ELYRIA — A desire to stay away from “what if’s” in his life led Conneaut’s Bradley Eaton down a path to be the best he can be.
Eaton said he didn’t want to look back when he was 40 years of age to see if he could have competed against the best, and that is what led him to four years at St. Edward in Lakewood.
That path seems to have paid off, as he is on path to become the first St. Edward athlete to gain 12 letters.
Originally, Eaton was attracted to the Lakewood powerhouse for its wrestling program. He also played soccer his freshman year.
During that freshman year, Eaton lettered in soccer, wrestling and track, but missed football.
Eaton said he began talking with his biology teacher, who doubles as a football coach, and worked out the possibility of trying out for the football team.
Eaton said he told the coaches he just wanted the opportunity to have a chance to compete — and compete he did.
During his freshman track season, Eaton worked his way through a challenging group of athletes to get a shot at the school’s 4X800-meter relay.
Eventually, a run-off was scheduled, and Eaton beat out a teammate and won a spot on the relay that earned the 18th seed, out of 18, at the state meet.
Eaton said his coach asked him to lead off the relay, and he ran a 1:55 and the team captured fourth.
The transition to football was challenging, but ultimately rewarding.
Eaton said he knew a lot of seniors were graduating, and all he wanted was a chance to get a starting spot.
Hard work and patience led to Eaton earning a spot as a starting safety his sophomore year, which is very rare at St. Edward. The opportunity to play football at the highest level was a big draw for the 5-foot-9 senior.
“It was awesome,” Eaton said of the road to Ohio High School Athletic Association Division I state championships in 2022 and 2023. “It hard to put into words, it was a great experience,”
The Eagles have to win three more games for Eaton to repeat that experience.
“We are looking for it again this year,” he said.
St. Edward (8-5) faces Mentor (13-0) at 7 p.m. Friday at Bedford High School Bearcat Stadium for a regional championship title.
The opportunity to play against some of the best competition in the nation has pushed Eaton to be the best he can be.
This season, Eaton said he played against St. Joseph’s Prep (Pa.) wide receiver Jett Harrison, brother of Ohio State great Marvin Harrison, and on the other side of the ball, Akron Hoban linebacker Eli Lee, who is headed to play at OSU next year.
In addition to the normal every-day challenges of driving more than hour to and from school, Eaton took on an extra one this year.
After two years of playing defense, he asked the
coaching staff to give him a shot at running back in 2024.
After a lot of extra work over the summer, the coaches allowed him to play running back and safety, which he said occurs very seldom at the prestigious football school.
On Friday night in a 40-24 regional semifinal win over Perrysburg at Elyria, a group of fumbles and less than perfect team play had Eaton in a bit of an angry mood.
He took the ball and was hit by a couple of tacklers, but pulled his leg away, and sprinted down the sideline for one of his two touchdowns.
After shaking loose, he decided to try and make a big play.
“I just turned the corner and turned on the jets,” he said.
The touchdowns helped St. Edward earn a trip to the regional final, and a crowd of congratulatory teammates surrounding him in the end zone.
The one big challenge playing football at St. Edward is a late start to
the wrestling season,
which is still a big part of Eaton’s athletic experience.
“By the time I get to wrestling, I am almost a month behind,” he said.
With the Eagles national schedule, there is not too much preparation time
for some of the best wrestlers in the country, Eaton said.
He has already accrued three top-six Division I state places in wrestling.
As he looks toward 2025-26, Eaton has decided to play football at the collegiate level.
“I have 14 Division I offers for football,” he said.
There are also eight wrestling scholarship offers, including Big 10 schools, on the table.
But football has captured his heart.
Eaton said he has been trying to balance both the quality of the football program and education process to make the best possible decision for his college career.
“For college, I am going to play safety,” he said.
He said the daily long drive to Lakewood and back is challenging.
“It is not easy, I am not going to lie,” Eaton said.
Eaton said he views that time on the road as part of the sacrifice for him to reach his goals.
He said he plans to study business in college.
