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The 2017 Saint Ignatius Varsity Football Preseason is Officially Underway

By Eddie Dwyer, 06/02/17, 10:15AM EDT

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By Mr. Eddie Dwyer, June 1, 2017

Ohio City - The message from Saint Ignatius' veteran Offensive Coordinator Nick Restifo was clear and right to the point - "Strive to be better each day." 

Coach Restifo's words followed Thursday afternoon's first preseason mini-camp of 2017, a two-hour spirited effort on Wasmer Field that had a few highlights and some obvious work-to-be-done rough edges.

New faces popped up among the coaching staff as Chad Aerni, a ball-hawking All-District defensive back on the Wildcats' 2011 State Championship Team, is working with the Saint Ignatius safeties this season alongside veteran defensive secondary coach Kevin Johnson '10.

On the offensive side of the football, Jack Hyland '14, a former mainstay at wide receiver for the Wildcats, appears to be right at home while lending his big-game knowledge to a savvy and sure-handed cast of 'Cats' wide outs. Jack, who said he is thrilled to be back home on the Wasmer Field Turf, was the wide receivers coach for the University School Preppers last season.

"O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN!": Three exceptional senor leaders - tailback Mark Bobinski, safety Justin Sands and offensive lineman Jack Jamieson - will serve as Saint Ignatius' Captains this season alongside a fourth Captain, who will be selected during two-a-days later this summer.

A CORNER'S GLANCE AT THE WILDCATS' 2017 VARSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE: The 2016 Division I State Runner-Up Wildcats will tune up for another challenging season with their annual summer scrimmages versus the Solon Comets and the Canton McKinley Bulldogs.

Coach Jim McQuaide's Comets, who lost a hard-fought, 31-17 Regional Semifinal playoff game to the Wildcats last fall in Mentor's Jerome T. Osborne Sr. Stadium, will host this summer's scrimmage with the 'Cats at Solon's atmosphere-rich Stewart Field on August 8.

Whether it is preseason, regular season or the OHSAA playoffs, a Solon-Saint Ignatius gridiron matchup features two of the classiest coaches in the nation - Coach McQuaide and Saint Ignatius' nationally acclaimed Mr. Chuck Kyle '69.

The record 11-time State Champion Wildcats will continue to gear up for the 2017 season by traveling to Canton's newly renovated Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium (formerly Fawcett Stadium) for the annual preseason Jamboree with the McKinley Bulldogs. The Varsity Jamboree, which is played under game conditions, is scheduled for Friday, August 18th at 7 PM.

Please note that Saint Ignatius' outstanding Athletics Director Mr. Rory Fitzpatrick '88 is trying to get the Jamboree moved to Thursday, August 17th. That would give the 'Cats another day of practice for their season opener at Archbishop Hoban's Monsignor Richard A. Dowed Field, which is slated on the Knights' football website for Thursday, August 24th at 7 PM. Yes, a Thursday night opener my friends.

Archbishop Hoban and Saint Ignatius will be meeting on the Varsity gridiron for just the second time.

In Week 2 of the 1958 season, the host Knights turned back the Wildcats, 13-12. Hoban led, 13-0, at halftime. Saint Ignatius was coming off a Week 1 setback to the storied Cathedral Latin School Lions.

The Hoban Knights brought home back-to-back Division III State Championships in 2015 and '16, falls that produced consecutive 14-1 seasons. Their only setback last year came to Coach Tom Lombardo's St. Edward Eagles, 10-7, in Week 2 of the regular season on Dowed Field.

Projected to be strong and experienced up front on offense in 2017, Hoban said goodbye to its bread and butter offensively - Quarterback Danny Clark, a Kentucky recruit, and tailback Todd Sibley, who is headed to the University of Pittsburgh. The Knights' 2016 roster included 23 seniors.

Continuing to whet your appetite for what should be a fall to recall in 2017, Saint Ignatius will travel to Mentor in Week 2 for what has become one of the top Catholic School versus Public School rivalries in the nation, and Week 3 features the renewal of what was one of the most talked about matchups in area high school football during the late 1980s and early 1990s - the Wildcats versus the Euclid Panthers.

