St. Ignatius vs. St. Edward
Passion Personified!
With the legendary football series standing at 27-21-1 in favor of Saint Ignatius heading into Saturday night’s 50th encounter at Parma’s Byers Field, the corner takes a look at some of the memorable games between the staunch rivals from Ohio City and Lakewood. The 27 wins by the Wildcats include playoff victories in 2008 and 2011.
Again, these are just some of the memorable moments by both schools, many of them being games this corner was privileged to report on.
*****1993: WITHOUT QUESTION, the greatest game in the series and one of the most memorable games in the history of Ohio high school football, if not the entire nation!
The state and national champion Wildcats of 1993 only encountered one major challenge that season, but, oh my, what a challenge it was.
Coach Jim McQuaide’s St. Edward Eagles, behind senior quarterback Bobby Adams, took the Wildcats into three overtimes before Saint Ignatius prevailed, 35-34. The decisive moments came on a leaping 15-yard touchdown reception by Keith Laschinger off a scramble and throw on the run by senior quarterback Scott Mutryn – a play that saw Laschinger take the ball away from a defender in the Madison Avenue end zone of Lakewood Stadium – and the ensuing extra-point kick by Nick Paez.
Saint Ignatius led, 21-7, with 8 minutes and 12 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter before the Eagles stormed back behind touchdown receptions by wide receiver Ryan Ezzie and tailback Kevin Knestrick. Knestrick hauled in a 35-yard toss from Adams with 25 seconds left in the fourth quarter and Brian Neff’s extra-point kick knotted the score at 21. Sandwiched in between the TDs by Ezzie and Knestrick was Joe Lowry’s recovery of an onside kick at the Saint Ignatius 49.
The game, played on Saturday night, Oct. 23, attracted a standing-room crowd of more than 13,000 to Bunts and Madison and also saw fans standing on the hoods and roofs of their cars along Madison, trying to get a glimpse of the action and causing a bit of a traffic jam in the process. The Eagles and the Wildcats entered the game 5-1 and 7-0, respectively, and were ranked 1 (Saint Ignatius) and 4 in The Plain Dealer’s Top 25 poll.
“I am so tired, my God what a football game,” Mutryn said to this reporter as he was trying to fight back the tears of victory and exhaustion. “St. Edward is a great, great team. They just kept answering us.”
Coach McQuaide, now the head football coach at Solon High School, was, as always, the epitome of class.
“To take the nation’s best (Saint Ignatius was ranked No. 1 in USA Today’s Super 25), and by the way, it’s a ranking we feel they deserve, says something about the character of our kids,” Coach McQuaide said. “I have always heard of the ‘Game that nobody to deserved to lose.’ Well, if there is such a thing, this was certainly it.”
In what was a first for The Plain Dealer, this old-timer and my friend, mentor and colleague, the late Dick “Zip” Zunt ’50, huddled on the ensuing Sunday morning and decided to select two players from the same game – Mutryn and Adams – as The Plain Dealer’s football Players of the Week. It had never happened before and I believe it has never happened again at The PD, at least not in the sport of football. Mutryn passed for 229 yards and five touchdowns, and Adams threw for 231 yards and four touchdowns. The two gunslingers would go on to share the quarterback position on The Plain Dealer’s All-Cuyahoga County All-Star Team and Bobby was the quarterback on the seven-county “Best of the Best” team. They both garnered All-Ohio honors in Division I.
2011: For the second time in 15 days, Saint Ignatius defeats St. Edward by an identical 20-17 score. The stakes were much higher on this Saturday, Nov. 12 night, however, as the ‘Cats and the Eagles met for the 49th time in what was a Division I, Region 1 semifinal on Brunswick High School’s Judy Kirsch Field.
