'07 OH DE Ben Martin (Tennessee signee)

[osubro]

La Salle vs. Moeller

I'm not sure what kind of game Ben Martin had for La Salle, but the Lancers had an emotional victory over Moeller on Saturday afternoon. Here's the Cincy Enquirer account of the game...

Sunday, October 2, 2005

Emotional Lancers knock off Crusaders
LaSalle 17, Moeller 14

By Tom Groeschen
Enquirer staff writer

Mike Reed stood quietly near La Salle's jubilant postgame football huddle at Lockland Stadium Saturday afternoon, speaking of how his late father would have loved the Lancers' 17-14 upset of Moeller.

"He's watching over us right now," said Reed, the Lancers' standout senior wide receiver. "One of the last things my dad said to me was, 'Beat Moeller.' "

John Reed, 47, died of a stroke last Sunday. His death came less than 48 hours after Mike scored four touchdowns in a 40-20 defeat of Elder Sept. 23.

Mike Reed didn't score Saturday, but he had three catches for 50 yards as the Lancers, ranked No. 5 in The Enquirer Division I area coaches' poll, beat No. 3 Moeller for just the fourth time in the schools' 43 football meetings.

La Salle (5-1, 2-0 Greater Catholic League South) got a 29-yard field goal by Aaron Walter to take a 17-14 lead with 4:03 left.

Moeller (4-2, 0-1 GCLS) was driving for a potential go-ahead score in the final minute, but Lancers senior defensive back John Hoerst intercepted a pass in the end zone with 50 seconds left.

"For Mike to play today, after all he's gone through this week, we had to win it for him," Hoerst said.

John Reed's funeral was Thursday.

"He would have wanted me to play," Mike Reed said. "I didn't know if I could focus, but I did."

La Salle coach Tom Grippa said Reed stood tall during an emotional week.

"He's so dear to us," an emotional Grippa said. "He's the heart and soul of our team."

It was the Lancers' first win over Moeller since 2001.

The Lancers had just enough offense and plenty of defense to win. La Salle's defensive standouts included Hoerst and linebacker Nick Miller, who returned an interception 45 yards for a touchdown.

"Defensively, they came up with big plays," Moeller coach Bob Crable said. "My hat's off to them."

La Salle senior quarterback Tyler Sheehan completed five of 12 passes for 126 yards and one intercetion. The big play was a pivotal 71-yard completion to running back Isaac Green, which set up the Lancers at the Moeller 10-yard line midway through the fourth period. That led to Walter's decisive field goal.

Sheehan also scored on a 38-yard run, although his game rushing total was 35 yards rushing because of Moeller's five sacks.

Moeller senior running back Martez Williams rushed 31 times for 213 yards and a touchdown.

Moeller sophomore quarterback Ross Oltorik completed seven of 22 passes for 74 yards and was intercepted twice. He also rushed for a touchdown while playing in place of junior Ryan Morris, last week's starter, who has a sprained ankle.

La Salle will visit No. 1-ranked St. Xavier Friday, with a chance for just the second league title in the program's 44-year history. La Salle shared the '95 GCL South championship, and only St. X is in this year's three-game league race with the Lancers.

"My dad said he wanted to see us win the GCL," Reed said. "There's one game to go."


La Salle 0 7 7 3 -17
Moeller 7 0 7 0 -14

M-Oltorik 1 run (Sunderman kick)

L-Sheehan 38 run (Walter kick)

L-Miller 45 interception return (Walter kick)

M-Williams 11 run (Sunderman kick)

L-Walter 29 FG

Records: L 5-1 (2-0 GCL-S), M 4-2 (0-1)

 

[osubro]

"...it always worries me when a Cincy kid from a Catholic school (I forget LaSalles exact affiliation...not sure it lines up with ND. Both Brothers of the something or other). Not sure if he is Catholic, but I know many of the people in those schools really push kids to Catholic Universities, especially ones that have the same affiliation. May not matter in this case. Just always worries me."

