TWENTY-THREE YEARS AGO, THE WILDCATS WERE PREPARING FOR A THANKSGIVING WEEKEND STATE-SEMIFINAL MATCH UP WITH NONE OTHER THAN THE PANTHERS FROM TOLEDO WHITMER.
JOE PICKENS AND PETE FITZPATRICK RECALL THAT GAME AND THE TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE THAT FOLLOWED, AND PICKENS, ERIC HADDAD AND RYAN FRANZINGER DESCRIBE WHAT THE THANKGSGIVING MORNING TRADITION MEANS TO THEM AND SAINT IGNATIUS.
BY EDDIE DWYER, COPYRIGHT NOVEMBER 2011
On Saturday afternoon, the Saint Ignatius Wildcats (11-2) will board the buses and travel to Mansfield Senior High School's tradition-rich Arlin Field for a Division I state-semifinal match up with the 13-0 Panthers from Toledo Whitmer. The kickoff will be 7 p.m.
Saint Ignatius, under 29-year head coach Chuck Kyle '69, is looking to earn the right to play in the Dec. 3 big-school state championship game at Canton's legendary Fawcett Stadium. And, as every true fan of Wildcats athletics realizes, the Jesuit Preparatory School on Cleveland's near West Side has brought home an Ohio-record 10 Division I state football championships, including a state-best five in a row (1991-95).
History has a way of repeating itself, no matter how many years go by.
Twenty-three years ago, arguably the most memorable team in Saint Ignatius' rich athletic history was also preparing for a Thanksgiving Weekend state-semifinal football game. For that storied 1988 squad and its coaches, every postseason step was a new experience.
Until the fall of '88, the Saint Ignatius Wildcats had never qualified for the OHSAA football playoffs, which began in 1972.
After regional victories over Euclid and Stow, the excitement that accompanied the practices that state-semifinal week was truly something special. And one of those practices took place on Thanksgiving morning, as the Wildcats were preparing to meet the Panthers from Toledo Whitmer. Yes, time passages.
Although they were designated as the "home team," the 1988 Wildcats had to travel to the Glass Bowl in Toledo to face Whitmer. In what is now a Wildcats tradition, Coach Kyle brought some dirt from Wasmer Field and spread it around the surface of the Glass Bowl. In those days, Wasmer Field was a combination of dirt, mud and a few rocks, to say the least.
After a stirring pre-game talk by Coach Kyle's high school coach – Saint Ignatius legend, the late John J. Wirtz - the Wildcats went out and dominated Whitmer, 31-8. The following weekend, in what was one of the most intense Division I championship games ever played in Ohio, the Wildcats, behind a dramatic goal-line stand, turned away heavily favored Cincinnati Princeton, 10-7, at Ohio Stadium in Columbus and brought home the first of those record 10 state-title trophies.
All-American and All-Ohio quarterback Joe Pickens and All-Ohio tailback Pete Fitzpatrick, two of the outstanding players in Wildcats history, were junior starters in '88 and they fondly recalled that first state-semifinal encounter with the Panthers from Whitmer while attending today's Thanksgiving morning practice on the new turf surface at Wasmer Field.
What started with a small group of fans at Lakewood Stadium in 1988, the Thanksgiving practice, whenever the 'Cats advance that far in the playoffs, has grown into a tradition that draws former players from almost every decade of the 100 years of Saint Ignatius football. Pickens and Fitzpatrick were among a group of well over 200 former players on hand to support the 2011 Wildcats.
"The reason I remember that (Whitmer) game so well is because Nick (Wildcats veteran offensive coordinator Nick Restifo) and the coaches had the first eight or 10 plays scripted," said Pickens. "What happened was, we received the opening kickoff, muffed it and ended up getting the ball on the 2- or 3-yard line. So the dilemma was, do you stay with the script or do you do the prudent thing, modify and try to get the ball away from the goal line?"
With Coach Restifo and the staff having complete confidence in Pickens, Saint Ignatius stayed with the script and on first-and-10 from the 2, Pickens calmly dropped back into his end zone and fired a 23-yard pass to wide receiver Keith Johnson.
"After that first pass we knew everything was going to click," Pickens said to this reporter after the game, which the corner covered during my career at The Plain Dealer. "It was the best job our offensive line has done all year. We could pass, run and do just about anything."
And pass and run Saint Ignatius did en route to a 28-0 halftime lead. Fitzpatrick scored three touchdowns in the first half and rushed for 149 of his game-high 150 yards in the first 24 minutes.
"We snuck up on them with the running game," Fitzpatrick recalled this morning. "We passed and then we ran the ball extremely well in the first half. Back then, you really didn't know anything about out-of-the-area teams, teams like Whitmer, Princeton and Moeller. We didn't know anything about them or how we were going to match up with them (Whitmer), but we came out and just pounded them in the first half."
As Pickens was being introduced to Wildcats current standout quarterback Eric Williams after practice today, Joe expressed hopes for a repeat of 1988.
"It's been fun to watch you this year, you've played great," Pickens said to a wide-eyed Williams. "Kick some a—s on Saturday."
Like Williams, Saint Ignatius All-Ohio senior safety and captain Mike Svetina was a bit awed by the turnout of so many of the Wildcats' great players from the past.
"It's an amazing feeling just to see that it is so much more than just your-self," said Svetina, the Defensive Player of the Year in the Northeast Lakes District. "It's such a big tradition, it's amazing to be here and see all of these guys supporting us. It's just awesome, a special day."
Eric Haddad '94, the most prolific running back in Saint Ignatius history, said it is truly amazing to see all of the generations of players coming back to support the current team.
"It's phenomenal," said Haddad, one of the main pieces on the Wildcats' state championship teams of 1991, '92 and '93, and national championship team of '93. "It really shows the true spirit and what the school is all about and how we support those who are on the field today."
And what does one of the premier players to ever wear the blue, gold and white think of the latest version of Saint Ignatius football?
"Their toughness, they're a pretty resilient group of kids," Haddad said. "They have been in positions during the regular season that I think are really going to help them down the stretch here. Being in a position where you have to make a long drive, being in a position where you have to boot a long field goal. I think they are hitting their stride and coming together when they really need to."
Pickens, who let his exceptional skills do the talking throughout his brilliant high school career, said it seems to him that the 2011 Wildcats never give up.
"They've been in some battles this year," said the player who, in the words of Coach Kyle, started it all. "They play to the end."
And Fitzpatrick, staying loyal to those who run between the guards and tackles, added: "I'll tell you one thing, that Tim McVey is a tough, tough kid."
While this corner has had the privilege of taking part in many of these special Thanksgiving mornings, and can only hope that God will allow me to participate in many more, I was truly moved by how Pickens and Saint Ignatius' Assistant to the Dean of Students and assistant football coach Ryan Franzinger '02 described today's celebration and gathering.
"You can never take it for granted that people still have the connection here, it's unbelievable," said Franzinger, a standout defensive lineman and running back on Saint Ignatius' 2001 state-championship team. "Saint Ignatius football and family are so entwined for so many people that it's like a seamless whole."
As he said goodbye and wished his old reporter friend well, Pickens, looking out at the crowd and then glancing down field at the coaches and players said: "This is wonderful, it's a testament to the school, the coaches and the program.
"I have so much pride and love for my high school and the guys I played with and the coaches I played for, who are still coaching today. It's special for me to come back and see some of the old guys. It means a lot to me."