The Wildcats, without their gifted All-Ohio senior outside linebacker Kyle Berger, will rally behind their faith and the teaching of Coach Chuck Kyle '69 and his staff. Seniors Michael Ferry and Jake Maruna are among those who will be called on to step up.
Saint Ignatius' Director of Athletics Rory Fitzpatrick '88 said Tuesday it appears that Kyle Berger, an outstanding athlete, student and young man, will be sidelined for the entire season following the knee injury he suffered during Friday's Jamboree preview against Canton McKinley (see posts from Friday and Saturday).
Our prayers and support are with Kyle Berger and his family at this time, as we call on our faith for a healthy and complete recovery.
HERE IS THE CORNER'S PREVIEW ON THE SAINT IGNATIUS VS. BROTHER RICE FOOTBALL OPENER:
By Eddie Dwyer, Copyright August 2013
Two of the nation’s premier high school football coaches will match strategy on Saturday afternoon at Wayne State University, when Coach Chuck Kyle sends his 11-time Ohio big-school state champion Wildcats against Coach Al Fracassa’s nine-time Michigan state champion Warriors from Brother Rice. The 1:30 PM kickoff is part of the Detroit Sports Commission Prep Kickoff Classic.
If you can not make it to Michigan on Saturday, Pat McGuire (color) and Cole Larson (play by play) will have the call live over the Saint Ignatius Student Broadcasting Network.
Ohio City – Two years ago this month, Saint Ignatius linebacker Michael Ferry suffered a serious knee injury during the annual preseason Jamboree preview against Canton McKinley.
“It was my JV year," Ferry said. “I tore my ACL, MCL and Meniscus. So I was out for about a year.”
Two years later, and Ferry is being counted on as one of the Wildcats who will help fill the huge void that occurred this past weekend when Saint Ignatius’ All-Ohio senior outside linebacker Kyle Berger injured his left knee in the McKinley Jamboree at Fawcett Stadium.
Yes, Berger, one of The Ohio State University’s top verbal recruits from the Class of 2014, went down with a season-ending knee injury in the same setting where Ferry’s career was challenged just two seasons ago.
Although Ferry and his teammates were obviously upset over the news of Berger’s injury, they also realize that their dominant defensive leader expects only one thing from them – a total and intense effort.
And that starts on Saturday afternoon at 1:30, when the Wildcats, ranked third in cleveland.com’s seven-county preseason poll and third in WTAM’s Power 11 poll, open their 2013 football season against the storied program from Brother Rice (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) at Wayne State University.
“I was a ball boy with Hopkins and Byrne growing up,” said Ferry of his childhood experiences on the Saint Ignatius sideline with two of the Wildcats current captains - senior outside linebacker Patrick Hopkins and All-Ohio senior offensive tackle and University of Notre Dame recruit Jim Byrne. “During my CYO days (at St. Bernadette) I would watch those guys (the Wildcats) and dream about playing here.”
Saint Ignatius senior Jake Maruna, probably the most versatile performer on the Wildcats’ roster, has ties with Kyle Berger that go back to their days as teammates at A. I. Root Middle School in Medina.
“Kyle was the quarterback our seventh-grade year and I was a receiver,” said the multi-skilled Maruna, who is better known for his outstanding talents in lacrosse. “But then Kyle actually broke his femur his eighth-grade year and then I was the quarterback.”
The ties that bind Berger and Maruna have to remain strong, as Jake is also being pointed to by Saint Ignatius’ highly successful linebackers coach Ryan Franzinger ’02 as a player who can handle the outside linebacker position.
“I’m excited about it,” Maruna said of his chance to play linebacker. “I played it a little bit last year, then I moved to defensive back, then to receiver and then back to defensive back. It will be a great opportunity for me to get out there.”
As Coach Franzinger emphasized after the news of Kyle Berger’s status for the season became a reality on Tuesday, the Wildcats’ faith as a team will be tested, as will the teaching the coaching staff has done.
In what has been a challenging month, Berger’s injury occurred less than two weeks after senior quarterback Pete Mahoney went down with a season-ending ankle injury.
Ferry, in responding to what has been a tough emotional stretch, said he is confident that his class of seniors will hold things together, especially the captains – Hopkins, Byrne, Mahoney and standout senior wide receiver Jack Hyland.
“They have been true leaders, never letting us get our heads down,” emphasized Ferry. “Everybody is going to step up now. It’s next man up.”
