In what was the 50th meeting on the gridiron between staunch rivals Saint Ignatius and St. Edward, the Eagles unleash a big pass play and come up with a blocked punt that leads to the game-winning touchdown in a 20-13 victory over the Wildcats at a packed Byers Field on Saturday night.
Saint Ignatius, which like St. Edward, entered the game having already clinched a playoff spot in Region 1 and a home game in the first round, will, according to playoff ratings guru Joe Eitel, face Austintown Fitch in a regional quarterfinal next Saturday at 7 p.m. The game will be played at Byers Field.
The Wildcats' varsity soccer team, winner of a record five Division I boys state championships, including the past two, was defeated by St. Edward, 2-1, in an overtime shootout in the University Heights District Championship game on the Eagles' Coughlin Field Saturday afternoon.
****Coach Mike Gallagher's varsity cross country team continued its impressive 2012 run by dominating the Tiffin Regional on Saturday. The Wildcats' harriers will gear up for next weekend's state meet after taking first place at Tiffin with 42 points. Toledo St. Francis was second with 131 points.
Joe Arquillo (16:04.92), Jack Miller (16:06.99) and Luke Wagner (16:09.98) finished 2-3-4 at Tiffin.
Saturday's 84th Boys State Cross Country Championships will be run at the National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio. In 2011, Saint Ignatius finished second in the state to Dublin Coffman.
Here are the football and soccer stories from Saturday.
VARSITY FOOTBALL RECAP
St. Edward 20, Saint Ignatius 13
Parma, Ohio – During all of the hoopla leading up to Saturday night’s 50th meeting between West Side rivals Saint Ignatius and St. Edward, Wildcats head football coach Chuck Kyle ’69 emphasized in this corner’s preview on the game that the Eagles are a “big-play team,” on offense, defense and with special teams.
As far as St. Edward’s faithful are concerned, truer words were never spoken.
The Eagles, ranked second to Saint Ignatius in this past week’s Associated Press Division I state poll and Plain Dealer Top 25 seven-county poll, pulled off a flea-flicker touchdown pass and then road a blocked punt that led to seven more points in rallying past the Wildcats in the fourth quarter, 20-13, in front of standing-room crowd of 13,227 at Byers Field.
St. Edward (10-0), which entered the game with the top seeding for the Division I, Region 1 playoffs, maintains that status and will face eighth seed Mayfield (6-4) in a regional quarterfinal playoff game on Saturday night at 7 in Lakewood Stadium. That matchup will feature a reunion between Mayfield’s veteran head coach Larry Pinto and his old defensive coordinator, Eagles head coach Rick Finotti.
Saint Ignatius (9-1), winner of a record 11 big-school state championships, including last season’s “Eleven in ’11” effort, is the second seed in Region 1 and will face Austintown Fitch (9-1), the seventh seed, in Saturday’s regional quarterfinal at Byers Field. The kickoff will be 7 p.m.
Saint Ignatius and Austintown Fitch are 1-1 in playoff encounters, with Fitch snapping the Wildcats’ 39-game winning streak, 33-28, in a first-round game in 1990 and Saint Ignatius dominating the Falcons, 31-7, in a state-semifinal matchup in 1992.
“Our goal is still intact,” said Coach Kyle to his team after Saturday’s setback to the Eagles, which now has Saint Ignatius leading the all-time series, 27-22-1.
“It’s a game that could have gone either way, that’s the way they have been,” Coach Kyle said of Saturday night’s loss and his team’s recent victories in the series, including the identical-score 20-17 regular season and playoff victories over St. Edward last year.
“This time, we made some mistakes and gave them field position, and you can’t do that,” Coach Kyle continued. “So there’s things to work on, there is. Give them credit, they played a nice ballgame. We had the lead (13-6 entering the fourth quarter), but then a couple of mistakes were made and look out.”
Although they led, 10-3, after senior quarterback Mike LaManna hooked up with senior wide receiver Conor Hennessey on a 14-yard touchdown pass and junior kicker Matt Colella capped the 80-yard drive on an extra point with 9 minutes and 2 seconds remaining in the first half, the Wildcats did not take advantage of other good-field position opportunities in the early going.
After St. Edward shanked a punt, Saint Ignatius appeared to be sitting pretty at the Eagles’ 30-yard yard line with a 3-0 lead. However, on the very next play, St. Edward junior defensive back Pat Riley made a text-book interception on a deep ball, an effort that lead to the tying field of 23 yards by Eagles senior kicker Taylor Marsillio early in the second quarter.
St. Edward cut the deficit to 10-6 on a 28-yard field goal by Marsillio with 2:28 left in the first half and the teams had a turnover exchange early in the third quarter.
Wildcats outstanding senior tailback Tim McVey, who finished with 192 rushing on 32 carries, keyed a drive that resulted in a Colella’s second field goal of the night – a 29-yard blast with 28 seconds to go in the third quarter.
The highlights of the fourth quarter belonged to St. Edward, however, as its gritty and gifted senior quarterback Ryan Fallon fired a 33-yard flea-flicker touchdown pass to senior wideout Anthony Young. The ensuing extra point by Marsillio knotted the score at 13 with 10:09 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Fallon, whose Houdini-like athleticism with his arms and legs was a major factor, completed 16 of 31 passes for 191 yards. The flea-flicker saw him hand the ball off to senior tailback Dwayne Aaron, who turned and lateraled it back to him.