Cincinnati La Salle, like 44 other Catholic schools across the country called "La Salle", "De La Salle," or "Christian Brothers," is a high school founded by and/or associated with the De La Salle Christian Brothers. Notre Dame was founded by and is run by Holy Cross priests. Other than being Catholic religious orders, there is no connection between the two groups.

A few D1 La Salle guys I know played at Notre Dame (Jim Hauptman, Chris Smith, Jerry Weinle, Bob Burger), but the majority of D1 guys played for MAC schools, UK, UC, or Purdue. Don Hasselbeck, father of all the Hasselbeck quarterbacks, is a La Salle grad who played tight end at Colorado before his pro career. La Salle's All-American fullback in the mid-70s, Mike Schneider, played one season for the Bucks....but quickly ended up in Woody's doghouse.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

link

10/7/05

La Salle at St. Xavier

WHEN/WHERE: 7:30 p.m. today, St. Xavier H.S., 600 North Bend Road.

RECORDS: La Salle 5-1 (2-0 Greater Catholic League South), St. Xavier 6-0 (1-0).

WHAT TO WATCH: La Salle is the underdog, but an upset would give the Lancers their first outright GCL title in the program's 44-year history. (La Salle shared the '95 title with Elder). Lancers quarterback Tyler Sheehan, who returned from a broken collarbone two weeks ago, leads the GCL in passing efficiency, going 26-of-46 for 516 yards, seven TDs and two interceptions. St. X QB Brad Scherer last week rushed for 149 yards (one TD) and threw for 153 in a 44-10 rout of Elder. The Bombers' starting defense has not allowed a touchdown in five of six games.

BOTTOM LINE: La Salle has momentum after stunning Elder (40-20) and Moeller (17-14) the past two weeks. But St. Xavier is having a special year, and the Bombers will be tough to beat at home.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

LINK

10/8/05

St. Xavier football players hoisted the King Of The Road trophy skyward late Friday night, leaving little doubt who is the current king of North Bend Road.
Not to mention most other Ohio thoroughfares.
St. Xavier, ranked No. 1 in both the state and Enquirer Division I polls and No. 18 by USA Today, thrashed La Salle 28-0 in a huge Greater Catholic League South game.
A sellout crowd of about 8,000 watched on a chilly night at St. Xavier's Tom Ballaban Field.
La Salle, located a few minutes down North Bend Road from St. X, entered with a No. 3 Enquirer ranking and big momentum after having beaten GCL South teams Elder and Moeller the past two weeks.
"We definitely needed to set the tone early," said St. X senior defensive end Alex Albright, who is committed to Boston College. "They had some momentum coming in, and we had to stop that right away."
St. Xavier took care of La Salle's upset hopes with a dominant showing, with the Bombers' defense causing four turnovers before halftime and six overall.
It was 14-0 by halftime, and La Salle never came close to scoring.
The Bombers held La Salle to 119 total yards, and rode a three-touchdown performance from sophomore running back Darius Ashley to victory. Ashley carried 21 times for 128 yards.
"Darius is special," St. X coach Steve Specht said. "You're a good coach when you have good players like this."
St. X fullback Jimmy Hobson rushed 13 times for 76 yards and a TD.
St. Xavier senior Chris Cionni, a 2004 all-city running back who has been plagued by injuries this year, played only sparingly. Cionni, who broke two bones in his back earlier this season, sprained an ankle last week and saw action on only a few plays.
La Salle's defense played relatively well, holding St. X to 236 total yards. But the rushing stats said a lot, with St. X holding a 217-56 edge on the ground.
La Salle quarterback Tyler Sheehan, who has committed to Bowling Green and is considered the area's top quarterback, completed 9-of-23 passes for 63 yards with four interceptions. Sheehan, playing on an injured hamstring suffered earlier this week, rushed 10 times for 13 yards.
"We wanted to stop Tyler running that option, and we needed to take Michael Reed out of the game," Specht said.
Reed, La Salle's standout wide receiver, wriggled free for six catches and 56 yards. His long gain was 17 yards.
St. Xavier's starting defense has not allowed a touchdown in six of its seven games. It was the Bombers' fourth shutout this year, and St. X has outscored its opponents 203-38.
"There's a reason they're No. 1 in the state," La Salle coach Tom Grippa said. "We lost the game because of those turnovers."
St. X as usual had many defensive standouts. Louis Miller had a sack, two quarterback hurries and 2 ½ tackles for loss; Albright was in on six tackles; Tim Fagel had two interceptions and a fumble recovery; Joe Ries had seven tackles and 1½ tackles for loss; Kyle Meyer had 1½ tackles for loss; Fred Craig forced a fumble and had an interception; Frank Morand had an interception and a pass breakup; Nick Schneider recovered a fumble; and Brad Brookbank broke up a pass.
La Salle (5-2, 2-1 GCL-S) was seeking its first outright Greater Catholic League South championship in the program's 44-year history. The Lancers' only previous GCL football title was 1995, a shared championshipwith Elder.
St. X (7-0, 2-0 GCL-S) clinched at least a share of its second straight GCL South title.
St. X will conclude its own three-game GCL South league schedule until Oct. 28, the final week of the season vs. Moeller. That game will be played at Paul Brown Stadium.
<TABLE class=enqtable cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR class=enqtdhead><TD align=left>La Salle</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>0</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>0</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>0</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>0</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>- 0</TD></TR><TR><TD class=enqtd align=left>St. Xavier</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>0</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>14</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>7</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>7</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>-28</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
X-Ashley 2 run (Milligan kick)
X-Hobson 11 run (Milligan kick)
X-Ashley 1 run (Milligan kick)
X-Ashley 2 run (Milligan kick)
Records: L 5-2 (2-1 GCL-S), X 7-0 (2-0

