
Staff photo / Brian Yauger Lakeview’s Gavin Mauger (6) covers a Team Mahoning receiver for Team Trumbull during Thursday’s Jack Arvin Classic at Hubbard Memorial Stadium.
HUBBARD – Talk about opening a game with a bang.
On one of Thursday’s first plays, Lakeview’s Gavin Mauger hit a deep pass from 87 yards to give Trumbull County the early advantage. It paid off as the Trumbull team won the 36th Jack Arvin Football Classic 31-21.
“I mean it was great getting out of here.” he said. “After not having had it for a few years to come here and do a show. It was nice to come out early and get that touchdown early in the game. It felt great to just put the pads back on and get out here and play with my teammate Evan Davies. We have always worked hard on that.”
That deep touchdown pass came from Mathews quarterback Isaiah Munno. In addition to playing with Davies, Munno was a former teammate of Mauger at Lakeview. Munno returned to the Mathews School District for his junior and senior years.
“I never thought we’d play again, and then we just came back (without missing a bar)”, said Mauger. “The beautiful fade route on the sidelines.”
As a three-sport athlete, there was never any downtime for the Lakeview grad. He jumped straight from football to basketball, from basketball to baseball, then from baseball straight back to football.
Now he just has to focus on football as he will continue his career at Grove City College, playing wide receiver for the Wolverines and studying business.
“All gas” Mauger said about the non-stop schedule. “I mean, we work hard in every sport, so it’s one sport at a time. You’re done with football, you’re straight into basketball, and then you’re into baseball. It’s nice to finally be able to take a load off my shoulders and just focus on football.”
This school year in particular has been a wild ride.
During the football season, Mauger was the team’s lead receiver. Then into basketball season, where he missed most of the year and only played in two games.
Baseball was the senior’s best year as the Bulldogs went 12-9 and eluded a district semifinal. They narrowly failed, losing to Mogadore Field 1-0 in their final Sectional Bracket matchup.
As part of the Lakeview baseball team, Mauger had a .303 batting average, 20 hits, and 10 RBIs in the top five in almost every major batting category and also batted four in the three and a half innings on the mound.
“Baseball was a lot of fun this year,” he said. “We’ve come pretty far. I thought we had a good ride.”
With the All-Star game in the books, it’s time for Mauger to pull himself together to prepare for his freshman year of college.
“I just do the workouts they send me, conditioning and running stretches whenever I can.” Mauger said about preparing for the next big step in his life.
All gas is still being given for the future Wolverine, there are simply no more twists.
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