Staff photo / Greg Macafee Lowellville senior quarterback Michael Ballone hands the ball off to Santino Rivera-Ocasio during a practice earlier this month. Ballone takes over under center this season for his cousin Vinny Ballone.

LOWELLVILLE — A year after putting together a historic season and losing one of the most productive senior classes in recent memory, the Lowellville Rockets are still in good shape.

Quarterback Vinny Ballone, wide receiver Brady Bunofsky and tight end Anthony Lucente did a lot for the Rockets for the last few seasons, and put up big numbers a year ago as they went undefeated in the regular season and captured an MVAC-Scarlet Tier title.

Despite their graduation, fourth-year head coach Andrew Mamula isn’t worried as plenty of players who produced during that successful season are back and they are ready for more.

“We have kids that want a bigger role and were probably a little unhappy, and they never showed it last year, but kids that wanted more carries, more targets, and now they have the opportunity,” Lowellville head coach Andrew Mamula said. “We have guys that just need to take an expanded role. They were part of it last year, they just have to do a little bit more and I think they are ready for it.”

Matt Lucido, Braylen Dabney, Vinny Perry, Casey Gordon and Michael Ballone were all juniors last year who played roles and who will see those roles expand this year. With Bunofsky, a receiver, graduating, Lucido and Dabney will see more targets. Michael Ballone will fill in for his cousin under center and Perry and Gordon will continue to lead the linemen in the trenches.

Despite the number of returners the Rockets have, their offense and defense may not look the same. Mamula says he tailors their gameplan to the team’s strengths and this year will be no different.

“We still have our base stuff that we like, but at the same time, we know that our play style is going to be a little different this year,” Mamula said. “We may be a little more ball control. It may not be as aggressive on offense, we still are going to take our shots, but it’s not going to be as wide open as it’s been.”

The Rockets will have plenty of leadership across the board. They have a senior in every position group, and Mamula believes that will help as the season carries on.

“I look to the seniors and tell them that our season is going to go how they go,” Mamula said. “Our underclassmen are going to follow them, so if they have bad attitudes or use bad language or something like that, they are going to have it, too. So we’ve been going through those growing pains and showing them that practice every day matters.”

That one thing that Mamula will have to find a solution for is depth. He said that he loves his starting 11, but if they have to go to 12, 13, or 14 because of injury or any other reason, that is when the sledding will get tough.

The Rockets were sitting around 30 players in the summertime, but Mamula expected to enter camp with around 35.

Over everything though, Lowellville is looking to continue its recent run of success. In the past two seasons, the Rockets have garnered an 18-4 record and captured the conference title this past season.

In order to continue that run of success, Mamula said they need to find their identity. Over the past few years they’ve known what they were going to do. They were going to stretch the field and attack teams. But, they aren’t quite sure what it will look like this season.

“The last two years, we knew who we were. Love us or hate us we at least know. When we got into a game there was no doubt what we were going to do,” Mamula said. “This year, I don’t know that identity yet. There are still two scrimmages, early season and it’s ‘Are we going to lean more into the run? Or are we going to lean more into the pass? It’s one of those where in practice it’s hard to judge.”

Staff photo / Greg Macafee
Lowellville head football coach Andrew Mamula, who is entering his fourth season at the helm of the Rockets, throws a pass during a drill at a recent practice.

OFFENSE

One Ballone leaves, and another enters.

Vinny set records last season at Lowellville by throwing for 3,386 yards and 55 touchdowns with only five interceptions. While Michael may not have the same passing abilities as Vinny, Mamula believes that he’ll be able to make a name for himself in the position. He said Michael is a little shiftier than Vinny and harder to tackle in the open field. He added that Michael has the confidence to play the position as well.

“There are some kids that shy away from the spotlight or aren’t built for it; I think he is,” Mamula said. “When you are the quarterback, wins or losses are on you. The coach and the quarterback, that’s who everyone blames, and I think he’s ready for that. He has the attitude and the mentality to handle that. I like confidence in a quarterback, and he definitely has confidence.”

Michael completed two passes for 61 yards last season and also caught 22 passes for 298 yards and a touchdown. This past spring, Michael made the state finals in both hurdle events and competed on Lowellville’s 4×400 relay team, so he has the speed to break away and beat defenders in the open field. His speed could give Lowellville’s offense a different dynamic as Mamula said they will run a few more options this season.

Michael will be accompanied by senior Tino Rivera-Ocasio and junior Geno Perry in the backfield.

Rivera-Ocasio was Lowellville’s top rusher behind Vinny last year, rushing for 495 yards and five touchdowns on 59 carries. He also caught eight passes for 129 yards.

“He didn’t have very many carries, but he can do it all,” Mamula said. “He blocks, he catches passes, he’s a kid that when he gets the ball, he scores.”

Perry is the opposite type of runner. He missed part of last season with an injury, but Mamula said he is more of a ground-and-pound type of running back, which is something the Rockets need.

“He’s a pounder, a grinder, a kid that moves the pile, which is something that we kinda lacked,” Mamula said. “He’s that hard type of runner that can keep his legs and the pile moving.”

Either way, you’ll see both of them in the backfield as Mamula will approach this season with a running back by committee approach. The Rockets will also implement more two-back sets. With the amount of athletes that they had the last two years, it didn’t always make sense. But, with their personnel this year, Mamula said they’ll use more of it.

Dabney and Lucido will be the two main guys on the outside. Lucido was the top receiver behind Bunofsky last year, recording 739 yards and nine touchdowns on 39 receptions. Dabney caught 22 passes for 428 yards and was one of three players with double-digit touchdown catches as he reeled in 10.

