The Akron East Dragons put together a monumental season in 2016, finishing with eight wins and four losses, reaching the OHSAA Playoffs for the first time in school history.

Eighth-seeded East lost in a Division III regional semifinal, 27-20, in a nail biter which went down to the wire, as fifth-seeded New Philadelphia scored the game-winning touchdown with 17 seconds to play.

East’s historic season featured a pair of dramatic come-from-behind victories against two of its biggest rivals, as the Dragons went 6-0 in Akron City Series league play after starting the season 1-3, playing a tough non-conference schedule.

Head Coach Marques Hayes feels last year’s accomplishments were the result of a long process of building the program up over his five years at East and believes this year’s team is in position for another exciting season.

Coach Hayes spoke to NEO Sports Insiders about his team’s journey, their remarkable 2016 season and expectations for this Fall.

Started From The Bottom

When Hayes was named head coach in 2012, East was coming off a 1-9 season.

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing since then, but it’s been steady progression with each year, leading up to last year’s historic season.

“First and foremost, we had to get the students to believe they could win. I thought once they got acclimated to my staff and me, and once they understood that it was going to be about much more than just football, even though we all love football, we try to let them know that they can come to us with anything,” Hayes said.

“We’re approachable and we want to be those figures for them that are going to be positive in all aspects of life. I think they also respected our football backgrounds. I was a Division I college football player. I have multiple coaches on my staff who were also college athletes. One of our coaches was a National Champion with Youngstown State. When they see those types of things, they’re saying ‘OK. These guys have been through what we’re going through.’

“Losing isn’t hard, but once you build that foundation and lay those bricks down, I think every year it becomes your philosophy and it becomes easier to get across to them how the grind is still going to be hard and you still have to go out there and execute. I think we’re at a point now where we feel like we can go out and win every game we play and I think last season was just a testament to that.”

Strength of Schedule

Hayes also serves as co-athletic director at East and has made a point to challenge his team with a rigorous non-conference schedule, which includes games against Division I schools Massillon Jackson and North Canton Hoover from the powerhouse-filled Federal League in Stark County, and a game against Dover, which went 7-4 in 2016, reaching the playoffs in the same region as East.

East lost all three of those games last year, starting the season 1-3 with a non-conference win over Akron Springfield, but bounced back by winning seven-straight.

Hayes credits that strength of schedule as part of the reason his team was able to secure a playoff-berth and be ready for the road ahead.

“When you look at the way schedules are built and look at the teams that are going to the Playoffs every year, I think you have to try to build yourself a schedule that has some strength to it,” he said.

“You want to put yourself in a position so that if you have a chance to make postseason play, you’ll be in the talk of things. That’s the reason behind the way that we schedule. I don’t want to ever look our athletes in the eye and say ‘Hey, we ran off maybe six or seven wins, but we might be in the 15th spot in the Playoff race.’ When that happens, it’s only attributed to one thing and that’s strength of schedule, so we have to make sure ours is up to par.

When we go out there, we want to compete against some of the best teams, even though they’re in a higher division than us, we want to put our best foot forward because if we do get a chance to make postseason play, it’s not necessarily going to make it that much easier, but I think we will go into the postseason as a battle-tested team.”

In each of the last four seasons, East has faced Jackson, a team which has posted a winning record in six straight seasons, while playing in a competitive conference, making two Division I Playoff appearances during that stretch.

In all four meetings between 2013 and 2016, Jackson beat East, most recently by a score of 36-13, but Hayes believes his team is capable of flipping the script in 2017.

“We thought we could beat those teams last year,” Hayes said about his non-conference foes.

“When you look at the numbers, we actually outgained Jackson in total yardage 300 to 250 yards, so we went out there and played toe-to-toe with them, but the key to the game was turnovers and we have to make sure we clean up that aspect of the game this year, but we feel we can beat all of these teams we play. We don’t have the same resources as a lot of these teams have, but when that 7 o’clock kickoff comes around in whatever stadium we’re in, all those resources go out the door.

Then it’s just our guys vs. your guys. Our guys have the mentality that we can go out and compete with anybody we play.”

East will travel to Jackson for its season opener on Friday, Aug. 25 in a game which figures to be one of the best matchups in the Akron-Canton area in Week 1.

Akron City Series 

In 2016, the Akron City Series League was a four-way battle between East, Buchtel, Ellet and Firestone.

East went unbeaten (6-0), while the other three teams all beat each other up, going 4-2.

The Dragons saw their fair share of nail biters in conference play, as it was anything but an easy 6-0 season.

“Those are some very good teams,” Hayes said.

“The thing about the City Series is they’ll bring it every week, so we have to make sure that we do the same thing. There were a couple games where we had some large deficits that we had to come back from.  We were down 17 points with nine minutes left against Ellet. In the Buchtel game, we were down 15 with six minutes to go. (East beat Ellet by seven and Buchtel by five) So we had to fight back to get both of those wins.