After St. Edward, a team laden with major-college recruits, took a 14-point lead on a 64-yard touchdown run by junior tailback Dwayne Aaron and a highlight-reel 45-yard TD gallop by junior quarterback Ryan Fallon with 3:32 remaining in the third quarter, the Wildcats clawed their way back on a 15-yard TD toss from senior quarterback Eric Williams to All-Ohio senior tight end Blake Thomas and a wouldn’t-be-denied 34-yard touchdown run by All-Ohio junior tailback Tim McVey. Saint Ignatius outscored the Eagles, 10-0, in the fourth quarter. Along with the clutch efforts by Williams, Thomas and McVey, the Wildcats were the recipients of some big-time receptions by senior wideouts Tim McCoy and Jake Mooney, an aggressive and opportunistic defense and the magical foot of senior Tim Shenk.
Shenk (now at Air Force) kicked the winning 32-yard field goal as time expired and Saint Ignatius went on to add to its record accomplishments under Coach Chuck Kyle ’69 by winning its 11th Division I state championship. Shenk also had the winning field goal from 35 yards in the Week 10, 20-17 regular-season victory.
1955: After being defeated by Saint Ignatius in the first three games of the series (1952, 1953 and 1954) St. Edward stuns the Wildcats, 34-12. Saint Ignatius led, 6-0, at halftime, but the Eagles came out and controlled the game in the second half. St. Edward sealed its first win in the series by outscoring the Wildcats, 21-0, in the fourth quarter. Pat Connor, Tim Ansberry and Craig Andrews showed the way for the Eagles in that decisive final quarter.
*Historical note: After the 1955 season, Saint Ignatius would go on to comfortable victories over the Eagles in 1956 and 1957 and the teams did not meet again until 1971, when the Wildcats were under the direction of Paul Nemec ‘57, a member of Saint Ignatius’ Athletic Hall of Fame. Coach Nemec succeeded the legendary John J. Wirtz.
1971: The Wildcats and the Eagles renewed their rivalry on the new Astroturf surface at Baldwin-Wallace College’s Finnie Stadium. An estimated crowd of 12,000 was on hand for the renewal, as it was bumper-to-bumper on I-71 (I can attest to that). Fans were still arriving late in the second quarter. St. Edward won, 24-0, behind a touchdown by Pat Whelan, a 70-yard scoring gallop by Tony Mazzella, a quarterback keeper of 18 yards by Bob McConville and a 20-yard field goal by Tom Harwood.
1976: Because of a teachers strike in the Parma school System, the Wildcats and the Parma Redmen did not play in 1976, marking the first time in 18 years that Saint Ignatius did not open its season against Parma. So the Wildcats’ ’76 season opener was against none other than the St. Edward Eagles. From 1971 through 1982, the Eagles dominated the series, winning 11 times. There were some tight games during the Eagles’ successful stretch, including the 1976 encounter won by St. Edward, 2-0. Yes, 2-0. A persistent rain fell that Friday night and the Eagles defended their soggy home land behind their school when the only score occurred on a safety late in the third quarter. St. Edward outgained Saint Ignatius, 248-54, in total yards.
1979: Under the direction of Coach Al Gizzi Saint Ignatius snapped an eight-game losing streak to St. Edward by defeating the Eagles, 17-6, in front of a crowd of nearly 8,000 at Finnie Stadium. A touchdown run by quarterback Joe Boehm led the Wildcats to a 7-0 lead by halftime and the key play of the game – a 37-yard interception return for a touchdown by senior safety and Captain Bryan Hoffart midway through the third quarter – showed the way. Linebackers Tim Colleran (15 tackles) and Dennis Rehor (14 tackles and a fumble recovery) and tackle Bob Reiser (13 stops) came up big all night for Coach Gizzi’s defense.
1983: With former Saint Ignatius All-City running back Chuck “Chico” Kyle in his first season at the Wildcats’ varsity helm, the only tie in the series took place at Finnie Stadium. Trailing, 14-0, early in the fourth quarter, St. Edward stormed back to tie the score on the arm of Ryan Weisenseel. The Eagles scored on a 15-yard TD reception by Marvin Bowman from Weisenseel, a 1-yard touchdown run by Joe Joyce and a two-point conversion pass from Weisenseel to Bowman.
