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LAKEWOOD, Ohio — Zach Hackleman’s family and friends waited patiently for him to finish taking pictures and answering questions. His four-touchdown game that propelled St. Edward to a 35-10 victory Saturday against Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller at First Federal Lakewood Stadium should have catapulted him into the state’s Mr. Football conversation, especially considering last year’s winner just struggled against his team. If anything on Saturday, Hackleman left Lakewood as Mr. Popular. Recommended high school sports stories Buckeye’s work far from finished with Division III football playoffs on horizonOct. 20, 2025, 8:05a.m. Is VASJ the real deal?: Vikings hope latest win ‘earned a little respect’Oct. 20, 2025, 7:00a.m. Cleveland.com high school football Top 25: Is the race to No. 1 tightening up?Oct. 20, 2025, 6:05a.m. “Zach’s one of my best friends,” said senior defensive end Collin Crocker, who helped corral Moeller quarterback Matt Ponatoski while Hackleman excelled with the football in his hands. “I know he’s gonna do something great.” That greatness came in the form of two punt returns for touchdowns that ignited the Eagles (8-1) — who are No. 2 in the cleveland.com Northeast Ohio Top 25 — to a 21-point lead in the first quarter on Moeller (6-3). Hackleman scored early on a 16-yard reverse before his two punt returns, one of 47 yards and another of 92 yards. He finished with 237 total yards, including 150 yards on three punt returns. “We go through it a lot during practice,” Hackleman said. “You gotta give credit to coach ‘Corc’ (Dan Corcoran, special teams and wide receivers coach). We set up a lot of time during practice for punt return, kick return, kickoff and all of those. Just being able to see the cutback lanes, you make on person miss, cut back and then you have Brandon (White). We have two back there.” White misplayed the first punt return, which Hackleman picked up at midfield before shaking Moeller’s coverage. “I saw the blocks set up perfectly and I saw the cutbacks on both of them,” he said. “It’s just kind of like instincts.” While Hackleman had his day against the Crusaders, St. Edward coach Tom Lombardo thinks he has two Mr. Football candidates with White at running back. “White’s the best back in the state, in my opinion, and Hackleman may be the best (receiver),” Lombardo said. “They’re just humble kids. They don’t toot their own horns. They just do it every week.” White leads the team in rushing with 1,166 yards and 14 touchdowns. Hackleman now has 19 total TDs with three on special teams — including a school-record, 99-yard kick return in a 48-28 win in Week 2 vs. Maryland’s Delbarton — with 1,244 total yards. Hackleman, who is committed to Toledo and plans to enroll early next year, has 747 yards with 15 TDs on 42 receptions. That includes four catches for 71 yards on Saturday vs. Moeller. “He’s got deceptive speed,” Lombardo said of his 6-foot-1, 170-pound standout. “When he gets in the open, he’s faster than he looks, and he catches everything. You gotta kind of play off him and he can catch you underneath. If you kind of start getting too close to him, he can run right by you.” Both Hackleman and White returned this year from season-ending injuries that halted their junior seasons. White tore his ACL in Week 3, which led to Hackleman setting school single-season records in receiving with an aggressive pass game. He has accomplished the following: ⦁ Owns St. Edward’s career records with 122 receptions, 2,135 yards receiving and 28 touchdowns. ⦁ Single-season record for 15 receiving touchdowns (and counting) this year. He had 51 receptions last season and is nine away from tying that mark. Hackleman also needs 112 yards to match last year’s record of 857 yards. ⦁ Single-game records of three receiving touchdowns in a game, which he has set three times. Four other players have done it once since 2012. Those milestones could be even greater had Hackleman not suffered a shoulder injury in Week 10 last year against Archbishop Hoban, which will host the Eagles on Friday in Akron. Hackleman remembers that. “I got hurt that game against Hoban,” he said, “so I’m looking forward to it. I know our team is, and we’re gonna come out here and do what we know we can do.”