And Brother Rice and its legendary head coach Al Fracassa will be testing that faith and leadership from the get-go on Saturday.
“It’s going to be a physical game with their big front and triple backfield,” Maruna said. “We have to come up, fill those holes and challenge it. There are responsibilities we have to take care of.”
A TALE OF TWO GREAT COACHES: Very seldom does a high school football fan get the opportunity to watch two of the nation’s best match their coaching strategies.
Such will be the case on Saturday at Wayne State University, when the Wildcats’ Chuck Kyle begins his 31st season as his alma mater’s head coach with 301 career victories, an Ohio-record 11 Division I state championships, including a state-best five in a row (1991-95), and three national titles (1989,1993 and 1995).
Across the field from Coach Kyle will be Brother Rice’s savvy veteran Al Fracassa, who is closing out a storied career this fall. The young 80-year-old Fracassa is Michigan’s all-time winningest high school football coach with 416 victories. His teams have captured nine state championships. Fracassa has begun his 57th year as a football coach, including 54 as a head coach. This is his 45th year at Brother Rice.
Last season, Brother Rice won back-to-back state titles for the first time when the Warriors outlasted Muskegon, 35-28, for the Michigan Division II title on Thanksgiving Day Weekend at Ford Field. Brother Rice finished 12-2 in 2012.
Like Coach Kyle, Coach Fracassa has turned down offers to coach at the next level in order to remain at the school he loves. Coach Fracassa also turned down the opportunity to become the Detroit Lions’ offensive backfield coach. Coach Kyle and Coach Fracassa have received national honors throughout their careers and they are members of the Coaches Hall of Fame in their respective states.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE WARRIORS TO WATCH:
Senior safety Jason Alessi: 14 tackles and a 91-yard kickoff return in last year’s state title game.
QB Alex Malzone: the 6-foot-3, 200-pound junior has a big-time arm and is described by Coach Kyle as a “tough kid.”
Senior OL/DL Dominic Perkovic, 6-5, 235: Anchors the offensive and defensive lines.
****The 1-2 tailback punch of Brian Walker and Shon Powell: Combined for 35 touchdowns and nearly 2,400 yards on the ground in 2012.
Linebacker Shaun Jones; defensive back Chris Carter; wide receiver/defensive back Grant Perry; wide receiver Corey Lacanaria; 6-1, 260-pound offensive lineman Sage Baltrusaitis; 6-4, 255-pound defensive tackle Alberto Sandoval and running back/defensive back Navin Abro.
COACH KYLE ON THE LOSS OF KYLE BERGER: “For the kid, it’s rough. His senior year, he loves football and he loves to be out there with his friends. It is our job to make sure he is handling it well. And we will do our best to do that. When you practice this hard, there has to be that feeling of next guy up, time for the next guy to step up. That’s why you work. This is reality and we have to handle it. It might be more of a committee situation at linebacker, but we can do that quite easily. You put the kid in the best scenario that fits what he can do."
COACH KYLE ON BROTHER RICE: “Al Fracassa has always had a good quarterback. He’s a quarterback guy. It’s classic football in that he will spread you out, but also get the running game going and then hit you with play action right on the button, well called. Offensively they have several nice running backs. Their guys will make nice cuts and get yardage and then the quarterback will hit a big one. That’s the balance our defense has to prepare for all week.
“Defensively, they will play a seven-man front. We have to keep working on the running game, because McKinley (in last weekend’s Jamboree) was pretty stubborn about stopping the running game. I think when we start spreading out (offensively), Brother Rice will be more in a three front, making sure of their coverage. They have some speed in their secondary and they are patient with what they do.
“They are certainly a program that is not intimidated by anybody. They are used to being in big games.”
COMMON FOE: De LaSalle (Warren, Mich.) faced both the Wildcats and the Warriors in 2012, with Saint Ignatius overwhelming De LaSalle, 49-13, in Week 2 and Brother Rice blanking De LaSalle, 28-0, in Week 4.
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: With the recent selection of Jake Ryan as a captain for the 2013 Michigan Wolverines, it marked the fifth time that a former Wildcat football great was chosen to be a Wolverine captain. The other four are Frank Gusich John Arbeznik, Pat Massey and Mike Massey.
AND LAST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST: Congratulations go out to Kyle Berger, Jim Byrne, Matt Colella, Mike Siragusa and Dameon Willis Jr. for being selected to cleveland.com’s Top 90 preseason players in the seven-county coverage area.