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

link

10/14/05

East Central (Ind.) at La Salle

WHEN/WHERE: 8 p.m. today at La Salle HS, 3091 North Bend Road.
RECORDS: East Central 7-1, La Salle 5-2.

WHAT TO WATCH: East Central is a Class 4A Indiana school, the state's second-largest class. In Ohio, East Central would be a Division II-sized school. (Division I La Salle beat East Central 31-10 last year). This year, East Central has beaten two Ohio teams, Milford (35-6) and Harrison (13-7). La Salle is regrouping after last week's 28-0 loss to St. Xavier. The Lancers, led by QB Tyler Sheehan and WR Mike Reed, will look to get their offense back on track.

BOTTOM LINE: East Central generally is competitive against the better Ohio schools, but La Salle should win comfortably.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

LINK

10/15/05

Playoff spots can be powerful motivators, as the La Salle Lancers demonstrated Friday night.

The Lancers, the No. 3 team in the Enquirer Division I area coaches' poll, went into their Homecoming game against East Central holding the eighth and final spot in the Division I, Region 4 Harbin computer ratings, which are used to determine playoff berths. La Salle needed a win over the Trojans to stay in contention.

Mike Reed carried the ball two times, each time for a touchdown, and caught five passes for 96 yards as La Salle answered the challenge with a 28-12 win.

"We knew we had to win our last three games to get in," Reed said of the Lancers' playoff chances. "We know we're going to be lucky to get in (even if we finish) at 8-2, but we definitely knew we were the better team tonight."

Said La Salle coach Tom Grippa: "This was a playoff game. We know we need to win to keep advancing."

Isaac Green had 87 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, and quarterback Tyler Sheehan was 10-of-15 passing for 166 yards for La Salle (6-2).

The Lancers, seemingly intent on putting away the Trojans (7-2) quickly, scored on their first two possessions. Six different players handled the ball, including three different running backs, as La Salle took the opening kickoff and marched 82 yards in 12 plays.

Sheehan converted on fourth-and-10 from East Central's 36-yard line with a 21-yard pass to Reed, and Bobby Burger capped the drive with an 11-yard touchdown run around left end, breaking a tackle along the way.

After forcing a Trojans punt and being penalized back to their own 45-yard line, the Lancers needed just five plays to take a 14-0 lead on Reed's 2-yard run. He added a 10-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.

