Ohio High School Football 2007 Preview: Lakewood St. Edward

St Edward High School is located in Lakewood, Ohio, a part of the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan Area. It is an all-male Catholic school run by the Brothers of Holy Cross. The school is named in honor of Edward Hoban, who was the Diocese of Cleveland in 1949 at the time of the school's opening. St Edwards is most known for its exceptional wrestling program. The team has won 11 consecutive state championships between 1997 and 2007. Sports teams for the school are known as the Eagles.

Notable St Edward Football Alumni

At least three members of St Edward's football team have gone on to play professionally in the NFL. During his senior year at St Edward, Tom Cousineau was one of the most highly-recruited high school football players in the county. After high school he played for Ohio State University as a linebacker. In the 1979 NFL draft he was drafted first overall by the Buffalo Bills, but he never played a game with them. Cousineau thought that the Bills had been rude to him. After leaving the team he played with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. He played with the Cleveland Browns from 1982 and 1985. He played his final two years before retirement with the San Francisco 49ers.

DeJuean Groce was named to the PrepStar's Dream Team while he played at St Edward. He played cornerback for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After graduation he was signed by the St Louis Rams and played there from 2003 to 2005. In 2006 he began playing for the New Orleans Saints.

While attending St Edward Rodney Bailey was named the Cleveland Division I Player of the Year by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. After graduating from St Edward he played linebacker for Ohio State University and then went pro in 2001 when he joined the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was with the Steelers until 2003. During that time he played in every game, 16 per year, plus postseason games. In 2005 he was signed to the Seattle Seahawks. During that year he had 13 tackles and two forced fumbles.

The St Edward 2007 Season

In March of 2007 Gene Boyer, St Edward's principal, called a news conference during which he announced that the school had hired Scoot Niedzwiecki as the school's new defensive coordinator. Niedzwiecki is the former defensive coordinator for John Carroll University.