Ohio City - The Wildcats, who also lead the all-important OHSAA Division I, Region 1 Computer Playoff Rankings and have received a top-five Midwest Regional ranking by USA Today, will face GlenOak on the gridiron for just the second time.
Saturday night's kickoff from Byers Field in Parma's Robert M. Boulton Stadium will be 7 pm.
Last season, Saint Ignatius traveled to Northeast Canton, Ohio for its first football encounter with the Golden Eagles and walked off Bob Commings Field in GlenOak Stadium with a 34 17 victory. Helping key that October 7th, 2016 Friday night triumph were current senior tailback/Captain Mark Bobinski, who rushed for 93 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries, and tailback Jimmy Andrews from the Class of 2017, who totaled 81 yards on 16 carries and scored the decisive touchdown on a 7-yard run with 5 minutes and 11 seconds remaining to be played.
While we won't call Saturday night's trip to Ridge Road and Day Drive a do or die game for the 2-4 Golden Eagles as far as the postseason playoffs are concerned, they are certainly not in the best of positions as they prepare for the second game in what is a demanding stretch run to the end of the regular season.
Coming off a 41-24 home loss to now 5-1 and state-ranked Massillon Jackson, GlenOak is preparing for record 11-time OHSAA big-school state champion Saint Ignatius (6-0), followed by a trip to Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on October 13th to face the currently 6-0 Canton McKinley Bulldogs.
A breather against 1-5 Uniontown Lake follows McKinley, but then the regular-season finale sends the Golden Eagles to Massillon Perry, which stands 5-1 and in the thick of the postseason playoff race.
Under the OHSAA Harbin Playoff System, the top eight teams in each of the state's Division I regions at the end of the regular season qualify for the Regional Quarterfinal Playoffs.
Saint Ignatius sits atop the Region 1 rankings entering Week 7, followed in the top 10 by St. Edward; Canton McKinley; Massillon Jackson; Mentor; Stow; Solon; Massillon Perry; Euclid and 10th-place GlenOak.
The Golden Eagles opened their 2017 season with a 38-24 home loss to Toledo Whitmer, which is 6-0 and ranked No. 1 in the OHSAA Division 1, Region 2 rankings. So yes, GlenOak is battle tested.
After a Week Two, 24-10 loss to the Massillon Tigers in storied Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, the Golden Eagles racked up home victories over St. Thomas More of Ontario, Canada, 39-0, and North Canton Hoover, 34-27. St. Thomas More is 3-1 and Hoover carries a 2-4 mark in its bag.
However, it was a 15-13 loss on the road to the now .500 Green Bulldogs that started the Golden Eagles' descent to two games below .500.
You only have to look at last week's 17-pont loss to Massillon Jackson on Bob Commings Field to see what has slowed down GlenOak this season - turnovers of the untimely kind. Not what you expect from a program that returned 13 lettermen from a 2016 playoff team.
With senior quarterback/defensive back Tate Rhoads and running back/linebacker Mike Rekstis helping show the way, the Golden Eagles held leads of 10-0 and 17-6 over the Jackson Polar Bears before Jackson's gifted quarterback Jaret Pallotta helped fuel a 21-point second quarter and 27-17 Jackson lead.
Pallotta's final numbers showed the UMass recruit complete 21 of 30 passes for 306 yards and four touchdowns.
Rhoads would pass for 239 yards and rush for 59 yards and a touchdown, and Rekstis carried the ball 19 times for 209 yards and two touchdowns. However, those impressive GlenOak stats were offset by five turnovers.
It was a similar story in the loss at Massillon, when turnovers and the Tigers' ability to shut down Rhoads' threat as a runner had 1 Paul E Brown Drive SE rocking.
The Golden Eagles are under the direction of their 11-year Head Coach Scott Garcia. Coach Garcia is currently 74-44 at GlenOak, guiding the Golden Eagles to eight playoff appearances, including three consecutive trips to the OHSAA postseason.
FROM WILDCATS HALL OF FAME COACH MR. CHUCK KYLE '69 ON THE 2017 GLENOAK GOLDEN EAGLES: "On the film exchange, they jumped out to the lead on Jackson and had all of the momentum in the world," Coach Kyle shared with this reporter during Tuesday's practice on Wasmer Field.
"But then turnovers and some mistakes. We know Massillon Jackson from last year and they are a quick-strike offense, and that is what happened."
In leading his Wildcats to a 13-2 season and a Division I State Runner-Up finish to Cincinnati St. Xavier in 2016, Coach Kyle watched his team eliminate Massillon Jackson, 35-0, in a Regional Quarterfinal Playoff matchup on Byers Field.
"The fact that they (the Golden Eagles) are 10th in the region, this is an important game for them if you add up all the points they could get," Coach Kyle continued. "I'm sure all week they are going at it to get ready for this one. We're going to have a bleeding animal coming in. The old adage of a bleeding animal, they're going to come out firing."
Coach Kyle, who picked up his 340th career victory last week in what is his 35th season as the head of his alma mater's football program, emphasized that GlenOak has very physical linemen and that the Golden Eagles' skill players are very good.
"I see some of those guys (the GlenOak skill players) in track season, because we always go to a track meet there," said the man who has been guiding the Wildcats' Track and Field Team for more than four decades. "They have the ability to explode. The defense has to make sure that we control the quarterback (Rhoads), because when he rolls out if he gets the corner, he can go. In play action, we have to stay in coverage."
Play action was one area where the Golden Eagles found some success against Saint Ignatius last year.
ON THE MEND: Coach Kyle said standout senior wide receiver Michael Drobnick will rest this week as an injury heals. Multi-skilled senior wide receiver/Captain Connor Kennedy returned to action last week.
A CASE FOR THE DEFENSE: Through six weeks, Coach Kyle said that among the things that have pleased him is the play of the defensive front, where the Wildcats graduated heavily, including outstanding lineman Mike Chime '17, who is doing very well at Yale, and All-Ohio linebacker Adam Shibley '17, who earned a spot with Coach Jim Harbaugh's Michigan Wolverines as a preferred walk-on.
"We graduated guys who were veterans," said Coach Kyle. "But we've been able to get those three-and-outs and give the offense good field position That has been vital to our success this season in giving the offense the position on the field to call whatever it wants."
PLEASE NOTE: Saturday morning's Junior Varsity game versus GlenOak has been cancelled.
We will see you at today's (Wednesday) Freshmen Game at GlenOak, which is scheduled to kick off at 6 pm.