Green junior Christian DiLauro gave an oral commitment to play football on scholarship at the University of Illinois, Bulldogs coach Ed Cybak said.
DiLauro, 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds, plays tight end for Green, but Cybak said he could be converted to another position in college on either offense or defense.
“His first offer was from the University of Akron, which I thought was great and very exciting,” Cybak said. “Akron has made more of a commitment to recruit local kids. Christian was very thankful for that offer. He obviously did not commit to them right away because he wanted to see how the recruiting process would play out. He had a lot of interest from other schools — Duke, Cincinnati, Toledo and Virginia, to name a few — but he felt comfortable with Illinois.”
East names Hayes coach
Marques Hayes has been named the East football coach, Dragons Athletic Director Ron Linger said.
Hayes, 30, was an assistant under previous East coach Damon Beasley the past two seasons, serving as the defensive line coach in 2010 and the defensive coordinator in 2011.
“I think the kids have that work ethic where they want to start winning,” Hayes said. “I think Coach Beasley did a fine job communicating with the kids and trying to get them to win. I think the best thing about this right now is that we are a grades 7-12 school here at East Community Learning Center. We are connected and we want to keep these kids from the middle school here to play ball at the high school level. We want to keep these kids in the building and our football program.”
Hayes, who is from Flint, Mich., played linebacker/defensive line at the University of Akron from 1999-2003. He has a bachelor’s degree in business organizational communications and a master’s degree in special education from UA.
“We are exited to have Marques,” Linger said. “He is here in the building [as a special education teacher]. He has great rapport with our student athletes. He is young, energetic and he is a very positive role model for our kids. We are looking forward to him getting things rolling in a positive direction.
“It might take a few years. He is a young guy and I think he is a guy we can hang our hat on in the future. The kids like him and really respect him.”
Gigliotti to walk on at UT
Copley senior quarterback Lou Gigliotti has decided to attend the University of Toledo as a preferred walk-on for coach Matt Campbell.
Gigliotti, 6 feet, 175 pounds, leaves Copley as the all-time leading passer in school history with more than 5,000 passing yards and 39 passing touchdowns.
He also rushed for three touchdowns and more than 500 yards. His career record was 21-10 as a three-year starter. He served as a captain and was the Indians Most Valuable Player.
Gigliotti was a three-year All-Suburban League first-team selection and a four-time Scholar Athlete at Copley.
Recruiting update
St. Vincent-St. Mary sophomore linebacker Dante Booker has reportedly been offered a scholarship to play football at Ohio State, according to ScoutingOhio.com.
Booker is listed at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds.
Baseball trip to Cleveland
Ravenna and Highland will play each other in the ninth annual Cleveland Indians Charities (CIC) High School Hardball Classic at 3 p.m. Friday at Progressive Field.
The event is Friday and Saturday and features three games each day.
All proceeds will benefit the numerous CIC educational and recreational programs that serve the youth of Northeast Ohio.
Fans interested in attending the CIC High School Hardball Classic can purchase $5 tickets prior to the event at the Progressive Field Ticket Office, each participating school, or by calling 216-420-HITS (4487). Day-of-game tickets will be available for $7 at Gate D of the ballpark. Each ticket purchased allows access to all three games slotted for the specific date only.
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the high school blog at http://www.ohio.com/preps. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MBeavenABJ and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
