The defense refuses to rest, Kyle Daugenti provides a highlight-reel punt return for a TD, Mike Vitale and Stan Elad fuel the ground game and Nick Fabian and Mike Siragusa display their receiving skills, as Saint Ignatius advances to next Saturday night's Region 1 second-round match up with the Hudson Explorers. The site of next weekend's game will be announced by the OHSAA on Sunday. Hudson advanced by defeating Toledo Whitmer, 31-7, at Hudson on Saturday night.
Saint Ignatius now leads its all-time series with McKinley, 11-6.
As we reported on the corner Thursday evening, the Wildcats and Hudson have only met once previously in football. That meeting took place in 1996, a 53-12 victory by Saint Ignatius in a Division 1 Regional Final.
Canton, Ohio - Saint Ignatius head football coach Chuck Kyle ’69 said his Wildcats seemed to be a little jittery in the early going of Saturday night’s OHSAA Division I, Region 1 opening-round playoff game against the Canton McKinley Bulldogs.
Hey, even an 11-time state champion making its 25th postseason appearance since 1988 has the right to have a brief case of the nerves, especially on the opening weekend of win or go home and put the gear
away until next summer.
That said, when Coach Kyle’s Wildcats did settle down, it was Katy Bar the Door for the Bulldogs and their faithful.
With McKinley answering Saint Ignatius’ big play – a 55-yard touchdown reception from multi-skilled
senior receiver Nick Fabian – by scoring on a 60-yard catch and run by its “Mr. Everything,” Bulldogs junior Eric Glover-Williams, there was, if only for a brief time, a feeling that this could be one of those Saint Ignatius versus McKinley thrillers from the past.
Then came a 35-yard run by tough and smooth senior tailback Mike Vitale, who was making his fourth consecutive start after injuring a toe during the ‘Cats’ impressive Week 2 victory at Mentor. Vitale’s effort set up a 47-yard field goal by All-Ohio senior kicker Matt Colella that gave the Wildcats a 10-7 lead with 4:32 remaining the first half.
Under Coach Kyle, Saint Ignatius has always been known for its sound special-teams play.
With less than two minutes having gone by since Colella gave his team the three point advantage,
those special teams that Coach Kyle is so proud of landed a blow that might not have been the knockout
punch just yet, but it certainly staggered the Bulldogs and left their fans feeling a little uneasy, jittery if you will.
Senior Kyle Daugenti, whose selfless attitude and immeasurable heart were the main focus of last week’s game story, fielded a McKinley punt at his 38, darted up the middle, cut to his right, cut back on a dime to his left and rambled 62 yards down the press box sideline of Fawcett Stadium and into the end zone. Colella kicked the second of his five PATs and Saint Ignatius led, 17-7.
It was more of the same right off the bat in the third quarter, as hard-nosed senior receiver and captain Jack Hyland gave the Wildcats a first down at the McKinley 47 by making a sure-handed solid return of a second-half kickoff that was pooched by the “Pups.”
Another powerful burst by Vitale that saw him display excellent balance and vision, and a 29-yard pass from senior quarterback John Thomas to Fabian had Saint Ignatius in business again at the McKinley 3. Three
plays later, senior fullback Stan Elad fought his way for a 1-yard touchdown.
Vitale finished with 127 yards rushing on 19 carries and Fabian totaled 123 yards on five receptions.
With its defense and special teams continuing to frustrate the Bulldogs, Saint Ignatius completed its 24-point unanswered run on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Thomas to one of the most underrated receivers in Ohio – senior Mike Siragusa. Mike made an exceptional leaping catch in the back of the end zone off a ball that had some smoke on it and following Colella’s extra point it was a 31-7 game with 7:34 left in the third quarter.
The Thomas to Siragusa third-down TD strike was set up when McKinley, forced to punt from deep in its territory, sailed the snap over its punter’s head and into the end zone. The punter hustled after the ball, picked it up and somehow managed to advance the pigskin to the Bulldogs’ six, where he was swarmed under.
McKinley (9-2), the sixth seed in Region 1 and the eighth-ranked team in the Associated Press Division I state poll, got a 28-yard touchdown run from Glover-Williams off a Wildcats turnover late in the third quarter, but Saint Ignatius left no doubt when Vitale sliced his way over the right side for an 11-yard touchdown with 6:02 remaining to be played. Vitale helped set up his score by running 31 yards off a third-and-8 from the Saint Ignatius 30.
Glover-Williams, an Ohio State recruit who plays tailback, wide receiver, cornerback and quarterback, ran for 68 yards on 13 carries.
“The defense played so well, all the way through,” said Coach Kyle, who will send his 11th-seeded Wildcats (7-4) against the third-seeded Hudson Explorers (10-1) next Saturday night (Nov. 16). The site for the 7 PM kickoff will be announced by the OHSAA on Sunday. Hudson was ranked seventh in the AP's final state poll for 2013.
“And the special teams were huge," Coach Kyle continued. "We work pretty hard at them and all week I reminded the kids to go through the history (of Saint Ignatius playoffs) and look at how special teams have made big plays for us over the years. And I think our kids believe that.”
Wildcats standout senior defensive lineman Chris Keane, who combined with gifted junior defensive lineman Dre’Mont Jones in keeping things in order up front, was disruptive all night.
When he wasn’t recovering a fumble, coming up with key sacks and batting away a pass that he almost turned into a touchdown, Keane was occupying the Bulldogs’ offensive line.
And while we’re on the subject, the ‘Cats’ offensive line, under the direction of Adam Rini ’99 and Paul Yappel and anchored by All-Ohio senior tackle and University of Notre Dame recruit Jim Byrne, more than made its presence felt.
“We got after it and gave up only 14 points. We did pretty well,” said a smiling Keane, after he helped Ohio’s 10th-ranked team and the fourth-ranked program in the cleveland.com seven-county area poll to its 64th
victory in what are now 77 OHSAA playoff games.