The Trojans, one of Indiana's top Class 4A teams, settled down after that and kept the Lancers from scoring the rest of the half while getting a 24-yard field goal from Alex Wilhelm.

Wilhelm added a 31-yard field goal, but La Salle responded with Isaac Green's 3-yard touchdown run following Vince Harris' interception deep in East Central territory.

"That was a rocket screen," East Central coach Don Stonefield said. "That kid's a great athlete. He made a good read and went with it."

<TABLE class=enqtable cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR class=enqtdhead><TD align=left>East Central</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>0</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>3</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>3</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>6</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>-12</TD></TR><TR><TD class=enqtd align=left>La Salle</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>14</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>0</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>7</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>7</TD><TD class=enqtd align=left>-28</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

L - Burger 11 run (Walter kick)
L - Reed 2 run (Walter kick)
E - Wilhelm 31 FG
L - Green 3 run (Walter kick)
L - Reed 10 run (Walter kick)
E - Hartman 13 pass from Deters (pass failed)

Records: East Central 7-2, La Salle 6-2.

 

[westbuck04]

Ben took an un-official visit to ND this past weekend, along with many of the top juniors in the country (Jimmy Claussen and Andrew Dailey included).

From what I'm hearing, he may be an early ND lean, but there is obviously plenty of time to go; Clearly, this will be a battle, and it would really sting to lose the top player in the 07' class, especially an elite pass rusher. Really, we could lose 3 of the top guys in the state for next year:

Martin: ND?
Jer'Male Hinds: Florida?
Chris Smith: Tennessee?

Again, it's early, but next year is looking quite interesting on the recruiting front...

 

[OSUBucks22]

I have pretty good sources that say Hines and Smith are only waiting for tOSU to offer before declaring them the leader... Martin however, will be a fight to the finish.

 

[wadc45]

I have pretty good sources that say Hines and Smith are only waiting for tOSU to offer before declaring them the leader... Martin however, will be a fight to the finish.

I have "heard" the same thing about Hines, not about Smith...and you are right on about Martin.

 

[OSUBucks22]

The info on Smith is from a friend of the family. He says that Tennessee is not the draw that they are perceived to be and that Chris would most likely not be able to turn down a Buckeye offer.
Martin is a big get. We haven't been able to have consistent success in Cincy yet. Good thing is that he's been up here several times. That helps. The one thing that may work against us is the depth on the D-Line. With the class we took last year and the perceived class this year, our depth will be much better than ND's. Let's hope the kid is a competitor.

 

[BuckTwenty]

By the time he gets on campus, our 4 starters plus our 2 best subs will have graduated on the D-line.

Sr- Mike Kudla, Marcus Green
Jr- Quinn Pitcock, David Patterson, Jay Richardson, Joel Penton
(Which leaves) So & Fr- Gholston, Wilson, Barrow, Cotton?, Abdallah, Worthington, Williams, Denlinger... out of which the only proven commodities are Gholston and Wilson.

If he's as good as advertised, he has as good a chance as anyone mentioned above to get into the 8-man rotation... especially at DT (Cotton, Abdallah, Denlinger being the only holdovers, plus possibly Larimore?). I think depth could actually work in our favor the next 2 years recruiting D-linemen, especially with the amount of early playing time that goes along with OSU's 8-man rotation system (meaning more guys play more significant minutes and get valuable game experience).

 

[RB07OSU]

I like the future of our dline with the 3 w's last year and denlinger, this year we have the possiblities of Dublin, Wesley, Matthews, Rose, and Larrimore. Throw in Ben Martin next year with D'Andrea, Thomas, or Wade. We have the possiblity for a very bright future but I am thinking Martin could really be the best of them all.

 

[westbuck04]

Martin could come in RIGHT NOW and be in the 2-deep...he's that good! Unfortunately, I think he's a Domer. :(

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

scout.com (free)

10/25/05

From the ND site............

