The Wildcats lead their all-time series with the Bulldogs, 10-6, including a 10-4 mark under Coach Chuck Kyle '69. Entering Saturday night's matchup, which is the first meaningful game between the storied programs since 2003, Canton McKinley has an all-time record at Fawcett Stadium of 416-101-6.

If you are unable to make it down to Stark County on Saturday night, the Saint Ignatius Student Broadcasting Network will have the 7 PM kickoff live from Fawcett Stadium. Patrick McGuire ‘14, Cole Larson ’14 and Carter Spearry ’16 will be on the call.

Saturday’s game will also be aired live over WHK-AM 1420 and live at http://www.thesportsking.com/ The seasoned and savvy duo of Al Pawlowski (play-by-play) and Ed Daugherty (analyst) will call it as they see it.

And last, but certainly not least, SportsTime Ohio will televise the Canton McKinley-Saint Ignatius tilt live, with big-game tested Mike Cairns and former St. Xavier and Ohio State mainstay Grey Frey providing play-by-play and color commentary.

NOTE: PLEASE SEE THE POST AT THE END ON THE "VARSITY COATS FOR NEEDY FOLKS."

Ohio City – The only things that glowed brighter than the lights on Wasmer Field early Tuesday evening were the expressions on the faces of the 2013 Saint Ignatius Football Wildcats.

After Head Coach Chuck Kyle '69 addressed his team following Tuesday’s practice, the Wildcats took part in their traditional “10 seconds” of thoughts or prayer and walked off Wasmer Field with that familiar we’re back expression.

Where the Wildcats are is preparing for what will be their 25th appearance in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division I, Region 1 state playoffs. The first of those 25 appearances came in 1988, as the ‘Cats went on to capture the first of their record 11 OHSAA state titles.

Saint Ignatius, which unquestionably has written one of the most impressive chapters in the history of Ohio football’s postseason, will take a 6-4 record into legendary Canton Fawcett Stadium on Saturday for a first-round matchup with the 9-1 McKinley Bulldogs. The kickoff on the Bulldogs’ home turf will be 7 PM.

Under the new two-region playoff format in Division I, the top 16 teams in each region qualified for the big-school playoffs. The top eight teams in each region were awarded a home game for the first round in what is a 1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15, etc., scenario.

McKinley garnered the sixth spot in the final OHSAA Region 1 computer ratings and Saint Ignatius earned the 11th spot.

While the postseason playoffs have become a ritual on the campus of Cleveland’s Jesuit Preparatory School, you get the feeling when you are around the 2013 Wildcats that this one, and what its end result could be, is accompanied as much by resilience and guts as it is talent.

“It’s incredible, with all of the stuff we’ve been through, all of the injuries and losing four games,” said Saint Ignatius’ tough and talented senior captain and wide receiver Jack Hyland. “It really is just amazing, I think, because pretty much everyone doubted us going into this whole thing. With losing 15 starters from last year, I think it is great how our team has battled through it and found a way to get in (the playoffs).”

OK, I can hear it now. Injuries? Heck, it’s Saint Ignatius. They can just reload and reload again.

Well, check out the sequence that Coach Kyle and his staff have had to face in what is currently Coach Kyle’s 31st season as his alma mater’s head football coach. Chuck enters Saturday night’s game with a career mark of 307-73-1.

After losing promising starting quarterback and senior captain Pete Mahoney and All-Ohio and nationally acclaimed senior outside linebacker Kyle Berger (an Ohio State recruit) to season ending injuries during the preseason, the walking wounded have included senior quarterback John Thomas, Mahoney’s backup, out four weeks, starting senior running backs Mike Vitale and Enzo Cannata lost for several weeks and senior linebacker Mike Ferry (Berger’s backup and currently sidelined). Vitale missed five consecutive weeks. And the list goes on.

“Not at all,” said Hyland, when asked if even the smallest doubt crept in throughout the rash of injuries and the two tough losses to Eastern Christian Academy at Byers Field and to Cincinnati St. Xavier at John Carroll University.