Although Coach Kyle's 'Cats controlled the series versus the then Coach Tom Banc's Euclid Panthers, 11-1, the 1989 second-round playoff game between Saint Ignatius and a Euclid team that featured Ohio's  Mr. Football Robert Smith, won by the Wildcats, 31-30, goes down as the second-greatest game this old-timer ever had the privilege to cover and report on during my nearly 40 years at The Plain Dealer. Garnering the No. 1 spot is the 1993 regular season matchup between Saint Ignatius and St. Edward, won by the 'Cats, 35-34, in triple overtime. The 1989 playoff game with Euclid was held at Baldwin Wallace University's George Finnie Stadium (then known as Baldwin-Wallace College) and the 1993 encounter with West Side rival St. Edward took place in legendary Lakewood Stadium, aka "The Madhouse on Madison."

NEW HOME FOR THE PANTHERS: Back in March, the Euclid School Board approved the construction of a new football stadium and field, located directly east of Euclid High School, south of Westport Avenue. The field will have synthetic turf and a projected seating capacity of about 6,500.

Sparky DiBiasio Stadium, the site of so many memorable area football games and track meets, will be a scaled-down facility for Euclid middle school football, soccer and all secondary track events. Only the center bleachers will remain after the removal of the north and south open stands. The visitors’ bleachers on the east end of the field will be significantly reduced as DiBiasio Stadium will no longer house varsity events. Both the field and the track will be replaced.

If the construction process stays on schedule, the Panthers' new stadium is expected to be dedicated the night of the Week 3 visit by Saint Ignatius.

A LEGEND RETIRES AND A VETERAN STEPS UP: Novi Detroit Catholic Central, which handed Saint Ignatius its only regular season setback last year, has promoted Dan Anderson as its new head football coach.

Anderson, the school's longtime Assistant Coach and Defensive Coordinator, will lead the Shamrocks into the Week 4 matchup with the Wildcats on Byers Field in Parma's Robert M. Boulton Stadium. The 'Cats' first home game of the season is scheduled for 7 PM.

Coach Anderson will look to continue the run of success by the legendary Tom Mach, who announced his retirement this past winter after 41 years and 10 state titles with the Shamrocks. Overall, Detroit Catholic Central has 11 state football championships.

 

Mach compiled a career record of 370-94. He ranks third in career victories in Michigan, trailing only former Birmingham Brother Rice coach Al Fracassa (430) and Farmington Hills Harrison coach John Herrington (425). Mach also taught health and physical education at Catholic Central for 34 years.

The Shamrocks, whose only setback in 2016 came to nationally recognized Detroit Cass Tech in the Michigan Division I State Championship Game, can build around three big-game tested veterans who helped them to their 28-21 overtime victory over Saint Ignatius at Detroit Catholic Central in Week 4 of last season. They are linebacker Matt Young, who sealed the game in OT with an interception on fourth down, fullback/linebacker Cameron Ryan, who scored what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown off a 10-yard burst on the first possession of overtime and quarterback Austen Brown, who unleashed a highlight-reel, 75-yard TD pass.

AS ALWAYS, WEEKS 9 AND 10 LOOM LARGE: Cincinnati St. Xavier, which defeated the Wildcats, 27-20, in double overtime in last season's Division I State Championship Game at Ohio Stadium, will come calling to Byers Field on Oct. 21st at 2 PM and the 'Cats will close the regular season with the annual matchup with St. Edward on Oct. 28 at 7 PM in First Federal Lakewood Stadium.

The last time the Wildcats and the Eagles played a Saturday night game in Lakewood Stadium was in 2013, a 23-17 victory by the 'Cats that saw St. Ignatius' former standout defensive lineman and current The Ohio State University mainstay Dre'Mont Jones live in the Eagles' backfield, and tough-as-nails linebacker John Gibbons make a tackle that former St. Edward mainstay Shaun Crawford won't soon forget. Look for the Eagles to count heavily on their gifted junior class this season.

A FIRST FOR THE BOMBERS: With the victory over their Jesuit Brothers from Saint Ignatius in last year's big-school title game, St. Xavier became the first Catholic/Private School to defeat the Wildcats in the OHSAA's football postseason.