Historical Note 2: As will be the case this coming Saturday night, Saint Ignatius and St. Edward entered their 1984 Week 7 encounter undefeated. They both sported 6-0 records. The Eagles and the Wildcats were also 1-2 in the Region 1 computer ratings, as they currently are.
No, they were not 1-2 in the state as they currently are, with Saint Ignatius ranked No. 1. St. Edward, which prevailed that night in 1984 at Finnie Stadium, 10-0, was third in the Associated Press Division I state poll and the Wildcats were 11th. As expected, the 1984 game was a defensive battle, as each team had two shutouts entering the kickoff. The Eagles had yielded 37 points in their first six games and the Wildcats had allowed just 32 points through six games.
1986: After a tie and two losses to the Eagles, Coach Kyle earned his first victory in the series with a 14-5 triumph over St. Edward at Finnie Stadium. On first-and-10 from the Eagles’ 20, a jarring tackle by linebacker Mark Brewster knocked the ball loose from St. Edward’s record-setting tailback Chris Williams and defensive back Tim Fitzpatrick picked up the ball off the artificial surface and returned it for a touchdown. That play and Pete Wagner’s extra point staked Saint Ignatius to a 7-0 lead by halftime. Fitzpatrick’s fumble return and a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by tailback Pat Kennedy after St. Edward closed to 7-3 early in the third quarter were the defining points of what would become the first of Coach Kyle’s 21 triumphs in the series.
1990 and 1991: After a three-point loss to St. Edward in 1987, Saint Ignatius ran off three consecutive victories in the series, including the 47-0 domination in 1990. The 1990 game, which saw the Wildcats pick off seven passes, was the most lop-sided victory in the series.
In 1991, Saint Ignatius, playing without All-Ohio and Lou Groza Award-winning senior quarterback Kevin Mayer (ankle injury), was upset by Villa Angela-St. Joseph and St. Edward in Weeks 7 and 8. The setback to VASJ snapped the Wildcats’ 37-game REGULAR-SEASON winning streak and the 14-10 loss to the Eagles in Week 8 marked the first time the Wildcats had lost two games in a row since 1987. St. Edward’s defense stood tall that night in Lakewood Stadium, recording five sacks and three interceptions.
1996: In the 1990s, St. Edward was defeated by Saint Ignatius eight times. However, on a bone-chilling Saturday night in Lakewood Stadium in 1996, the Eagles and the Wildcats battled the winds, the sleet and each other into overtime, where St. Edward prevailed, 12-9, on a 32-yard field goal by Paul Ciepiel. The Eagles tied the score on a 20-yard catch and run for a touchdown by tight end Dan Novak and Ciepiel’s ensuing extra point with 3:41 left in the fourth quarter. St. Edward got an outstanding game from its All-Ohio and All-American defensive lineman Rodney Bailey.
2008 and others: There was St. Edward’s Shaun Carney-directed 44-41 overtime victory in 2001; Saint Ignatius’ outstanding 25-2 triumph over a nationally recognized 2002 St. Edward team; the Brian Hoyer and Josiah “Juice” Kedzior (a.k.a “The Difference Maker”) show in 2003; Frank Edmonds’ late heroics for St. Edward in the mid-200s; the 2009, 28-0 Halloween afternoon victory in Lakewood Stadium by the ‘Cats, when Jake Ryan, now a mainstay at Michigan, made a play we still tell the younger defensive players about and of course 2008, when after defeating the Eagles, 34-12, in the Week 10 regular-season finale, Saint Ignatius came right back a week later and defeated St. Edward, 37-0, in what was the first postseason encounter between the storied rivals. The Wildcats would go on to their 10th state championship.
Coming Tuesday night – A preview on Saturday’s 50th meeting, the Players of the Week from the St. Xavier game, sidelights from some of the Wildcats’ coaches and a list of what John Fanta ’13 and his SIBN partners have planned for this week.