By Mr. Eddie Dwyer, Copyright Credit October 2016
Cleveland, Ohio - The record 11-time State Champion Saint Ignatius Football Wildcats, again ranked among the area's and state's best, will take a 7-1 record into Saturday's big-time matchup with the 4-4 Bombers from Cincinnati St. Xavier, as both teams are competing for OHSAA Division I playoff spots in their respective regions.
Saint Ignatius is currently seventh in the Region 1 computer playoff ratings and St. Xavier is fifth in Region 4. The top eight teams in each region at the end of the regular season (Oct. 29) qualify for the playoffs, which for Division I begin on Friday, November 4.
A 2 PM kickoff on Tom Ballaban Field in St. Xavier Stadium will get the 23rd meeting in the Jesuit School rivalry underway, a gridiron series that is highlighted by two Division I state championship game encounters, which were both won by the Wildcats - 24-14 at then Canton Fawcett Stadium in 1992 and 37-6 in 2001, also at old Fawcett Stadium, which is now Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
Saint Ignatius, under the direction of its Hall of Fame Head Coach Chuck Kyle '69, is looking for its second consecutive victory over Coach Steve Specht's Bombers, who still lead the all-time series, 12-10.
Last season on Byers Field in Parma's Robert M. Boulton Stadium, the Football Cats, trailing, 13-0, early in the second quarter, ran off 34 unanswered points and defeated their Jesuit Brothers, 34-20, to take possession of the rivalry's Cannon Bell. The Cannon Bell came into play when an on-line contest was held to name something that would become a traditional fixture in the rivalry.
Former Saint Broadcast Network President John Fanta '13, currently an outstanding broadcaster/reporter for Seton Hall University, submitted the winning entry.
As for St. Xavier, the Bombers have faced a schedule this season that in the summer was rated as the most demanding in the nation by various football and .com sites.
Last Friday night, St. Xavier took on another nationally ranked opponent, as Indianapolis Warren Central came calling to Ballaban Field as the 19th-ranked team in the country by USA Today.
As per their website game report, the Bombers, behind the play of promising junior quarterback Chase Wolf, took an 18-13 lead over Warren Central on a Wolf TD pass with 23 seconds remaining to be played. On the ensuing kickoff, the Warriors from Warren Central gained 40 yards on the return and took possession at the St. Xavier 40-yard line.
After a Warriors penalty for chop block and completion of 10 yards, Warren Central had the ball at its own 43-yard line with two seconds left.
St. Xavier finally brought a Warriors ball carrier to the ground after several laterals and the game appeared to be over. At least that is what the Bombers thought.
Not so, my friends.
St. Xavier was whistled for illegal participation for having 12 men on the field (players who thought the game was over), which gave Warren Central one untimed down with 0:00 on the clock. The Warriors threw a 42-yard Hail Mary pass that was caught in the end zone off a deflection and won the game, 19-18. There are tough losses, and then there are REAL TOUGH LOSSES.
The Bombers, who are blessed with two solid quarterbacks in senior Penn State recruit Sean Clifford and Wolf, will look to bounce back from last weekend's stunner when they face a Saint Ignatius team whose only loss came during Week 4 at Detroit Catholic Central, 28-21, in overtime.
Clifford has completed 68 of 117 passes for 758 yards and three touchdowns. He has also rushed for 190 yards and seven touchdowns on 67 carries.
Wolf is 65 of 116 through the air for 562 yards and six TD strikes.
Among Coach Specht's other offensive weapons is 6-foot, 190-pound senior running back Quinn Earley, who has produced 312 yards and two touchdowns rushing on 85 carries and has hauled in 11 passes for 130 yards.
Senior Micah Farrar leads the way in the receiving department with 37 receptions for 303 yards and two touchdowns, followed by junior Cameron Specht, Coach Specht's son, with 35 catches for 389 yards. Junior Andrew Wittrock has grabbed 26 passes out of the air for 249 yards and four touchdowns.
Defensively, senor cornerback Carl Grimm has 53 tackles, senior linebacker Brady Stoll has made 47 stops and senor safety Pete Rumpke has been in on 43 tackles.
