From start to finish: Schwieterman delivered at St. Paul

Editor's note: This is the first of two profiles for the St. Paul High School Hall of Fame Class of 2025. The induction ceremony is at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. The start set up the finish. As injuries ravaged the St. Paul football team early in the 2006 season, freshman Eric Schwieterman was forced into the defensive backfield for a Firelands Conference rivalry game at Monroeville. On the first play from scrimmage, Schwieterman intercepted a pass attempt. Four years later, the last time he touched the football, Schwieterman was following his offensive line on a quarterback sneak for a 1-yard touchdown run with five seconds left in the Division VI state championship game vs. Delphos St. John's. The TD gave the Flyers a 24-21 lead they held onto for a 15-0 record and the program's lone state title. In between, Schwieterman was a three-sport standout, and on Oct. 11, he will be inducted into the St. Paul High School Hall of Fame along with the 2009 state title team itself. "I remember being at the basketball game in 2003 when they retired Dan Pugh's football number," Schwieterman said of the 1998 graduate and legendary running back. "I was young, but I remember thinking that'd be really cool to do something like that. It's obviously not the same, but it still is quite an accomplishment. "It feels really gratifying to make it into the Hall of Fame after working really hard," he added. "It makes it feel like validation for the effort you put in as that specific team, but also individually across the different sports I played." During his four years, St. Paul won three Firelands Conference titles, played in four regional championships, two state semifinal games, and the 2009 state championship game. With Schwieterman as the starting quarterback, the Flyers were 34-3, which included a 9-2 record in playoff games. As a junior in 2008, he threw for 1,542 yards and 18 touchdowns and ran for 766 yards and 11 TDs. Schwieterman did not attempt a second-half pass in seven of the 10 regular-season wins because the Flyers were leading by large margins at halftime en route to averaging 51 points per game in the regular season. Those accolades earned Schwieterman Division VI All-Ohio Offensive Player of the Year honors. But as he was about to start his senior season, Schwieterman suffered a broken thumb at one of the last practices of the preseason. He missed four games as a full-time player as classmate Dan Tracht shifted from receiver to QB, but it may have been a blessing in disguise. As the Flyers went to a 15th and final game, Schwieterman had fresher legs while playing both offense and defense. "I got to be fresher while staying in shape," he said. "I think it added a lot of stress to Coach (John) Livengood and Dan's lives, but we did incredibly well when I was hurt. But I was fresher, and I think it helped put us over the top." In 11-plus games at quarterback, Schwieterman still managed to throw for 1,470 yards with 18 TDs and ran for 626 yards and 8 TDs. He had 41 tackles and two interceptions on defense, where he also returned a fumble for a score. But everything surrounding Schwieterman and his classmate's football careers will always center around Dec. 5, 2009. Playing St. John's for a third time (1997, 1999), the Flyers got a historic performance from Schwieterman in the state title game at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. He set a Div. VI title game record with a 73-yard TD run on a third-and-22. Schwieterman ran 30 times for 147 yards and 3 TDs, including the game-winner, to also tie the mark for rushing TDs in the Div. VI title game. Schwieterman was also 8-of-13 passing for 187 yards, which included two massive completions to Justin Wilde for 36 and 38 yards on the game-winning, 98-yard drive to history. After the Flyers stopped the Blue Jays on a fourth-and-goal and needed to go the length of the field to win, Schwieterman said he wasn't nervous. That came on the Flyers' previous drive, which covered 84 yards in 12 plays. St. Paul was faced with a third-and-24, but Schwieterman found Tracht for a 45-yard gain on the final play of the third quarter. He later scored on another QB sneak to cut the deficit to 21-17. As for the game-winning TD and thrilling finish, Schwieterman called it an exhilarating feeling. "The emotion when you watch the game back speaks to the pure excitement and joy that happened," he said. Livengood saw 80 All-Ohio selections in his 33 seasons as the coach at St. Paul from 1991 to 2023. He said, like Pugh owns most of the rushing records, and Joe Stoll owns most of the tackling records, Schwieterman is in rare company in the program's history. His 4,377 career yards and 48 career TDs remain program records. "It's an elite club of individuals that dominated the position they played," Livengood said. "Stat-wise it was his offense, but Eric was a four-year starter at safety for us and had a career at Ashland University on defense. "But to have someone at safety and quarterback, it complements each other, and he utilized that," he added. "Eric was a smart player with a tremendous amount of athletic ability, and some kids just have that innate sense to understand how things work." In basketball, Schwieterman helped the Flyers to 29 wins and back-to-back district title games as a junior and senior. He averaged 12.4 points in 2009-10 to also earn All-FC first team honors. "It was such a fun time to continue with that core group of guys that played football and basketball," Schwieterman said. "It was a successful time period there, and we had some success that doesn't happen all the time. It got overshadowed by the football success, but we had a nice run there as well." In the spring, Schwieterman qualified for the Div. III regionals in track and field in four different events, including the 200-meter dash, the 400, and the 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams. As a junior in 2009, he teamed with Matt Wilde, Brian Griffin, and Justin Wilde to place third at the state championships in the 4x100 relay in Columbus. They were just .28 seconds from claiming the gold. After high school, Schwieterman went on to play four years at NCAA Div. II Ashland University. He finished with 143 tackles and 10 interceptions en route to earning GLIAC honorable mention twice. He was also a four-time GLIAC Academic Excellence winner and was also an NCAA Div. II Academic All-American. The four-year letter winner was also a team captain and a key starter for one of five undefeated regular seasons in the 103 years of Ashland University football. Schwieterman and his wife, Melanie, live in Medina with their two-year old daughter, Ivy. He works for Donald Graham Associates in Willard.