling at the 215 pound class -- the team already had a state champion heavyweight in Guhn --Schwartz started to drop weight. He got the opportunity to play in the Global Junior Championship, a football tournament played at the Pontiac Silverdome the week before the Super Bowl.
The American team, made up of players from Northwestern Ohio, got to the finals and played the Canadian National Team, made up of all-stars from throughout the country. Schwartz impressed with his play, almost pulling in an interception for the American team.
He finished third at the state wrestling tournament, but wanted to play football. While he enjoyed wrestling competitively, practice felt like work. That was never the case for football.
"I looked forward to football practice," he said.
Schwartz got another chance to play in an All-Star game pitting the SBC against the Suburban Lakes League. He was the defensive MVP for his play, which included scooping up a fumble and running it back for a touchdown.
"I think his two best performances were in the all-star games," Gibson said.
And now, Schwartz will have to prove himself again. The stage is bigger. The stakes are bigger. But at least one person thinks Schwartz is equal to the task.
"I think he's got as good a shot as anyone," Gibson said.