“We’re men of faith," Hyland continued. "The big thing is that we have faith in each other and the faith that we would get in, somehow or some way. Seeing all of those guys who’ve done it before us, we want to be one of those groups who made the playoffs the hard way and made a run to the championship.”

Coach Kyle, who has stressed time and again that injuries and close setbacks cannot distract what has always been a tough-minded approach at Saint Ignatius, has guided teams in the drive to a 63-13 playoff record and 11 state championships who overcame the tough times and silenced the doubters. The 1991, 1999 and 2001 state championship teams come to mind right away.

HERE IS COACH KYLE’S LOOK AT THE 2013 MCKINLEY BULLDOGS, FOLLOWED BY A LOOK BACK FROM THE CORNER AT SOME OF THE MEMORABLE FOOTBALL ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN THE WILDCATS AND THE BULLDOGS, THE CORNER’S PERFORMERS OF THE WEEK FROM THE PINEHURST SCHOOL (ST. CATHARINES, ONTARIO) CANADA PREP FOOTBALL ACADEMY WEEK 10 GAME, AND A SPECIAL POST ON A WAY TO GIVE BACK – “VARSITY COATS FOR NEEDY FOLKS.”

FROM COACH KYLE: “We’ve played a harder schedule, everybody can see that. In the scrimmage (this summer’s annual Jamboree won by Saint Ignatius, 34-13), we threw the ball pretty well against them and defensively did well. But again, you played the equivalent of three quarters (under regular game conditions) and by the time it got late in the second quarter or early in the third quarter both teams were mixing a lot of guys in and experimenting at that point with personnel.

“Certainly, the key guy for them is Eric Glover-Williams,” Coach Kyle continued in reference to the Bulldogs’ 5-foot-10, 170-pound junior Mr. Everything and Ohio State recruit. “He really does so much for them. You have to give the kid credit. He runs the ball probably 25 times a game. He’s throwing the ball, catching it and playing a defensive corner. He’s a very, very good corner. Wow, that’s a lot of football.”

And, as Coach Kyle remembers well, EGW also returns punts and kicks with the best of them, as his highlight-reel punt return for a touchdown in the Jamboree will attest to.

“He’s (Glover-Williams) dangerous,” said Coach Kyle. “We just have to keep working all week on the idea of bottling him up.”

Coach Kyle said that first and foremost, the Wildcats have to execute with their passing game against a 4-3 McKinley defensive front that places an emphasis on stopping the opponent’s running attack.

Even the Bulldogs’ safeties seem to come up and play the run first.

“I think we have some things that are there, but we have to hit them,” Coach Kyle said. “Routes have to be run where we’re expecting and the throws have to be there. If we’re crisp there, it will help the running game and if we get those safeties to bite a little bit, that’s where we’ll get a big play.”

Vitale and fellow senior tailback Kyle Daugenti definitely fueled last week’s 35-14 victory over Pinehurst School Canada Prep Football Academy, with Daugenti scoring three touchdowns and Vitale one. The third member of Coach Terry Fergus’ Italian Stallions, Cannata, was in uniform on Tuesday and ran through some reps. Enzo, said Coach Kyle, remains day to day.

“When we have played well this year, we were pretty balanced,” Coach Kyle said, adding that with All-Ohio senior kicker Matt Colella, junior punter Corey Griffith and junior backup place kicker Toby Leahy the Wildcats have a definite edge in the kicking game. Throughout Saint Ignatius' rich playoff history, the kicking game has played a huge role.

Canton McKinley, which is coming off a 34-7 home loss to staunch rival Massillon in the 124th meeting of the legendary Stark County programs, is under the direction of former Maple Heights Head Coach Todd Filtz. Coach Filtz, who is currently 17-4 in his second season with the Bulldogs, guided Maple Heights to a 12-3 Division II state runner-up season in 2009 and a 15-0 Division II state championship season in 2010.

Massillon, where Daugenti’s grandfather played his high school football, leads its all-time series with McKinley, 67-52-5.

HERE ARE SOME SAINT IGNATIUS-MCKINLEY BLASTS FROM THE PAST.

