Ohio City - If you are not excited about this coming weekend, then high school sporting events, and especially those involving the Saint Ignatius Wildcats, are not your cup of October tea. And that is okay, I guess.

However, don't get too upset with the rest of us fall sports fanatics if we get little crazy with anticipation this week.

In what could be described as the biggest and most telling weekend of the 2013 fall season, things get started on Friday morning when Coach Brian Becker '77 sends his version of the golf program's Fab Five into the 88th Boys Division I State Tournament on the demanding Scarlet Course at The Ohio State University. Friday's tee off time is 9 AM.

After bringing home a sectional championship, Coach Becker's Wildcats qualified for the state tournament by finishing third in last week's OHSAA district competition at Pine Hills. Representing Saint Ignatius at The Ohio State University will be seniors Jack Coyne (77) and PJ Malik (80), junior Kevin Duncan (79) and sophomores Harrison Vonderau (81) and Michael Vallee (84). The scores in parenthesis are from last week's district tournament.

Saint Ignatius will seeking a third state championship in golf, as the Wildcats were back-to-back champions in 2001 and 2002. Ted Smith, Matt Busa, Ben Smith, Tommy Wiegand and Dan Rush led the charge in 2001, with Ted Smith and Matt Busa finishing 3-4, and in 2002 Coach Dan Hess' team got an outstanding medalist effort of 150 from Ben Smith in capturing a second consecutive big-school title. Supporting Ben were Matt Busa, Dan Rush, Tommy Wiegand and Ryan Petretti.

The Wildcats, behind a co-medalist performance by the brilliant Beau Titsworth '12, finished fifth in the 2011 Division I state tournament.

In cross country, Dr. Mike Gallagher '71 will send his Wildcats harriers into Saturday's District Meet at Medina Ella Caravan Elementary School. The varsity race begins at 11 AM. An Open Race (unofficial) follows the boys Division III race at approximately 1:30 PM.

The big weekend will also see Coach Mike McLaughlin '85 and his top-seeded varsity soccer team begin their annual OHSAA postseason in a sectional-final match up with this week's Rhodes vs. Parma sectional semifinal winner. Saturday's action on Wasmer Field will begin at 3 PM. The Soccer 'Cats (7-3-6) enter Saturday's sectional play having finished eighth in the final state poll for 2013 by the Ohio Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association.

Closing out the Octoberfest of Wildcats athletics will be Saturday night's 51st chapter of the storied and well-documented Saint Ignatius (4-3) versus St. Edward (6-0) football rivalry. The home team Eagles will enter the game as the top-ranked program in the seven-county area and the Wildcats are now the area's seventh-ranked team. The kickoff from First Federal Lakewood Stadium will be 7 PM.

The corner will provide an in-depth preview of the annual showdown in the "Madhouse on Madison" on Tuesday night.

****SAINT IGNATIUS HAS SOLD OUT ITS ALLOTMENT OF TICKETS FOR SATURDAY NIGHT'S GAME AGAINST ST. EDWARD AT LAKEWOOD STADIUM. Please note that on some of the tickets you have purchased for the game, the kickoff time is printed as 2 PM. St. Edward, which is the home team, had those tickets printed before the game was moved to 7 PM. Again, it is a 7 PM kickoff from Bunts and Madison.

Arrive early!