Two tradition-laden teams will square off on Saturday night at 7 in the annual Charity Game doubleheader at Cleveland Browns Stadium. The Charity Game is presented by Home Team Marketing and the Browns.
Coach Chuck Kyle and his staff are focused on the Cardinals’ impressive nucleus of “impact players.”
By Eddie Dwyer, Copyright August 2012
When Courtney Love’s Cardinal Mooney teammates talk about the 6-foot-1, 230-pound linebacker/tight end/running back, a very similar description of the Nebraska recruit seems to always make its way into the comments – “He loves to smack people!”
Yes, pad-rattling hits are a big part of Love’s game and his introduction to every opponent. But then that hard-nosed, let’s bring it defensive philosophy has existed on Erie Street in Youngstown since they started putting air in the footballs.
Love, the state’s Division III co-Defensive Player of the Year in 2011, relishes his role at linebacker. Simply put, he is a tone setter who made 137 tackles last fall, including eight sacks.
However, Cardinal Mooney head coach P.J. Fecko and his staff will tell you that as physically gifted and powerful as Love is, he is also a student of his defensive position. Blessed with cat-like quickness, he sees the entire field and roams and reacts accordingly.
Before deciding on Nebraska, Love also considered offers from USC, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma, Ohio State, West Virginia and Michigan State.
“I think it’s an interesting matchup,” said Saint Ignatius head coach Chuck Kyle ’69, who will send his record 11-time Division I state champion Wildcats against the eight-time state champion Cardinals in Saturday night’s season opener at Cleveland Browns Stadium. The kickoff of what is the second game of the annual Charity Game doubleheader will be at 7 p.m. North Royalton and Brecksville-Broadview Heights will square off in the first game at 2 p.m.
“Mooney wants to run the football. They’ll do their little play action and try to get the ball to some of their special players,” Coach Kyle continued. “I don’t think it would shock anyone if they run the football and try to keep our offense on the sidelines.”
As Coach Kyle emphasized, Mooney and Saint Ignatius return impact players from their respective state championship teams of 2011.
Along with Love, Coach Fecko can call one of the most versatile players in the entire state – senior safety/wide receiver/running back/put me where you need me Marcus McWilson. The 6-0, 200-pound McWilson is coming off a Division III state championship season that saw him make nine interceptions and average 8.3 yards per carry and 17 yards per reception.
McWilson has also given a verbal commitment to Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini, who is a Cardinal Mooney graduate. Some of his other offers included Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois, Youngstown State, Bowling Green, Cal-Berkley and West Virginia.
A tremendous athlete, McWilson, the Cardinals’ man for all positions, can also kick the ball and return kicks effectively.
“They’re Division I (college) football players and as you look at it, they are the impact players,” Coach Kyle said in reference to Love and McWilson, who have been playing football together since the eighth grade. “On defense, those are guys that attack and make big plays.”
Among the Cardinals’ other senior leaders are two-way lineman Jeff Harper (6-6, 295), wide receiver Quincy Jones (6-0, 188), linebacker Aaron Fonderlin (6-2, 230), running back Justus Ellis-Moore (5-8, 175), two-way linemen Bobby Ballone (6-3, 332) and Joe DeCapita (6-1, 265), and running back/defensive back Kareem Ellis (5-9, 173).
Coach Fecko and his staff are looking for a big year from Ellis-Moore, who found the end zone nine times last season. Ellis-Moore can fly.
It wasn’t by accident that Coach Kyle, while referring to Saint Ignatius’ impact players, started with the trenches.
Senior defensive end Kevin Kavalec, a Boston College recruit, is coming off a first-team all-state season that saw him make 68 tackles, including 44 solos, 37 tackles for losses and 15.5 sacks. Senior nose tackle Dave Katusha (6-2, 270), who is bound for the Air Force Academy next year, had 54 stops last fall with 19 tackles for losses, three sacks and two force fumbles, and senior end Matt Gawlik, who emerged on the scene late in the season, totaled 23 tackles in 12 games with five of those tackles coming behind the line of scrimmage.
In last weekend’s impressive scrimmage against Canton McKinley, the men up front were supported nicely by senior linebackers C.J. Haag and Nick Chapek and promising junior linebacker Kyle Berger.
The Wildcats’ secondary is led by one of Northeast Ohio’s top shut-down cornerbacks in senior Tommy Fanning (52 tackles in ’11 with 33 solos, four interceptions and a TD return). As we reported on the corner Wednesday evening, Tommy will join Kavalec, senior offensive guard Mike Cray and senior tailback/safety Tim McVey as the Wildcats’ captains for 2012.
Fanning knows and respects Cardinal Mooney’s offensive attack and is convinced that the Cardinals will have something up their sleeves as far as their passing game goes.
When you look at the Wildcats’ offense, you start with McVey.
