When Jake LaVerde was a young ball boy on the sideline of the Kirtland football team, he looked up to guys like Scott Eilerman and Sam Skiljan — two of the most successful quarterbacks in program history.
When all is said and done, LaVerde will surpass what anyone has done under center in the highly successful Hornets program.
Kirtland’s senior signal-caller, LaVerde is only 122 yards short of the 3,000-yard rushing mark in his career. In last week’s 35-7 regional semifinal win over Smithville, LaVerde surpassed the 3,000-yard passing mark for his career and now stands at 3,076 yards.
No quarterback in program history has thrown for 3,000 yards and run for 3,000 yards. That mark is on the line this weekend when Kirtland (12-0) faces Sugarcreek Garaway (11-2) in a Division VI regional final at Louisville Leopard Stadium.
“That’s pretty cool. I didn’t know that,” LaVerde said of his possible statistical record. “I grew up looking up to guys like Scott Eilerman and Sam Skiljan, all the way back when we won our first one in 2011. Having a chance to …”
LaVerde’s words tailed off, then he thought of all the players he has lined up with over the years and continued.
“Being surrounded by good players is always cool,” he said.
As a freshman starter, LaVerde threw for 1,032 yards and ran for 340. That got the ball rolling for his career. As a sophomore, he threw for 1,131 yards and ran for 577.
Then injuries started to come into play. LaVerde missed seven games with a broken arm as a junior. Still, he ran for 1,215 yards and passed for 320.
This season, an ankle injury kept him out of four games. Despite being idle those weeks, LaVerde enters this week’s regional final having run for 746 yards and passed for 593 yards.
“Not being able to be out there, have fun and run around with my guys has been frustrating,” he said of the 11 games he missed.
LaVerde MIGHT have been in the rare 4,000-4,000 club if not for those 11 missed games.
“Not being 100% stinks, knowing what I CAN be,” he said. “I’m still getting back to normal.”
Add up all his statistics, and LaVerde has carried 330 times for 2,878 yards and 34 touchdowns, carrying a gaudy 8.7-yards-per-attempt average. He has completed 174 of 325 (54%) of his passes for 3,076 yards and 43 touchdowns.
Heading into this weekend’s game, he has accounted for 5,954 yards and 77 touchdowns.
LaVerde said it’s hard to believe he has more passing yards than rushing yards, considering how often the Kirtland offense runs the ball more than passing it.
“That’s surprising to me,” he said, “but my first two years, we had a lot of good athletes at receiver, guys like Gino Blasini, Tommy Gogolin, Will Sayle, Will Beers, Phil (LaVerde) — all those guys could go up and catch the ball. We threw the ball more my first two years.”
Along with his stellar statistics, LaVerde has earned a pair of All-Ohio honors (first team in 2024, second team in 2023) and is a three-time first team all-district honoree. But LaVerde quickly pointed out that statistics and postseason honors don’t mean much to him.
Being 46-3 as Kirtland’s starting quarterback and playing in three state championship games — hopefully a fourth if things go the way he hopes they do — holds much more stock to LaVerde than stats and awards.
“That’s definitely more of what I think about,” LaVerde said. “Me and my guys out there, we’re just focused on winning games.”
(7) Sugarcreek Garaway vs. (1) Kirtland
What: Division VI, Region 21 championship game
When: 7 p.m., Nov. 21
Where: Louisville Leopard Stadium, 701 South St., Louisville.
Records: Sugarcreek Garaway 9-2, Kirtland 12-0