<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="98%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=3>Martin a Name to Remember for 2006

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top bgColor=#ffffff>

</TD><TD noWrap width=3></TD><TD vAlign=top>By Mike Frank

Date: Oct 25, 2005

The Irish currently have 19 commitments for the 2005 recruiting season and not many spots left to fill. The Irish coaching staff will soon turn their attention to junior recruiting, and one player that has already caught their eye is Cincinnati (LaSalle), Ohio defensive lineman Ben Martin.
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=3>
Junior defensive end prospect Ben Martin is already considered one of the top players in the Midwest and he hasn’t even finished his junior season yet. Irish Eyes spoke with Martin’s coach, Tom Grippa, about his star junior prospect.

“As a freshman we knew he had a lot of potential,” Grippa said of Martin.

“It was his first year playing football. He’s pretty green when it comes to football. He’s still learning how to play the game. He’s a terrific athlete on the field, but he’s not a polished machine on the line of scrimmage just yet.

“When he started playing his sophomore year he started showing that he was going to be a blue-chip player.”

Grippa said Martin’s blessed with the one thing all true blue-chippers have—speed.

“His size, speed and athleticism,” the LaSalle head coach said when asked what makes Martin a special player. “He’s 6-5 and 225 pounds. I’ve never timed him, but with the kids that I had that have gone to camps, and comparing his speed to their speed, he’s in the 4.5 range. He has a great vertical jump. He’s just a great athlete. He’s got the stuff to be special.”

Grippa also said that the teams facing LaSalle each week also know about Martin’s talent and potential and try to game-plan around him.

“Everybody we play; the do something,” he said. “They chip him with backs or tight ends or stay away from him. They’re always doing something to try to get a piece of him. He’s been an impact player. Our defense has been really good this year and he’s been a big part of that.”

“His strength is that when you run away from him, he runs plays down from behind. He really uses his speed well,” Grippa added.

What position will Martin likely be on the next level?

“He’s a rush end as a five technique edge player,” Grippa said. “His pass rushing is just OK at this point. He’s not great at it yet. He will be when he can concentrate on just football. He had a really bad sprained ankle over the summer playing basketball so that’s limited him a little bit, but he’s still had a great year for us.”

The great year the LaSalle head man speaks of has Martin registering 32 solo tackles, 34 assists, 13 tackles for loss, nine sacks, six quarterback hurries, four caused fumbles and six pass deflections in just eight games.

”He’s a three-sport guy so he’s never going to get really big until he gets to college,” Grippa said. “He’ll probably play next year at 235. He’s going to play basketball and he does track. He throws the shot and disc, and there was a couple of meets where he anchored the 4 x 100 and he never lost ground when he got the baton. He’s long jumped 20 feet.”

Grippa has coached a number of D1 prospects in his coaching career, but he didn’t hesitate to say that Martin clearly has the most potential of any player he’s coached.

“I’ve been around here for awhile. I was the head coach at (Cincinnati) Elder from 1987 through 1996, then I went to Fairfield, which is a public school. At Elder I had three kids go to Ohio State and a bunch of kids that went to the MAC. I had a kid who went to Kentucky. I had a kid who was the starting center for Pitt. I’ve had Division I recruits, and I’d say that Ben has the biggest upside because of speed,” he said. “As a high school player he will be one of the best high school players in America. He’ll be one of the top 100 players.”

Grippa also said plenty of college coaches agree with his assessment of his top junior prospect.

“I need a mailbox just for his mail,” he said with a laugh. “He gets mail from everybody. The University of Cincinnati has already offered. Illinois has already offered. All the MAC schools have already offered. I would say it will likely come down to Notre Dame or Ohio State if Notre Dame offers him. I think they will. He's been to a couple of games at those schools. I know Rick Minter pretty well from coaching at Cincinnati. He actually lived over on this side of town and I’d see him out once in awhile. We like Rick.”
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

[bobcat84]

Oh Contrare ND

Good point and kudos to StXBuck over at BN: Martin said in OFS that he wants to be a history teacher. You can't even major in education at ND-and OSU's history dept. is top notch.