Oct. 3, 1981: The Wildcats and the undefeated Bulldogs met for the first time in front of a Fawcett Stadium crowd that was estimated to be 10,000. McKinley, which had shutout its four previous opponents, prevailed, 14-7, despite some strong work by the Wildcats’ defense. Saint Ignatius’ touchdown was the result of a fumble recovery in the end zone by linebacker Matt Petrus, who is currently the ‘Cats’ assistant head freshman football coach and one of the varsity program’s chief scouts. Greg Finnan’s blocked punt led to Matt’s TD. The Bulldogs of Coach Terry Forbes would go on to finish 13-0 and win the first of the school’s three OHSAA state football championships.

Thirteen was the lucky number for the “Pups,” as they defeated perennial power Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller, 13-0, in the big-school state championship game at the Akron Rubber Bowl. The Wildcats of Coach Al Gizzi finished 5-5 that season.

Nov. 22, 1997: In front of a standing-room crowd at the Akron Rubber Bowl, McKinley, behind quarterback Ben McDaniels and running back DeMarlo Rozier, rallied from second-half deficits of 19-6 and 19-14 and went on to defeat the Wildcats, 20-19, in a Division I state semifinal game. Coach Thom McDaniels, Ben’s dad, guided the Bulldogs to a 14-0 record and the program’s second OHSAA state championship.

Nov. 28, 1998: Meeting in the Division I state semifinals for the third consecutive season and the fourth time since 1994, the Bulldogs and the Wildcats played another heart-pounding will-tester, with Coach Kerry Hodakievic’s “Pups” holding on, 31-24.

Thanks to a big-time play by a big-time player - McKinley’s gifted defensive back Mike Doss - who flew across the field and tackled Saint Ignatius wide receiver Pete Koch just inches short of the goal line after Pete hauled in a 54-yard pass from quarterback Tom Arth, McKinley secured the victory and went on to its third OHSAA state title.

Oct. 5, 2002: Quarterback Brian Hoyer, the same young man who recently breathed life back into the Browns, completed 14 of 18 passes for 267 yards, three touchdowns and no picks, as Coach Kyle’s Wildcats dominated the Bulldogs, 42-6, at Byers Field.

Sept. 20, 2003: The Wildcats traveled to Fawcett Stadium and, behind a defense that limited the Bulldogs to 16 offensive plays and minus 4 yards of offense in the second half, and a couple of slick audible calls by Brian Hoyer, defeated McKinley, 34-14. *It marked the last time McKinley and Saint Ignatius played in a football game that counted (other than scrimmages), that is until this Saturday night.

PERFORMERS OF THE WEEK: The corner is going with senior tailbacks Kyle Daugenti and Mike Vitale, senior defensive lineman Chris Keane, senior linebacker/safety Dan Jamieson, senior linebacker John Simeone and senior defensive back Nick Malarik, whose efforts were more than the Pinehurst School Canada Prep Football Academy could deal with.

HERE IS THE POST ON THE “VARSITY COATS FOR NEEDY FOLKS”

FROM MR. JOHN FOX: Several years ago, I was attending mass at St. Malachi's Church, which is located near Saint Ignatius. The day was extremely cold, and on the steps of the Church sat a lightly dressed man drinking coffee and shivering uncontrollably. The picture of this man took up residence in my mind.

Several weeks later while clearing out a closet in my home, I came across a varsity coat that one of my sons had worn during his high school days. The coat had hung there since he had left for college.

I began to wonder how many other families had unused varsity coats hanging in their closets, and just how we could collect the unused varsity coats and distribute them to those in need.

I met with Tim Grady, who had worked with the homeless and needy persons through the Arrupe Program at Saint Ignatius and the idea of "Varsity Coats for Needy Folks" was born. The name was "coined" by my daughter, Ellen Spear.

I am sure there are mothers whose sons were athletes and have left for college or are graduated and working, who would be glad to unload their closets and donate these coats to the people who need them the most. I have been told by St. Colman's outreach program that there is a great need for these types of large heavy coats for men. We will take off the "letter and the name" and return them. We are asking for your help to get the message out and gather the coats, which will help those most in need.

- John Fox, (216) 543-3350, Trinity.fox7@gmail.com