By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

For many of the Streetsboro Rockets, Nov. 3, 2023, is a date that still doesn’t sit well.

Streetsboro senior Jackson Gula
Shannon Eldreth/Portage Sports

It was the night that the team was eliminated from the Division IV playoffs, 31-28, at West Branch.

“They were not satisfied with how the season ended last year,” Streetsboro head coach Pete Thompson said.

For the Rockets returning in 2024, it stuck with them.

Throughout the entire off-season.

And it was used as motivation.

“Our core group of senior leaders have been laser focused in their preparation and work ethic all off-season,” Thompson said. “That has continued in our summer practices.”

It is the kind of leadership that Thompson is typically seeking from his team — especially his returning upperclassmen.

The veteran coach likes for them to set the tone not only for the program, but inside each practice so that all of the players can grow together inside intense workouts.

“The intensity and pace of how we practice is not for everyone and our older players know what to expect. As coaches, we try to lean on those guys to set examples to the younger players,” Thompson said. “It helps when you have seniors like Cohen Klimak and Jackson Gula. Both will be four-year starters and are also some of the best leaders we have ever had in my time at Streetsboro. When your best players are also your hardest working players, special things can happen.”

Which is why the heartbreaking loss to end last season still stings.

The Rockets’ hard work, dating back to the months leading up to the 2023 season, placed the team in a healthy position to celebrate success. They finished 9-1 overall in the regular season and picked up a playoff-opening win over Beaver Local before dropping the narrow defeat to the Warriors.

This year, the Rockets not only want to be playing in November, but deeper than the first week.