The Wildcats will look to slow down a Tarblooders team that is on a roll. Special teams, especially the kicking game, will play a huge factor.
*Saint Ignatius (5-0) and Glenville (4-1) will meet for the 11th time on Saturday night at Parma’s Byers Field. The kickoff from Ridge Road and Day Drive will be 7 p.m. The series is tied at 5-5, which includes playoff victories by the Wildcats in 2003 and 2008 and playoff wins by the Tarblooders in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009.
*Saint Ignatius’ regular season triumphs over Glenville came in 1924 (a 13-0 Golden Tornado victory), 2009 and 2011, and Glenville‘s regular-season victory took place on opening night in 2008.
*Saturday’s game will be broadcast by Saint Ignatius’ Student Broadcasting Network with live audio and video. Like Lenny Brickman to Al Westfall and Bill Myers’ through-a-neighboring-window drop kick at Shaw Field in 1924, John Fanta ’13 and Greg Ziton ’13 will be on the money with their play-by-play and commentary.
By Eddie Dwyer, Copyright September 2012
Like many football coaches in the area, Saint Ignatius’ 30-year veteran Chuck Kyle ’69 took notice when the Glenville Tarblooders, rebounding from an error-filled 42-14 opening-night loss to St. Edward, traveled to Solon and came away with a 40-17 victory over the always highly regarded Comets.
“They’re a very improved team,” Coach Kyle said of a Tarblooders program that has had many memorable games with the Wildcats. “St. Eds did a nice job on them in the first game, a playoff caliber game, and I don’t know if Glenville was quite ready for that in the first game. You look at the video (of the Solon game) and you can see that they ironed out the mistakes. You go, wait minute now, they’re getting better!
“They were hitting big plays against Solon and Solon has speed,” Coach Kyle continued.
Saint Ignatius, the top-ranked program in The Plain Dealer’s Top 25 area poll and the Associated Press Division I state poll, enters Saturday’s game unbeaten through five games and holding down the No. 1 spot in the most significant poll – the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s Region 1 computer playoff ratings.
Glenville, which has run off four consecutive victories by outscoring the opposition 199-17, is ranked 10th by The Plain Dealer and is also 10th in the OHSAA Region 1 ratings.
Since only the top eight teams in each of the state’s 24 regions at the end of the regular season qualify for the playoffs, the Tarblooders could look back four weeks from now and realize how vital their game with Saint Ignatius was. Last season in Week 6, Glenville was all but eliminated from the postseason when it was defeated by the Wildcats, 24-6, at Byers Field.
“They certainly have some weapons,” Coach Kyle said of a Tarblooders team that could, and we emphasize could, be welcoming back its legendary head coach Ted Ginn Sr. Ginn Sr. has been ill, but acting head coach and longtime assistant Matt Chinchar said after the Solon victory that Coach Ginn was hoping to return for the Saint Ignatius game.
“On offense, Marshon Lattimore has made huge plays for them,” said Coach Kyle of Glenville’s 6-0, 185-pound wide receiver/running back/free safety/cornerback. “And they go to him a lot. He’s a receiver who has had huge yardage after the catch. He’s pretty special and he’s only a junior.”
In the victory at Solon, which saw the Tarblooders run off 24 unanswered points, Lattimore’s night included touchdown receptions of 34, 35 and 41 yards and an 80-yard touchdown run. He also passed for a two-point conversion.
Complementing Lattimore are senior running back Herbert Walker Jr., senior wide receiver/cornerback/quarterback Christopher Overton and junior quarterback Quan Robinson Jr.
In last weekend’s 55-0 triumph over the Rhodes Rams, Robinson Jr. completed 10 of 13 passes for 148 yards and three touchdowns, Overton hauled in three of those passes for 77 yards and two TDs and Walker Jr. carried the ball just eight times for 112 yards and two scores.
“He’s a tough little guy,” said Coach Kyle of the 5-8, 180-pound Walker Jr. “He gets behind their big linemen and he has good peripheral vision. His linemen just kind of get on their guy and let him cut. It may be in the 1 hole or it may be in the 4 hole, who knows? But when he finds that seam he goes.”
Coach Kyle emphasized that his Wildcat defenders have to pursue with discipline, otherwise Walker Jr. will find a gap. “The danger there is being over aggressive and actually creating a seam because you’re penetrating too much and allowing him to cut back underneath it,” said Coach Kyle. “So we have to be disciplined in our lanes.”
As always, Saint Ignatius will look to maintain an offensive balance that features senior southpaw quarterback Mike LaManna and gritty and gifted senior tailback Tim McVey. Mike and Tim have combined for 26 touchdowns, including 14 through the air by LaManna. It is that type of balance that will keep the Tarblooders honest defensively, especially their secondary which flies to the ball. Senior Christopher Worley Jr. (6-2, 200 pounds) is among those who lead that Glenville charge.
The Wildcats, as this corner has emphasized since late June, have a deep and talented receiving corps and one of the most underrated offensive lines in Northeast Ohio, if not the entire state.
Junior Mike Siragusa, seniors Rocky Zingale and Conor Hennessey and junior Jack Hyland are LaManna’s main targets, with the explosive Hennessey hoping to return soon from the injured list (high ankle sprain). The skill players operate behind senior center Steve Franko, senior guards Mike Cray and Ian McDonald, senior tackle Mike Bigach and highly recruited junior tackle Jim Byrne. Junior Ryan Dadich has also contributed significantly up front.
As for Saint Ignatius’ defense, which graduated eight starters from last season’s record 11th state championship team, well, let’s just say that through five games the D has performed right up there with the best the state has to offer.
Under the direction of veteran coordinator Dan Corrigan ’78, the ‘Cats’ defense has yielded 51 points through five games, with more than a handful of those points coming against the second and third units.
“I think our offensive line is pretty good and we have Timmy, who can really hurt them,” said Coach Kyle of McVey, who is a University at Buffalo recruit and an All-Ohio selection in 2011. “And we have to dominate the kicking game, we have to! We have a good kicking game and we have to accept the challenge that we have to make some big plays in the kicking game. It will be a key to victory.”
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK FROM THE MCDOWELL GAME
The honors defensively go to senior nose tackle Dave Katusha and senior end Matt Gawlik, who fueled an effort that limited the Trojans’ vaunted running game to 141 yards. McDowell, whose leading rusher managed just 41 yards, entered the game averaging more than 430 yards rushing.
Offensively, the corner is going with senior wide receiver Rocky Zingale (diving 29-yard TD reception) and junior wideouts Jack Hyland (79-yard TD catch and run) and Mike Siragusa (54-yard TD catch and run), whose big-play efforts dampened McDowell’s enthusiasm.
And this week we want to also recognize the efforts of the special teams, which included booming kickoffs into and out of the end zone by junior Matt Colella and solid kick returns by seniors Ian Riley (on kickoffs) and Josh Baker (on punts).