It’s going to be a tough league again. We just have to make sure we’re doing our preparation the right way and putting our best foot forward to go out there and beat these teams.”

Who’s Back?

East graduated an impressive senior class in 2016, which led the way to the best season in school history.

It’d be tough for any team to replace guys like running back Jemarulin Suggs (2,522 rushing yards, 26 rushing touchdowns in 2016), who is preparing for his freshman season at the University of Akron or fellow Akron Zips Deandre Brimage and Marquess Callaway, who played such integral roles in getting the Dragons to the 2016 Playoffs.

However, East has a strong, senior-laden group ready to follow up and build upon last season’s accomplishments.

“We’re going to be a senior-heavy team this year,” Hayes said.

“A lot of our seniors have actually grabbed a lot notoriety. We have eight or nine athletes with standing offers from Division I colleges. It’s a fantastic thing for these kids and there’s not going to be a lack of talent on the field. Some of the players will have to grow with some maturity and leadership skills, but I think we have a very good team coming back.”

Daishawn Brimage WR/FS: Senior, 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, Akron Commit, All-District Honorable Mention, 684 all-purpose yards, 7 touchdowns (5 receiving, 1 rushing, 1 kick return), 2 interceptions in 2016 junior season

Devanier Floyd RB/SS: Senior, 5-foot-9, 200 pounds, Akron Commit, All-District Honorable Mention, Rushed for 1,080 yards on 108 attempts (10.0 yards per carry), scoring 13 rushing touchdowns as backup tailback in 2016 junior season

Ramon Fields G/DT: Senior, 6-foot-4, 375 pounds, Akron Commit, Four-year starter, recruited as a defensive lineman, All-District Honorable Mention in 2016 junior season

William Collier RB/CB: Senior, 5-foot-10, 195 pounds, offered by Minnesota and Toledo, Transferred from Hoban to East after winning two state titles, All-District Honorable Mention in 2016 junior season

Jayshawn Robinson FS: Senior, 6-foot, 190 pounds, Notre Dame College Commit, All-District Honorable Mention, 57 tackles, 4 interceptions, 60 INT return yards, 1 TD in 2016 junior season

Jerome Hall WR: Senior, 6-foot-3, 174 pounds, offered by Division II schools, First Team-All District at Akron Kenmore in 2016 junior season

Kyre Williams SS/WR: Junior, 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, offered by Akron, All-District Honorable Mention, 11 pass deflections, 44 tackles, collected 224 all-purpose yards, scoring four touchdowns in 2016 sophomore season

Deearius Reese T, DE: Junior, offered by Akron, All-District Honorable Mention, 20 tackles, 3 sacks, 7 tackles for loss in 2016 sophomore season

Ryan Collins QB: Junior, 741 passing yards, 6 passing touchdowns, 1 rushing touchdown, 5 interceptions in 2016 sophomore season, started freshman and sophomore years, leading East to Akron City Series Championship appearance as a freshman, winning a Playoff game as a sophomore, East is 12-11 over two seasons in games in which Collins started

 

• East rushed for nearly 4,000 yards as a team in 2016 and brings back its entire starting offensive line.
• Head Coach Marques Hayes was named AP All-Ohio Division III Coach of the Year in 2016
• East’s roster on MaxPreps lists 17 seniors

Unfinished Business

“We’re very motivated. Very motivated. It’s on these kids’ minds all the time,” Hayes said of his team’s hunger to avenge the narrow defeat in the 2016 regional semifinal.

“They just want to get back to competing. They understand last year was monumental for us. It was the best record in school history. It was the first time the school has ever been to the Playoffs, but not only to just go to the playoffs, but to get there in the fashion that we did it…

…We had to leapfrog a team in the very last week of the regular season to take the number eight spot. Then we had to play the undefeated number one seed (Marlington) and go down to their place and get a win down there. (East beat Marlington 50-37) We thought it was amazing. We told them in August last season our goal was to get to Week 11.

We told them if we get to Week 11, we’re either going to be in our city championship game or we were going to be in the first round of the State Playoffs. We’re glad that happened, but the goal now is not necessarily to duplicate what happened last year, but understand that it’s going to be a tough road again to make it. We just have to make sure we take all the necessary steps to put ourselves in position.”

Something that Coach Hayes and his players can’t dwell on, but is an interesting note for football fans and writers to consider is the fact that defending region champion Archbishop Hoban, which won back-to-back state titles in 2015 and 2016 has moved up from Division III to Division II.

The region still features plenty of tough teams and anyone who comes out on top will have to earn every inch they get, but one thing is for certain: there will be a new region (and Division III state) champion this season… and East is in the mix of contenders.

**To keep up with news and find more information about the Akron East Dragons, check out their website here and follow Coach Hayes on Twitter**