Hopewell-Loudon didn’t begin the 2025 season looking like a team destined for Canton.
The Chieftains looked like a team searching for rhythm, trying to get healthy, and still figuring out what they could be offensively. Fourteen weeks later, they’re walking into the Division VI state championship with one of the most unconventional — and dangerous — identities in Ohio: a three-quarterback system that has become their superpower.
“We have a veteran group,” said Hopewell-Loudon head coach Brian Colatruglio. “We have a lot of guys that have played a lot of football. We have a bunch of three-year starters. A lot of our juniors played last year as sophomores, including the three guys that we play at quarterback; they’re all juniors. We have a lot of guys that have played a lot of football and just a great group.”
Injuries disrupted the early flow, but the Chieftains kept grinding — until October 3, when Margaretta snapped their long conference win streak. That 29–26 loss, the lone blemish on their record, became the turning point.
“We haven’t lost a conference game since 2019, and we lost one this year, and honestly, you would have thought the world had ended,” Colatruglio said. “We really challenged our guys to use that as a stepping stone and not something that devastated us. Since that point, our guys have just been locked in. We’ve gotten healthy, and we’ve just gotten better every single week. At the start of the playoffs, I don’t know that we thought we had a state championship level team, but we just have kept getting better, week after week after week and finding a way to win.”
From that moment, Hopewell-Loudon gradually found its identity — and it started with the quarterbacks.
Junior Jacoby Ellis emerged as the precision thrower, completing 118 of 171 passes for 1,593 yards and 23 touchdowns. Junior Kellen Frankart became the power runner and change-up weapon, rushing for 739 yards and 10 scores while throwing efficiently when needed. And junior Brody Brickman — the team’s premier receiver — transformed into a nightmare to defend, rushing for 759 yards and 16 touchdowns while still leading the team with 628 receiving yards and 12 TDs.
Colatruglio never intended to rotate three quarterbacks, but necessity opened the door.
“I’d love to have one kid that could do everything that these guys do,” he said. “Part of it was some injury stuff. We played two last year. They were both sophomores. One’s a better runner; one’s a better thrower. We do a lot of things. Kellen Frankart was injured Week 4, and we had to do something to help our run game, so Brody Brickman, who was a starting receiver for us, and he’s one of our best skill guys, and he’s great with the ball in his hands, we started playing him some there, and then Kellen came back. Kellen is a different style of runner. Jacoby Ellis is a really good thrower, so we schemed it up where we’re going to play all three of them, and we’ve been doing it since Week 10, and it’s worked.”
The rotation has kept everyone fresh and dangerous.
“The big part of it is we have a running back and three quarterbacks. They’re all fresh, they’re all healthy,” Colatruglio said. “It’s something that never was in the plans… but it’s worked for us this year.”
That unpredictability fuels a rushing attack supported by running back Jaysin Cramer (671 yards, seven touchdowns) and a passing game in which Brickman and Jack Colatruglio combined for 1,303 receiving yards and 20 scores.
Now comes their steepest test: Kirtland — in its 14th state final in 15 years.
Still, Colatruglio didn’t dwell on Kirtland’s history with his players.
“A lot of our kids, they don’t know any better,” he said. “They didn’t know Coldwater’s history, they didn’t know some of the history of Archbold, and some of the teams we play. They just see an opponent. How are they going to line up, who am I supposed to block, and let’s go do it. My biggest concern is just the environment. Obviously, it’s different than anything we’ve ever done. Kirtland’s kids have been there. Their seniors have been there four straight years. Their (athletic director) did not go to the site meeting (on Sunday), they know their way around.”
To prepare them for that stage, Colatruglio reached not for a football comparison but a movie moment — specifically, Hoosiers. The iconic scene where Coach Norman Dale measures the rim in the massive arena to remind his team that it’s the same ten feet back home.
“I think the biggest thing for us is it’s the ‘Hoosiers,’” he said. “It’s the 10-foot rim. It’s a 100-yard field, and for us to not let the moment, the environment, and those things be too big for us.”
The Chieftains will need that focus right away.
“We’re going to have to settle in quick because (Kirtland is) going to come at us,” he said. “They are so physical and aggressive and so good on both sides of the ball. If you’re not ready to go and strapped up, they’re going to come at you hard. Adjusting to the speed of the game, the speed and quickness of their team, the physicalness of the game, we’re going to have to be ready to get going early. That’s going to be huge. We started slow last week, a little uncertainty, but we hung on and gave ourselves a chance to win in the second half. That’s going to be important because they’re going to hit some plays, they’re going to gain some yards, they’re going to tackle us for a loss because they’re really, really good, and we have to withstand that storm and hang on and get the game into the second half and give ourselves a chance.”
For Hopewell-Loudon to win, it starts with the core that has carried them all year.
Senior defensive tackle Aidan Ewald — 91 tackles and nine sacks — anchors a front seven that swallows up run games. Senior linebacker Mason Reinhart, a three-year leading tackler, patrols the middle. Around them, Jack Colatruglio, Brickman, Eli Benner, and Scott Turco have built a defense built to handle December football.
“We’ve got a great leadership group,” Coach Colatruglio said. “Mason Reinhart is our leader. He’s our middle linebacker, plays some H-Back for us. He started, I think Week 6 his freshman year and has never come off the field since. He’s been our leading tackler for three years; he’s our guy. Aidan Ewald, Jack Colatruglio, my son, Luca San Gregory, we have a really good core group of seniors that have played. I’m probably worried about this, how they’re going to be, but I honestly think our guys are going to show up and play our best game.”
That confidence comes from a team that had to rebuild itself on the fly.
“I knew we had a good team. I really thought our schedule was pretty tough at the beginning, and like I said, we had some injuries throughout, and I just wasn’t sure,” Colatruglio said. “We went into the playoffs and got everybody back. Our region is really good this year. We had to beat three really good teams just to win our region. It’s a group that has just continued to improve. They find a way. It’s such a mentally and physically tough group. They’re probably not the most talented team we’ve had here at Hopewell-Loudon, but they’re just so mentally and physically tough and find ways to get the job done.”
And now, the championship may hinge on the strength of that defensive front.
“We’re really good up front,” Colatruglio said. “Aidan Ewald is our best player. He’s an absolute stud on the defensive line. He plays harder than any kid I’ve ever, ever coached. He runs full speed every single play as hard as he can. You always preach that and you tell your kids to do that, but the reality of it is that’s really hard to do when you play both ways, and man, this kid does it. We have two, him and Scottie Turco, we have two really big, strong defensive tackles. Mason Reinhart in the middle, and then Jack is our free safety. We’re really good up the middle. It’s kind of like baseball; you want to be good through the middle, and that’s where we are pretty strong. We just have a good mix where we can cover, and we’re pretty physical against the run. We’ve done a good job of making teams maybe don’t want to throw or have to do that. That’s going to be the key. You have to slow their run game down and try to make them a little uncomfortable. If any chance that we have to win that game, it’s going to be our guys up front controlling the run game.”
What began as a season of questions has become an unforgettable run to Canton — powered by a three-quarterback rotation born out of necessity, a defense anchored through the middle, and a senior class that refused to let the year slip away.
Now the Chieftains step onto the biggest stage — and they’re coming with every punch they’ve got.