An interesting stat, provided by former Plain Dealer Librarian/Researcher/ Sports Department Information Assistant Brian Zawicki (in the good old days), a Saint Ignatius graduate and a great Wildcats fan, shows three Bombers averaging more than 20 yards on kickoff returns - Louis Raines, 23.2, Specht, 22.4 and Farrar, 20.4. Always credit your sources my young friends, even in today's world of unaccountable journalism.
Saint Ignatius will look to offset those impressive special teams numbers behind the All-Ohio leg of senior kicker/punter Colin Goodfellow, who has consistently boomed kickoffs deep into the end zone this season and last year.
CATS STATS: Senior quarterback Patrick Ryan keyed last weekend's 38-7 victory over Archbishop Moeller at Otterbein University by completing 8 of 9 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown, and rushing for 58 yards and three touchdowns. On the season, Patrick has completed 69 of his 111 passes for 903 yards and six touchdowns, and has rushed for 252 yards and six touchdowns on 70 carries.
GROUND CONTROL TO MAJOR FERGUS: Showing the way for Running Backs Coach Terry Fergus '72 are the 1-2 punch of senior tailback Jimmy Andrews and junior tailback Mark Bobinski. Jimmy has rushed for 584 yards and seven touchdowns on 90 carries, and Mark has carried the pigskin 91 times for 546 yards and 11 TDs.
THE GOOD HANDS CLUB: Among those on the board of directors are senior wide receiver Travis Pot with 15 receptions for 261 yards, senior tight end/linebacker James Leyden with 15 grabs for 189 yards, junior wide receiver Connor Kennedy with 8 catches for 173 yards and three touchdowns, and senior wide receiver Mike Lehto with 7 receptions for 80 yards.
FOR THE DEFENSE: Leading one of the premier units in Ohio are senior linebacker/captain Adam Shibley with 50 tackles, including six sacks, senior defensive lineman Mike Chime with 40 tackles and 5 sacks, senior linebacker/captain Johnny Velotta with 26 tackles and three sacks, and the man in the middle, senior Joe Gibbons, with 23 tackles and five sacks.
Also throwing their weight around are senior defensive end Mike Czaja (21 tackles), senior defensive back/captain Matt Wiegandt (21 tackles) and Leyden (20 tackles).
As we emphasized last week, the impressive stats on both sides of the ball have been compiled with the starters playing less than two full quarters in three of the Wildcats' eight games.
FROM COACH KYLE ON THE ST. XAVIER BOMBERS: "Absolutely bizarre," said Coach Kyle of the Bombers' loss last weekend. "I haven't seen an ending like that in a long time, if ever. It had a little flavor of the Stanford Band thing.
"Defensively, they're very good," Coach Kyle continued in reference to St. Xavier. "In their losses, they were close games. It has always been hard to score against them and playing down there they defend their field well. The kids know that, that it's going to be a challenge there.
"The quarterback (Clifford) is healthy now, he was out for awhile," Coach Kyle said. "He's a Division I quarterback, who can throw it around. And they have mixed in Chase Wolf a bit. He's going to be a good one."
Saint Ignatius features one of the biggest and best offensive lines in Ohio, but Coach Kyle emphasized that the Bombers' O-Line isn't lacking in size either. "They always have size down there in Cincinnati," he said. "But this year, we can match their size."
While Coach Kyle expects the Bombers to key on the Wildcats' running game, he said he and his staff have been encouraged by the progress of the passing game.
"Special-teams wise, we have to work very hard," Coach Kyle said. "Last year they blocked a punt on us and they are very good at that. It set up their first touchdown. They do a lot of different things in coming after your punter.
"We're very close in getting out there in the playoffs (the Cats did not qualify last year), so we need this game. Then we can take a look at next week (versus St. Edward at the Browns' FirstEnergy Stadium) and take care of business there."
SIBN!: If you can't make the trip to the Queen City this weekend, senior Brendan DeVenney and junior Matt MacKenzie will bring you the game live over the Saint Ignatius Broadcast Network.
JUST FYI in closing, the Wildcats' Junior Varsity and Freshmen Football Teams, who are both sporting 7-1 records, will be in action this week and weekend. Coach Paul Yappel's JV Cats will take on the St. Xavier Jayvees at 10 AM on Saturday at St. X, and Coach Rodney Gallaway's Freshmen Team heads to Erie, Pennsylvania on Thursday evening for a matchup with the Ramblers from Cathedral Prep. The kickoff from the Keystone State is 6 bells.