Gazette MVPs: Casey Myser, Carson Noonan lead Highland to greatness

One found holes and zipped through them. The other opened holes on one side of the ball and plugged them on the defensive side. One ran for more than 2,000 yards and set Medina County season records for rushing touchdowns, total touchdowns and points. The other helped make it possible not only by blocking for him, but by making sure the offense got the ball back quickly. One hopes to play Division I college baseball. The other has a full scholarship to play football at Miami (Ohio). Both dream of one day playing for pay. Equally important to the tremendous success of the Highland football team, which won the Suburban League American Conference title, finished 13-1 and advanced to the Division II regional finals, junior running back Casey Myser and senior offensive tackle/defensive end Carson Noonan share Gazette MVP honors for the 2024 season. The last players to share Gazette MVP honors were Wadsworth running back Dan Herbert and Brunswick linebacker Frank Berzansky in 1996. The only previous teammates to share the award were Cloverleaf receiver/defensive back Lance Hansen and running back/linebacker Cory Carlson in 1992. "They're a special blend of size, ability and athleticism," Hornets coach Mike Gibbons said of the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Myser and 6-3, 270-pound Noonan. "You don't get that every year, so to be able to have that and take advantage of it was really special. It was fun to sit back and just watch sometimes." A TOTAL ATHLETE Myser, the SL American Offensive Player of the Year and a first-team All-Northeast Inland District and All-Ohio choice in D-II, put up video game numbers at running back, rushing 254 times for 2,130 yards (8.4 average) and 39 TDs while sometimes playing less than a half. His rushing yardage ranks fourth in county history for one season. The 17-year-old junior added 21 catches for 558 yards (26.6 average) and seven more TDs, with 433 yards coming after the catch. "I'm always trying to get more yards than I should," said Myser, who has sub 4.6-second speed in the 40-yard dash. "This year I was a little more shifty, and I got a lot faster." Myser's rushing TDs, 46 total TDs and 276 points broke county season records, and career marks could fall in his senior year. With 56, 65 and 390 in those categories, he needs 17 rushing TDs, 18 total TDs and 141 points to surpass career leader Andrew Vaughn, who played at Black River from 2010-13. With 3,579 career rushing yards, Vaughn's 6,097 would require 2,519 yards in 2025, while 1,671 would move Myser past Wadsworth's Dru Jones (5,249, 2005-07) for second place. "He's just an athlete," Noonan said of his teammate. "He finds holes and goes as fast as he can." A powerful, fairly upright runner out of the Eric Dickerson mold, Myser can run up the middle, get to the second level and go the distance or simply get outside and outrun everyone. "It's his vision," senior center/defensive tackle Ryan Zywiec said. "He sees the hole and hits it hard. He's not going to dance in the backfield. He's going to run hard, make you miss or go through you if he has to. He's dangerous every time he runs." In many games this season, the only thing that stopped Myser was being removed because the Hornets were so far ahead. Highland had a 30-point lead and running clock 10 times in 14 games, so it's scary to think about how many yards he might have accumulated. "Oh, boy, he probably would have gotten 4,000 total yards," Zywiec said, exaggerating only slightly. "He came up clutch every game. I think he's the best running back in the state, and I think we had the best O-line in the state, but we can't control how many guys he makes miss or how many guys he runs over. He's just an all-around athlete." Zywiec then noted Myser briefly tried wrestling in the eighth grade and was "a stud" while invoking his teammate's name in the same breath as two-sport pro standouts Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders. A left-hand throwing, left-hand hitting pitcher, outfielder and first baseman who has played for the Highland varsity baseball team since he was a freshman, Myser's dream is to play that sport at Ohio State, but he's also drawn interest from Kent State, Kentucky, Cincinnati and George Mason. "It's something I fell in love with at a very young age," he said. "I've always been around it and have always really, really enjoyed it. Football is fun, but baseball has always been my No. 1." After his junior baseball season at Highland, Myser will play the sport for T3 Performance out of Avon, where Noonan and Zywiec frequently trained for football. Then it will be time to get ready for his senior football season. "We're going to need some dudes to step up, but there's a lot of guys ready for the challenge," Myser said. "They've got to get after it in the weight room. None of them are going to be as big as (Noonan or Zywiec), but they'll do whatever it takes." A GROWN MAN While most fans follow the football when watching a game, Noonan was so impressive on both sides of the line that he was impossible to miss. Primarily a defensive end — he may switch to tackle at Miami — Noonan was so big, fast and strong that the Hornets moved him all over the line, where he would drive an offensive tackle back into the quarterback on one play and then run right around him on the next. As a left tackle on offense, it wasn't unusual to see Noonan drive his man 8 to 10 yards downfield before Myser raced by for another huge gain. "He was great," Myser said. "I'd be so tired playing two sides, but he never complained about being tired or hurt. He was always ready to get after it, and he was always taking it to whoever he was going against." Capable of doing 30 repetitions with 225 pounds in the bench press and single reps with 570 pounds in the squat and deadlift, Noonan was a first-team All-Ohio choice on the offensive side as a junior and on the defensive side as a senior. This season, he was also SL American Lineman of the Year and Northeast Inland District co-Defensive Player of the Year in D-II. "He went against a lot of other Division I college players and more than held his own," Gibbons said. "He's an outstanding player and very gifted physically, but he also has the tenacity to go out there and really take it to his opponent." On the offensive side, Noonan and his buddies up front not only were responsible for many of Myser's yards, their blocking helped quarterback Dylan Borla complete 72.9% of his passes (113-of-155) for 2,303 yards and 27 TDs as Highland averaged 43.3 points a game. "The biggest thing is communication," he said. "If we're not communicating well, we're not going to get the job done. We have to finish our blocks and go through the whistle. You have to drive them 5 or 10 yards and then you pancake them." Defensively, Noonan had 70 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, 10½ sacks and three forced fumbles as the Hornets allowed just 9.6 points per game and posted five shutouts. "Especially me and Zywiec, we've got to be the most physical guys up front and move the line of scrimmage," the 17-year-old said. "Every practice, we worked each other to the bone. We're going against each other all the time. We work our moves on each other and make each other better." Noonan's defensive numbers would have been greater, but like Myser he often didn't play much after halftime. In addition, the Highland defense was adept at forcing teams to go three-and-out, which means there weren't a lot of tackles to be had. "The way he plays with his hands is astounding," Zywiec said. "He's one of the fastest D-lineman in the state and he was the captain for a reason. He set the tone for the underclassmen because he's somebody they'd like to be." One of those high school athletes who is mature beyond his years, Noonan is capable of carrying on full-fledged conversations with adults while still fitting in with his teammates, including the younger ones. On Christmas morning last year, Noonan went to the high school and ran the bleacher steps to help best friend Zywiec lose weight for wrestling. Though not a big fan of the sport, he also spent some time drilling with Zywiec. "I tried it in fifth grade and it just wasn't for me," Noonan said with a laugh. "It just wasn't my thing, so I stuck with football, but last offseason I went against (Zywiec) a couple times. He was trying to lose weight, so I was helping him with his moves. He was all sweaty and gross, but we got the work in." On the chunky side growing up but now very muscular and athletic, Noonan hopes to get even leaner, faster and stronger while at Miami — "My goal is to start my freshman year," he said — and dreams of one day playing in the NFL. Myser's goal is to play pro baseball, and what he learned while playing with Noonan and the other seniors will stay with him as he pursues that goal. "We've never had leaders like this before," Myser said. "The whole senior class wanted it so bad. They were always pushing kids in the offseason. That's what I want our senior class to be like next year, because this year's class was insane. I've never witnessed better leaders in my entire life." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X.