C.J. Haag, Kyle Berger and Matt Gawlik key the early defensive charge, the offense lays 28 points on the Colonels in the first quarter and players from the second, third and even fourth units see action in a 40-0 victory in Erie (Pa.).

Saint Ignatius, which returns to Erie on Friday night to face a highly regarded McDowell team, extends its winning streak to 10 games (a mark that dates back to Week 10 of 2011) and records its first shutout since the back-to-back zeroes against St. Edward and Boardman in 2009.

****The varsity soccer team remains unbeaten by turning back the Hudson Explorers, 4-1, and Eric Williams '12 makes a solid debut as Yale's starting quarterback (SEE AFTER FOOTBALL STORY).

****At Saturday's McDonough Cross Country Invitational, Saint Ignatius dominated the Junior Varsity race by having six of the top nine times and also ran away with the Open race as six Wildcats were among the top 12.

By Eddie Dwyer, Copyright September 2012

Erie (Pa.) – If you are a loyal fan of high school football, by now you have heard the expression “fails the eye test” in the judgment of college recruiters.

At first glance, Saint Ignatius senior outside linebacker C. J. Haag isn’t going to overwhelm you with his size (6-0, 187 pounds).

That said, all you need to do is ask any one of Saint Ignatius’ first four opponents this season and the reply will be the same - if you don’t focus in on Haag you are going to pay a price.

“There was speculation all postseason last year, all leading up to this season, that I wasn’t big enough or strong enough,” said Haag, referring to a veteran linebacker corps on last year’s 11th state championship team that as individuals outweighed C.J. by a solid 20 to 25 pounds. “But after Brett (fellow senior linebacker Brett Bendokaitis) got injured I had to step it up. I put it on my back and did my best.”

And for the fourth consecutive week, Haag’s best was better than good as he teamed with gifted junior outside linebacker Kyle Berger and tough-as-nails senior end Matt Gawlik in leading a defensive charge that helped the Wildcats to a 40-0 triumph over Strong Vincent on Saturday afternoon in a blue gray sky-drenched Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Saint Ignatius, the top-ranked Division I team in the state and area polls, improved to 4-0 against the Colonels’ Wing T offense, an attack that requires as much discipline to defend as it does aggression.

“We’ve been preparing for it all week, obviously,” said Haag of the Wing T. “We had to put in a brand new defense and all week we were struggling in practice as to whose gap it is and who’s the inside rusher. The Wing T was really throwing us off in practice. But we just kept capitalizing today and we’re able to adjust.”

That adjustment came courtesy of relentless pressure and pursuit from Haag and Berger, and some pad-cracking tackles by Gawlik that saw Matt stand the ball carriers up and stop them in their tracks.

Taking the lead from the defense, the Wildcats’ offense came alive after a first series that resulted in a three-and-out.

The ‘Cats’ defense, with Haag wasting little time in making his presence felt, got the ball right back in the hands of the offense after Haag partially blocked a punt.

Following Haag’s effort, Saint Ignatius was in the driver’s seat at the Strong Vincent 20-yard line and the man behind the wheel – senior southpaw quarterback Mike LaManna – needed just two plays to reach the Wildcats’ destination.

Following a 10-yard burst by standout senior tailback Tim McVey, LaManna dropped back and found talented junior wide receiver Jack Hyland open along the right sideline. Jack hauled in the pass, fought his way across the goal line and after the extra-point kick by junior Matt Colella, Saint Ignatius led, 7-0, with 8 minutes and 51 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.

With Colella booming kickoffs into and out of the end zone, the Colonels (0-3) were burdened with poor field position throughout the first half.

Forcing Strong Vincent to punt from inside its 5-yard line, the Wildcats took possession at midfield.

Five plays later, LaManna struck for his 11th touchdown pass of the young season when he hit tough, savvy and sure-handed senior wideout Rocky Zingale on a quick 12-yard slant. Colella’s kick was high and true and the pride of Ohio City was up 14-0 with 6:19 to go in the opening quarter. LaManna set up his TD strike by sprinting for 22 yards off a keeper.

It was more of the same in the early going as Haag and Berger were constantly beating the pass protection and cutting off the Colonels behind or at the line of scrimmage.

“Actually, in practice I got blocked more than I did today,” said the 6-3, 210-pound Berger, who has the potential to become one of the best at his position in the rich history of Saint Ignatius football. “I was not expecting to get in there (the Colonels’ backfield) that easily.”

The Wildcats shook off some adversity when a leaping interception and ensuing touchdown return by multi-skilled junior safety Dameon Willis Jr. was wiped out by a penalty.

