East rises to top of City Series football standings with star running back Ziaire Stevens

There does not appear to be much of a debate regarding who the top offensive football player in the City Series is this season.

His name is Ziaire Stevens, and the East junior running back has gained over 1,400 yards in eight games, is a regular in the end zone, has 18 scholarships offers from Division I colleges and is a captain for the Dragons.

"He was chosen as a captain by his peers," East coach Marques Hayes said Saturday after Stevens ran for 263 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries to lead the Dragons to a 14-11 win over host Buchtel in a City Series showdown.

"He is the only underclassmen that was chosen as a captain and it is because he goes about it the right way. His mindset, his focus, his character, his hard work in the offseason, the weight room, all of the above. People see that. I told them, 'When you're choosing captains, I put a little asterisk at the top, this is not a popularity contest. This is about the people that you see that you feel can be leaders.'

"... He calls me, 'Pops.' I love that kid. I love what he brings to the table. He ran hard today."

Stevens has run hard all season with 171 carries for 1,446 yards and 13 touchdowns. He and seniors Cochise Griffin, Antonio Rosser and Keith Kendrick are East's captains.

East had one possession in the first quarter Saturday and it ended on a 1-yard touchdown run by Stevens, who had eight carries for 62 yards on the drive. The Dragons then took a 14-3 halftime lead after Stevens broke several tackles en route to a 69-yard touchdown and senior Ibraheem Kamara made his second extra point.

"You never give up on the play until you hear the whistle," Stevens said. "We practice hard all week, and we finish out every drill we do, so it's just second nature to me.

“... I just do my job and then go above that. My O-line did a great job out there. We blocked fantastic and we had minimal mistakes."

East's starters up front offensively were senior left tackle Taveon Ellis, sophomore left guard Darshawn Spragling, senior center Cochise Griffin, senior right guard Nicholas Hopfe and junior right tackle Denico Knight Jr.

East is in the driver's seat to win Akron City Series championship

East's win over Buchtel included two Griffins second-quarter touchdowns being wiped away because of holding penalties and two plays in the third quarter that ended with the ball in Rosser's hands after a muffed punt and a fumble forced by Dragons junior ZiVelle Thomas.

East (7-1, 3-0) is in the driver's seat to win a City Series football championship and host a Division III playoff game in late October. The Dragons conclude the regular season with games against Garfield and Ellet.

"It was a great feeling to come out here and play ball, like backyard football," Stevens said. "It was what we were doing all week at practice. Like coach said to us, this is like our fifth game [this week] because we have been going hard all week in practice for this. To come out victorious feels great.

"... The job is not done. We still have got business to take care of with two more weeks and then we are done with the regular season and then we have the playoffs."

Buchtel (3-5, 2-1) is tied with Firestone (4-4, 2-1) and Ellet (2-6, 2-1) for second place in the City Series. The Griffins are in contention for a playoff appearance in Division IV, and the Falcons and Orangemen are in contention in Division II.

"It was a dogfight, but we expected it to be that because this is kind of like that new rivalry in the city of East and Buchtel," Hayes said.

"I told the guys before the game, 'Hey in the past eight years we have split this game four and four.' I said, 'Throw all the records out the window.' I told them, 'It doesn't matter what your record is when you play this game, this is the game that counts.' ... I told our guys in the locker room, ‘Look to you seniors, you really have to understand this is the last time you will ever play the Buchtel Griffins. The last time.’ So I said, 'How do you want that to be?' This is a super important game."

East junior Ziaire Stevens is "the best back" in the Akron City Series

Stevens received five college scholarship offers in January 2022 from Pittsburgh, Indiana, Akron, Bowling Green and Toledo.

Eastern Kentucky, Miami of Ohio, Cincinnati, Ball State, Kent State, Massachusetts and Boston College also offered Stevens a scholarship before his sophomore season at East.

Since December 2022, Stevens has added scholarship offers from Central Michigan, Marshall, Connecticut, Temple, Purdue and Western Michigan.

His junior season includes four games of more than 200 rushing yards, including a Week 1 win over Youngstown Chaney when he ran for 203 yards and one touchdown on 17 carries.

East defeated Bedford and Elyria the next two weeks as Stevens totaled 24 carries, 197 yards and one TD against the Bearcats and 22 carries, 144 yards and three TDs versus the Pioneers.

The only team to slow down Stevens this season was Archbishop Hoban, which has one of the best defenses in Ohio with several Division I college recruits. The Knights limited Stevens to 60 yards on 13 carries in Week 4.

Stevens has been electric the past four weeks in wins over Youngstown East (26 carries, 207 yards, 2 TDs), North (21, 212, 3), Firestone (16, 176, 1) and Buchtel.

"We had him a couple years ago for the middle school program and he showed a lot of promise back then," North coach DeMonte Powell said of Stevens, who played on a Junior Vikings club football team that included players from different neighborhoods in Akron.

"He’s hands down the best back in our conference. He's very patient and tough to bring down. Ziaire was the key focus for us the week we played East. Our mindset was if you slow him down you can contain the offense and force them to do things they typically wouldn't want to do, which was pass.

"Ziaire has my vote for Player of the Year. I'm happy he's receiving the recognition he deserves."

Firestone coach Eric Mitchell likes Stevens "work ethic."

"Ziaire is willing to put the work in to get better," Mitchell said. "We called him 'grown man' when he played basketball for me at Litchfield. He has always been physically gifted. His work ethic has allowed him to mold himself into one of the top backs in Northeast Ohio."

Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Ziaire Stevens leads East football to top spot in Akron City Series