Sophomore Josh Pazel will be Lowellville’s No. 3 receiver and will see time in their three-receiver sets. Mamula said they are still looking for a No. 4 receiver and the competition looks to be between Landon Esenwein, Caleb Costanzo and Ryan Neider.

“It’s pretty equal so far, so they’ll all get some chances in our scrimmages and through the first couple weeks and we’ll kinda see what sticks there,” Mamula said.

In the trenches, the Rockets will only need to fill one position. Senior Vinny Perry returns at left tackle and senior Casey Gordon is returning to left guard. After Casey Gordon is returning to left guard. After sliding in as a sophomore last year, Nick Donatelli is returning at center and has really caught the eye of Mamula.

“He was a kid we were worried about last year going into the season and then we watched the film after 10 games and he graded out as one of our better linemen and he’s gotten bigger and stronger,” Mamula said. “He’s a kid, we might not move him this year, but he’s a guy that can play guard or tackle for us, he’s a kid we don’t have to hide.”

Two-year starter Anthony Vrabel returns at right guard as well and the only spot that Mamula will have to fill is right tackle. Mamula said it’s a battle between junior Sam Sargent and freshman Anthony Madison.

Staff photo / Greg Macafee
Lowellville senior wide receiver Matt Lucido looks in a pass during a drill at a recent practice. After a standout junior season, Lucido looks to take on an even bigger role this season.

DEFENSE

The Rockets went into last season having to replace all of their defensive linemen and Vinny Perry and Gordon rose to the occasion.

“We didn’t know what we were going to do. We plugged those two in and they were better than what we had before, and we had a pretty good defensive line before,” Mamula said.

Gordon tallied 46 tackles last season and two tackles for a loss while Perry recorded 38 and five TFLs. Mamula said their third defensive linemen will be a rotation between Vrabel and Donatelli.

The younger Perry brother, Geno, who made a move from safety to linebacker last season, will be an outside linebacker this season, while Rivera-Ocasio will be the guy in the middle. The senior led the Rockets in tackles with 63 and recovered three fumbles.

“He sets our defense, he calls it, and he’s a huge part of it,” Mamula said.

Sophomore AJ Boehlke, junior Cody Nolfi and sophomore Vance Esenwein will all compete for a linebacker position as well.

Lucido will play the same role that Bunofsky did last year. He’ll move back and forth between the outside linebacker position and safety. He’ll pass rush and also drop back into coverage and is going to be Lowellville’s most versatile player.

“Losing Brady, he’s probably a once-in-50-years player, but Matt is pretty good too,” Mamula said. “Matt can do a lot of those things there too. So we don’t think we’re going to miss much with what he can do there.”

The rest of the secondary will be filled by Michael Ballone at safety, but Mamula will try to get him off the field at times. Neider will also play safety while Dabney and Pazel will man the two cornerback spots.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Lucido will return as the kicker and the punter. Mamula has taken advantage of Lucido’s abilities in recent years as he’s able to execute fake punts, and onside kicks, and also pinned teams deep into their own territory on kickoffs. They are still looking for a snapper.

Dabney will also take over return specialists’ duties for the Rockets.

2023 Schedule

Aug. 18 at Columbiana 7 p.m.

Aug. 25 vs. Campbell Memorial 7 p.m.

Sept. 1 at Tuscarawas C.C. 7 p.m.

Sept. 8 at Mathews 7 p.m.

Sept. 15 at Western Reserve* 7 p.m.

Sept. 22 vs. Mineral Ridge* 7 p.m.

Sept. 29 vs. McDonald* 7 p.m.

Oct. 6 vs. Jackson-Milton* 7 p.m.

Oct. 13 at Waterloo* 7 p.m.

Oct. 20 Springfield* 7 p.m.

*Conference game

2022 Results (11-1)

vs. Columbiana (3-7) W 55-14

at Campbell Memorial (2-8) W 50-14

at South Central (4-7) W 49-15

at Springfield (7-5) W 42-24

at Jackson-Milton (7-4) W 62-20

vs. Waterloo (3-7) W 50-26

vs. Sebring (0-10) W 41-8

at McDonald (3-7) W 36-13

at Mineral Ridge (8-3) W 21-7

vs. Western Reserve (3-7) W 34-7

#vs. Catholic Central (4-7) W 54-14

#vs. Lucas (6-7) L 25-35

#-OHSAA playoffs

Coaching staff

Head coach: Andrew Mamula, 4th season, 22-10

Staff: Jarrod Vrabel, Mike Palumbo, Mike Minnie, Bobby Ballone Jr., Paul Grier Jr., Andy Boehlke, Luke Olesky

Team facts

Division VII, Region 25

MVAC-Scarlet Tier

Players on roster: 33

Returning letterwinners (17): Michael Ballone, Caleb Costanzo, Braylen Dabney, Landon Esenwein, Casey Gordon, Matthew Lucido, Ryan Neider, Vinny Perry, Tino Rivera-Ocasio, Braylon Bolger, Nick Donatelli, Jayden Dominguez, Cody Nolfi, Geno Perry, Sam Sargent, Anthony Vrabel, AJ Boehlke

2022 season: The Rockets put together a historic campaign a year ago, earning a perfect regular season record. Their season came to an end in the second round of the playoffs with a 35-25 loss to Lucas. Behind quarterback Vinny Ballone, the Rockets scored 41.3 points per game and gave up 19.3 points per game.