After Saint Ignatius was unable to turn a leaping interception by senior free safety Bryan Fisher into points, the difference maker came courtesy of the Eagles’ special teams.
With the Wildcats punting, the snap from center rolled on the ground, senior Connor King came crashing through to block the punt and the ball was recovered by senior Kenny Butler at the Saint Ignatius 20.
On third-and-goal from the Wildcats’ 4, Fallon dropped back and fired a pass to the left corner of the Day Drive end zone, where sophomore wide receiver David Dowell made a nice play on the ball for the touchdown with 4:02 left to be played. Marsillio’s extra point closed out the scoring, as Saint Ignatius had a drive that started on its 22 come to an end at the Eagles’ 8 with 58 seconds remaining.
“We’re going to be practicing on Monday, we know who we’re playing and we’ll correct some mistakes,” said Coach Kyle, whose team’s 15-game winning streak came to an end. It was a mark that dated back to last season’s Week 10 victory over St. Edward.
As always, the corner will preview the regional-quarterfinal matchup between Austintown Fitch and the Wildcats on Tuesday evening. Saint Ignatius will be making its 24th OHSAA playoff appearance under Coach Kyle, who is 299-68-1 in what is his 30th season as his alma mater's head football coach.
On Monday, the corner will wrap up the Wildcats' junior varsity season, with comments from head coach Ryan Franzinger '02. The junior varsity, winners of six of its last seven games, finished 7-3 after being defeated by St. Edward, 25-0, on Saturday morning at Wasmer Field.
VARSITY SOCCER DISTRICT FINAL RECAP
Lakewood, Ohio - Always the epitome of class, Saint Ignatius head soccer coach Mike McLaughlin ’85 stood on St. Edward’s Coughlin Field late Saturday afternoon and paid tribute to the team that had just snapped the Wildcats’ 35-game unbeaten streak (including three ties) and ended Saint Ignatius’ goal for 2012 – a sixth state soccer championship, something no boys or girls soccer program in Ohio has accomplished to this point.
“We bring out the best in each other,” McLaughlin said, moments after St. Edward defeated Saint Ignatius, 2-1, in an overtime shootout in a Division I district championship game. “You can do stuff all season long and play a certain way, and when it gets to this game everything is different. The intensity and everything about the game is different. It’s so hard to play against these guys and it’s difficult for them to play against us.
“We’ve had our share of close victories like this over the last several years,” continued the man who in 18 seasons has guided his program to 302 victories, a record five Division I boys state championships, including the past two, and three national championships. “My hat goes off to Coach (Tony) Dore for the terrific job he did to prepare his boys. They came out to play, they came out to win. I wish them luck and I want them to win the state championship.”
There was nothing but a winning attitude that accompanied the play of the Eagles (14-1-4) and the Wildcats (15-1-3), as they tested each other’s will for 80 minutes of regulation and two 15-minute overtimes before the district title was decided on a five-player shootout.
After a 4-4 sequence of shots, St. Edward’s outstanding senior goalie Stuart Ford made a diving save to his right and Eagles cool and calm sophomore Timmy Jonas sent home the match winner to the left corner of the net, or the goalie’s right.
Saint Ignatius, the top ranked team in the coaches’ state poll, took a 1-0 lead on a goal by senior co-captain and forward Nate Fahey with 28 minutes and 54 seconds remaining in the first half. Nate ended his outstanding play for the Wildcats by scoring 34 career goals and racking up 25 career assists. He became one of only eight players in the program’s history to compile those career marks.
St. Edward, which played Saint Ignatius to a 0-0 tie in a regular season match at Coughlin Field on Sept. 19 and lost to the Wildcats on Fahey’s second-overtime Golden Goal in last season’s district title game at Wasmer Field, knotted Saturday’s score at 1 with 24.52 left in the second half. Doing the honors for the Eagles was senior Robert Daggett off a curl. Daggett’s goal was the first by St. Edward against Saint Ignatius since 2009.
There were opportunities and several outstanding defensive plays in the two overtimes, including leaping saves by Ford and a highlight-reel sequence that saw Saint Ignatius’ gifted sophomore goalie Mikal Outcalt reject three consecutive shots from close range.
“On a day like this, the momentum is going to shift back and forth,” said Coach McLaughlin. “You have to capitalize on your chances and we had chances in the second half and in overtime. But I’m happy for St. Eds. It’s been hard for them to get through our district over the years, so it’s a big win. I hope they go on and do great and represent Northeast Ohio.”
Coach McLaughlin described Ford’s save in the shootout as “brilliant” and emphasized that to move on in the tournament you have to have a big-time goalie, which Ford certainly is.
Before leaving Coughlin Field, Mike referred to his seniors as the end of a generation of kids that have been part of the state championship for years. He said it is kind of a changing of the guard with them leaving, in particular Fahey and standout senior midfielder and Co-Captain Ty Sanda, who have played in three consecutive state-championship games.
“They’re just an awesome group of kids and great young men,” Coach McLaughlin said. “That’s the greatest part of my job, to be with kids every day that love to work hard for their teammates and their school.”