Staff photo / Neel Madhavan Brookfield’s Donovan Pawlowski looks for an open teammate during the Jack Arvin All-Star Classic on Thursday.
Brookfield’s Donovan Pawlowski left his mark on the school in his final year competing for the Warriors.
In the fall, the graduating senior helped lead Brookfield to a 10-2 mark, which included a 10-game win streak before the team bowed out in the Division VI regional quarterfinal. He finished with 2,173 passing yards and 30 touchdowns, to go with 661 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground.
He became the third Brookfield player in school history to earn Trumbull County Player of the Year honors, as well.
Then, in the winter, he was part of an electrifying Warriors basketball trio that all averaged more than 15 points per game. That team finished with a 18-6 record that included an 11-game winning streak to end the season, before a one-point season-ending playoff loss to South Range.
“It meant everything to finish things off with all my accolades,” Pawlowski said. “It meant a lot because most of those were all my goals. Finishing out my career at Brookfield like that feels really good, and hopefully I’ll be remembered there.”
On Thursday, Pawlowski strapped on his Warriors helmet for the final time of his high school career, playing quarterback for the Trumbull County all-star team in a 24-0 defeat to Mahoning/Columbiana County in the Jack Arvin Classic.
Pawlowski did his best to try to will the Trumbull team back into the game — making several big running plays with his legs after seeing the pocket break down, while also keeping drives alive with key third- and fourth-down conversions.
But despite the loss, the annual all-star game gave Pawlowski the opportunity to take the field one last time with a pair of his Brookfield teammates — Isaiah Jones and Ryan Tetrick. It also gave him the chance to play on the same team as some of his rivals and opponents from across the Valley.
“I’m friends with all these dudes from other schools — Girard, Hubbard, all of them,” Pawlowski said. “It’s exciting to get to play with them, not against them for once. So I (was) just excited to get out there on the field and have some fun.”
With high school now officially in the rearview mirror, Pawlowski is getting ready to head off to Mount Union later this summer.
Pawlowski originally thought he might return to his original position at receiver with the Purple Raiders. But after talking things over with the coaches there, they want him to focus on continuing to play quarterback.
“It’s exciting because it’s one of the best Division III programs, so I’m looking forward to going out there and competing,” Pawlowski said. “All the coaches were super cool. They were very supportive about my decisions and everything. Whenever I stepped on campus for my official visit, I just knew it was home.”
Pawlowski will be following in the footsteps of his Brookfield predecessor, Haden Gibson, who was his quarterback his first couple years with the Warriors when he was a receiver. But Gibson ended up at Mount Union for track, rather than football.
“I talked to him a little bit and he said he loves it up there,” Pawlowski said. “So I’m excited to get on up to campus.”