Following the penalty, the Wildcats took over at the Strong Vincent 22 and in just three plays – an 8-yard reception by Zingale, a 5-yard grab by Hyland and a 9-yard keeper by LaManna - were back in the end zone. Colella’s third extra point promptly followed LaManna’s rushing TD and it pushed the ‘Cats’ lead to 21-0 with 4:11 left in the first quarter.

With Gawlik and Co. continuing to create havoc up front, the Colonels were again forced to punt from inside their 5.

Following the punt, Saint Ignatius’ offense went back to work at the Strong Vincent 43 and two plays later McVey struck for his 10th touchdown of the season – a 35-yard gallop over the right side that was followed by Colella’s fourth PAT with 1:19 to go in the first quarter.

The Wildcats, with 30-year head coach Chuck Kyle ’69 going to his reserve units, tacked on six more points before halftime when the ever-present Haag grabbed a shanked punt inside the Colonels’ 3-yard line and took the ball into the end zone early in the second quarter. Saint Ignatius closed the scoring on a 5-yard pass from junior quarterback Pete Mahoney to junior fullback John Simeone with 2:52 remaining in the third quarter. The Mahoney-to-Simeone six points were set up by a nice leaping catch by senior wide receiver Matt Schafer and a hard-nosed run by junior tailback Enzo Cannata

Coach Kyle got several strong efforts from his back-up units, among them the strong reaction and sure tackling of Bendokaitis, who returned to the lineup; two outstanding plays by senior defensive back Joe “Bones” Velten – a picture-perfect tackle for a 7-yard loss along the left sideline and a perfectly timed interception in the right corner of the end zone; some pad-rattling stops by junior middle linebacker John Gibbons and senior defensive end Jeremy Pellegrino; text-book tackles by junior linebacker Mike Ferry, senior defensive back Alexander Previts and junior linebacker Zach Novak, and some strong running by junior tailback Stan Elad.

“The defense came out and gave us field position right away,” said Coach Kyle, whose attention now centers on McDowell, a team with a powerful running game. “We got into the flow and got up there to 28 pretty quickly.

“It’s nice to be able to get the other young men going, to give them a chance to make a lot of plays,” Coach Kyle added. “That’s how they progress. It’s hard to do that when you have 100-plus guys to get into the game. As for McDowell, they are a hard-hitting running football team that had Mentor on the ropes until Mitch Trubisky made a couple of huge plays. They want to control the football.”

The corner will preview Friday night’s game at McDowell’s Gus Anderson Field on Wednesday morning.

*Eric Williams, whose play at quarterback helped Saint Ignatius to its record 11th Division I state championship last season, became the first freshman since 1997 to start at quarterback for Yale on Saturday and he helped the Bulldogs to a 24-21 victory at Georgetown.

Eric completed 19 of 30 passes for 230 yards and a touchdown and was involved in the longest play from scrimmage in Yale football history – a 98-yard pass that was tipped and went for a touchdown.

****VARSITY SOCCER

Saint Ignatius (9-0) tuned up for Wednesday night's highly anticipated game at St. Edward by defeating Hudson, 4-1, on Wasmer Field Saturday afternoon. It was the 26th consecutive victory for the two-time defending state champions and their 54th triumph in their past 55 matches.

Here is the scoring courtesy of assistant coach Joe Popelka '84

Frehsman game: Saint ignatius wins, 1-0, with the game-winner coming with 3 minutes left in the game. This moves the freshmen to a 7-1 record for the year.

Junior varsity game: The Wildcats improve to 8-1 with a 4-1 win.

1st half goal- Bobby Barsic off an assist from Jordan Zorij.

2nd half goals- Hudson scored to tie the game a couple of minutes into the half, but the Wildcats responded with three goals: Zack Senft from Hayden Parente, Nick Malik from Parente and Senft from Malik.

Varsity game: It was Senior Parents Day, with the parents being introduced at halftime. Seniors Nate Fahey and Nick Taljan returned to the lineup after being injured.

Goals: The Cats explode out of the gate with a Ty Sanda goal 15 seconds into the contest after a win in the midfield from Nate Fahey.

With about 25 minutes to go in half one, Hudson equalized the score after the 'Cats failed to clear the ball after a corner kick.

Freshman Hunter Gordon unassisted scored at 19:04 left in the half after capitalizing on a Hudson defender-goalie communication mistake.

First half Goal #3: Jacob Roth scored on a free kick from 25m out after Fahey was fouled. Score 3-1 at the half.

The second half had only one goal: Fahey scored with 3:02 remaining on an assist from Sanda to make the final 4-1.

Sophomore goalie Mikal Outcalt recorded 3 saves and senior defender Andreas Kolaczko made three key stops in the game, including clearing a ball about to go in off the line (it would have made the score 2-2 at that point).

****Sanda's goal was his 20th of his career; Fahey's goal was the 25th of his career.