An All-Northeast Lakes District and All-Ohio selection in 2011, McVey is blessed with an exceptional burst of speed, power, balance and the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. He rushed for 1,302 yards and 15 touchdowns last season, hauled in 27 passes for 214 yards and returned 13 kickoffs for 406 yards and two touchdowns.
McVey, a University at Buffalo recruit, also excels as a safety, where he had 24 tackles in 2011, including 18 solos, six tackles for losses and four sacks.
Helping show the way for McVey and talented junior tailback Mike Vitale will be Cray, Steve Franko (senior center/guard) and Jimmy Byrne (junior tackle). Byrne (6-foot-5, 275 pounds), who emerged during the postseason last year, has already received scholarship offers from Urban Meyer and The Ohio State University, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, Michigan State, West Virginia and Illinois. However, Jim is currently battling a sore knee and will probably be out of the lineup on Saturday night. Junior Ryan Dadich, who played well in the McKinley scrimmage, has been filling in for Byrne this week.
Senior left-hander Mike LaManna, who brings a calm and confident nature to the huddle, will direct the Wildcats’ offense. Mike is complemented by a deep and skilled receiving corps led by senior Conor Hennessey. Hennessey made several clutch receptions during last season’s championship run and finished with 22 receptions for 328 yards and three touchdowns. Seniors Rocky Zingale, Randy Buffington and Anthony Ertle are among those who had solid preseasons and there is an array of unlimited-potential pass catchers from last year’s undefeated JV team, including Mike Siragusa, Jack Hyland and Jack Lavelle.
As far as the special teams go, Saint Ignatius had one of the big-time kickers in Ohio last season in record-setter Tim Shenk (now at the Air Force Academy), but Coach Kyle is confident that junior Matt Colella will step up. Colella booted a 46-yard field goal during last Friday night’s dominant performance against McKinley.
“Their (Cardinal Mooney) defense comes out of a four (front) package, but at times it’s a five,” said Coach Kyle, who beings his 30th season as his alma mater’s head football coach with a record of 290-67-1, a mark that includes 23 playoff appearances in the past 24 seasons. “They vary it according to the situation, with their linemen more than anything. They are a physical defense that wants to get after you, so we have to be a balanced team.”
Balance on offense, making the proper reads defensively and winning the battle of the trenches. The team that executes in those three crucial phases will walk out of Cleveland Browns Stadium on Saturday night standing 1-0.
CARDS UP 2-0: Saint Ignatius and Cardinal Mooney have met twice before on the gridiron, with the Cardinals winning both times, 7-0 in 1980 and 14-9 in 1981. Under legendary coach Don Bucci, Cardinal Mooney went undefeated in 1980 and brought home the Division II state championship.
S-I-B-N!: Just another reminder that Saturday night’s game will be brought to you live over the Saint Ignatius Broadcasting Network. Seniors John Fanta and Greg Ziton will have the call from Browns Stadium.
Daugherty & Gibbons return: The touchdown tandem of Ed Daugherty on play by play and Mike Gibbons ’70 as the analyst will bring you the St Ignatius-Cardinal Mooney game live over WHKW-AM 1220 and
www.thesportsking.com
CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME
Saturday will mark the sixth Charity Game doubleheader format.
The Charity Game, once the biggest high school football attraction in Greater Cleveland when it was played on Thanksgiving morning or Thanksgiving weekend in legendary Municipal Stadium, was revived in 2005 with a doubleheader at Parma’s Byers Field. Saint Ignatius played in the nightcap and, behind an outstanding performance on both sides of the ball by senior defensive end/tight end John Ryan, defeated Boardman, 32-0.
Saint Ignatius also played in the 2010 Charity Game doubleheader at Cleveland Browns Stadium and was defeated by Lake Catholic, 28-21. There were no Charity Game doubleheaders in 2008 and 2009.
Counting its two appearances under the new format and its 13 appearances in the storied Thanksgiving game, Saint Ignatius is 5-8-2 in Charity Games.
Wildcats coach Chuck Kyle, as an All-City running back for the late John J. Wirtz, played in the final Thanksgiving Day Charity Game at Municipal Stadium. On a cold, rainy Thanksgiving morning in 1968, Saint Ignatius and John F. Kennedy battled to a 14-14 tie. Roger Weir’s diving reception on a two-point conversion enabled the Wildcats to salvage the tie. Chuck scored the game’s first touchdown from nine yards out, an effort that saw him recover his own fumble in the end zone. Despite playing on a mud-drenched field, Chuck set up his touchdown with a 62-yard run.
Coach Kyle said he still vividly recalls the condition of the field, including the rough area around the pitcher’s mound.
Just a fact to chew on – The 70,955 fans who watched Cathedral Latin School defeat Holy Name, 35-6, in the 1946 Charity Game, is the second highest attendance for a high school football game in these United States. That’s right my friends, an attendance of 70,955 was on hand to see the Lions roar.
*Tickets good for both games on Saturday are on sale at Saint Ignatius and the Browns’ Ticket Office for $10. They will be sold for $12 the day of the games.