High school football playoffs: No man is an island ... except Wadsworth cornerback Tommy Hohn

Tommy Hohn doesn't have a residence in Aruba, St. Thomas or Tahiti, but he does spend a lot of time living on an island. As a cornerback for the 11-0 and second-seeded Wadsworth football team, which will host third-seeded Avon (10-1) in a Division II, Region 6 semifinal showdown tonight at 7 at Art Wright Memorial Stadium, the 6-foot-1, 170-pound Hohn is often asked to provide man-to-man coverage against one of the opponent's top receivers, sometimes without safety help. "I love it when everything gets silent and you're just out there by yourself," the senior said. "You embrace it and learn to love it. It's just you and the receiver and you've got to win that play. "If you do get beat, you've got to shake it off and get ready for the next one. You can't let it happen again. You take accountability for it and make up for it on the next play." The owner of 4.52-second speed in the 40-yard dash, Hohn led Medina County with 14 pass breakups last season and is comfortably ahead in 2025 with 11. Long-limbed and tall for a high school cornerback, he also has been in on 33 tackles and has two interceptions this season. "It helps me a tremendous amount," Hohn said of his length. "I can reach the balls most receivers can't get to and I can bait throws from a distance because I have long arms and I can get to the ball." Hohn, who has a scholarship offer from D-II Ohio Dominican and also has been in contact with Ashland, Tiffin, Walsh and D-III schools Mount Union and John Carroll, has two other factors working in his favor: He grew up as the son of a coach and played quarterback as a youth. Jason Hohn, who played quarterback for Wadsworth teams that went 6-4 in 1989 and 7-3 in 1990, was his son's coach at the youth level and is now a volunteer assistant under Grizzlies coach Justin Todd. He spends most of his time working with Wadsworth's safeties and outside linebackers, but those positions are closely tied to cornerback. "It's helpful," Tommy Hohn said. "He gives me a lot of good information and keeps me focused. Sometimes it's also hard. At practice, something bad will happen and I don't want to talk about it." Over the years and at a number of coaching levels, Jason Hohn has learned a delicate balance. He can't favor his son — or even appear to be doing so — but he also can't be unfair to Tommy by being harder on him than everyone else. "It's the typical father-son, coach-player relationship, but it's not easy on the kid because he's held to a higher standard (by some outsiders) and the expectations are higher," Jason Hohn said. "You don't want to be biased, but you don't want to go so far that you end up being unfair to your own kid." The difference, of course, if that after practices and games, father and son live in the same house. "We come home and we're not arguing about his play," Jason Hohn said. "We can just enjoy the experience. We still talk about it more than we should, but it's natural. I try to approach it more from a dad standpoint at home than as a coach. "As a coach, I have to view him as one of 22 guys doing their jobs, trying to help the team succeed. As Dad, I couldn't be prouder of my son and the work he's put in to get here." Todd, whose sophomore son Braydan is out for the season due to injury, knows the feeling. That's why he and his staff go out of their way to make all Wadsworth players feel like they are part of a family. "We try to treat all of them as our own, and I think we do a really good job of that," he said. "It takes a lot of time and energy to do that for 80 kids. Then, all of a sudden, when you have your child experiencing that, it sweetens the pot." Though it can be difficult on occasion, the beauty of a father coaching his son — and a son playing for his father — is they get to spend a lot of time together. For Tommy and Jason Hohn, that started with flag football and continued through Tommy's sixth-grade year. Jason didn't coach his son the next three seasons, then joined Todd's staff when Tommy was a sophomore. "My dad's been around football his whole life and he's been coaching me forever," Tommy Hohn said. "When I was young, I looked up to all the high school dudes. I've pretty much been around it my whole life." Tommy's favorite player as a kid was Ohio's 2017 Mr. Football winner, Wadsworth quarterback Joey Baughman. Also a quarterback in those days, Tommy doesn't know a lot about his 5-10 dad's playing career with the Grizzlies. "I honestly haven't heard much, except he held the (program) career record for (throwing) picks when he graduated," he said with a laugh. "I know he was pretty young when he started and he was small." Tommy Hohn played a bit of quarterback in middle school, primarily when the Grizzlies went to heavy running formations, with Ryan Stoops manning the position in most situations. When current sophomore Brysen Hall took over the varsity quarterback position early last season, Stoops also moved to the defensive backfield, where he and Tommy Hohn are able to put their experience behind center to good use. "It helps me IQ-wise, knowing what a QB is reading and how I can mess with that," Tommy Hohn said. "I know what he's thinking sometimes." Though he is often on an island at corner, someone else is always out there with Tommy Hohn in spirit, though that someone is also busy coaching Wadsworth safeties and outside linebackers. "Two years ago we had some injuries and his first start (as a sophomore) was against Hudson, one of our biggest games of the year," Jason Hohn said. "I was awfully nervous as a dad, but as a coach I watched him prepare in practice and saw how he was responding. "I feel confident watching him out there. It goes without saying that I'm super proud of him. It's a big thrill and source of pride for me to see him out there." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X.