Since its remarkable Division I playoff run began in 1988 (11 state championships, including five in a row from 1991 through 1995, and state runner-up finishes in 1996 and 2016), Saint Ignatius has compiled an all-time OHSAA postseason record of 70-16. The first 15 of those 16 playoff setbacks all came at the hands of Public Schools - Glenville four times, Mentor three times, Solon twice, Canton McKinley twice and Austintown Fitch, Lima Senior, Warren Harding and Hudson each with one playoff victory over the 'Cats. Lima Senior defeated  Saint Ignatius in the 1996 Division I State Championship Game.

THE STARS COME OUT IN BEREA: Congratulations to three outstanding players from the Wildcats' Class of 2017, Defensive lineman Mike Chime (bound for Yale), place kicker/punter Colin Goodfellow (headed for the University of Kentucky) and wide receiver Travis Pot (a future Bobcat for Ohio University), for being selected to compete in the 45th annual Greater Cleveland Football Coaches Association's East-West All-Star Game on June 9th at 7 PM in Baldwin Wallace University's George Finnie Stadium.

The Head Coach of the West is Westlake's Assistant Coach Tom Narducci and one of Tom's Assistants will be Saint Ignatius' Dave Cicetti. Dave, who does a marvelous and tireless job with the Wildcats' linebackers and defensive linemen, is Coach Narducci's son-in-law.

THE OFFERS ARE STARTING TO ADD UP: Saint Ignatius' senior offensive lineman Darian Kinnard (6-for-6, 320 pounds), whose performance in the shot put and the discus has helped Coach Kyle's defending state champion Wildcats storm into this weekend's 110th annual Boys State Track and Field Tournament at The Ohio State University's Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, has an impressive preseason list of college football offers.

Among that list are Kentucky; Bowling Green State University; Central Michigan; UCLA; Toledo; West Virginia; Cincinnati; Indiana; Iowa State; Texas State; Maryland; Minnesota; Missouri; the University of Pittsburgh; Penn State and Purdue.                  

 Wildcats' 2017 Varsity Football Schedule

@ Archbishop Hoban, Thursday, Aug. 24, 7 p.m.
@ Mentor, Friday Sept. 1, 7 p.m.
@ Euclid, Friday Sept. 8, 7 p.m.
vs. Detroit Catholic Central, Friday Sept. 15, 7 p.m.
@ Elder, Saturday, Saturday Sept. 23, 2 p.m.
vs. Canada North Football-Clarkson (classified by the OHSAA as Division III), Saturday, Sept. 30, 7 p.m.
vs. Canton Glen Oak, Saturday Oct. 7, 7 p.m.
vs. Moeller, Saturday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m. at Otterbein University.
vs. St. Xavier, Saturday Oct. 21, 2 p.m.
@ St. Edward (Lakewood Stadium), Saturday, Oct. 28, 7 p.m.

NOTE: The next Varsity and Junior Varsity mini camps will be held on Wednesday, June 7 on Wasmer Field, 3 PM to 5 PM for the Varsity and 5 pm to 7 PM for the Jayvees. The corner will be providing notes on the Wildcats' Varsity football camps throughout the summer, will provide coverage on the preseason scrimmages and post the annual preseason preview, and will preview and give you game coverage on all 15 of the 'Cats' Varsity Games in 2017. Yes, I am planning on 15 Weeks.   

On a personal note, I would like to thank Saint Ignatius' Hall of Fame Head Football and Head Track Coach Mr. Chuck Kyle '69; Wildcats Hall of Famer, Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach, Assistant Track Coach and Assistant Principal for Student Discipline, Mr. Ryan Franzinger '02; Saint Ignatius' outstanding Athletics Director Mr. Rory Fitzpatrick '88 and Assistant Athletic Director/Head Baseball Coach Mr. Brad Ganor; Wildcats gifted Communications Coordinator for Athletics Mr. Joe Ginley '12; Saint Ignatius' entire Administration headed by President Rev. Raymond P. Guiao, S.J. '82 and Principal Daniel Bradesca '88; Veteran Trainer Mr. Hank Gaughan ATC; all of the wonderful Coaches, Student Athletes and Team Managers at Saint Ignatius; and the talented and savvy veteran voice of the Wildcats' Matt MacKenzie '18 from the award-winning Student Broadcasting Network for allowing this seasoned reporter the opportunity to return to the lineup sort of speak after getting my health back in order. It is a privilege and a pleasure, to say the least.

- Mr. Eddie Dwyer