Familiar heavyweight returns to Canton 12 weeks later with heavier stakes
By Keno Sultan
C-Town Radio announcer and statistician
CANTON--No longer is Chuck Kyle patrolling the sidelines of the Cleveland St. Ignatius Wildcats.
Don't get the perception under first-year head coach and St. Ignatius 2002 graduate Ryan Franzinger that the Wildcats are a team in rebuild mode.
Sure the Wildcats are 3-8 under Franzinger, a former fullback and linebacker who was part of their 1999 and 2001 Division I state title winning teams and the longtime defensive coordinator before Kyle elevated him to head coach after his retirement that spanned 50 seasons, 11 Division I state championships and three national championships along the way.
Two of those three wins however came against Mentor, the same Cardinals team who Ignatius defeated in the second week of the regular season and last Friday, departed Jerome T. Osborne Sr. stadium amid a stunned Mentor crowd with a 10-7 upset in a Region 1 first round contest.
Canton McKinley can only hope that they are not joining Mentor as another school to put away their helmets and pads till next summer as the longtime Division I stalwarts will oppose each other in a Region 1 second round contest Friday night with a 7 p.m. kickoff time at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
11 weeks ago in a scrimmage, it was Ignatius prevailing 20-19 as they completed a late drive on their final possession to secure a comeback victory. Only this time, it is a situation that counts as the winner will move on to the regional semifinals and a step closer toward a big school state championship.
McKinley head coach Antonio Hall as a two-way lineman faced off against the Wildcats, going 3-4 against them during his four-year career. He knows better than anyone else his legion of Bulldogs will get the best shot of the 11-time state champions.
"When I think of St. Ignatius, you think of their tradition and what they accomplished over three decades. They are a traditional program. I recall playing against them vividly and my first time against them as a varsity player came in the 1996 state semifinals and then the epic battles in 1997 and 1998 and those were some very tough games," Hall said.
McKinley was able to apply a tourniquet to their bleeding in the form of a two-game losing streak. Any doubts of a hangover after last week's 35-0 setback to Massillon were washed away as after trailing Strongsville 7-6, they scored the next 31 points to actuate a running clock and posted a 37-13 victory.
It also helped that they were able to truncate the same problems that stifled them against GlenOak and Massillon. It started with the restructuring of the Bulldogs offense and it paid dividends hugely evidenced by two touchdown passes by senior quarterback Keaton Rode and a 155 yard rushing performance by junior running back Nino Hill that included two touchdowns.
They will need that same near or close to error-free performance against the Wildcats. Neither team turned the ball over during the scrimmage but both defenses allowed a combined five passing touchdowns of over 50 yards. That can spell the conclusion of the season for either team.
"We were able to minimize the turnovers and minimize the the penalties as we only had six and that was a huge step for our offense," Hall said. "We have to continue to get better by executing at a high level."
St. Ignatius has had an uncharacteristic regular season as evidenced by just two regular season wins and five running clock defeats. But don't get the perception they will be a pushover. They are a team that will continue to compete until the final whistle, an embodiment of their program under Kyle and it has transported over to Franzinger. Despite their lack of wins, they are in the playoffs for a reason and their brutal schedule just may benefit them if McKinley for whatever reason dismisses the Wildcats as a threat.
That is not happening under Hall's direction nor will he allow it.
"Their record is a very deceiving record. They are a dynamic football team with a lot of Division I players across the board and they played a lot of tough schools from the Midwest," he said. "We are going to have to tackle well and be gap sound and play with great efficiency. Defensively, we have to keep them in front of us and not get beat."
The times have changed for both schools. Since McKinley won consecutive Division I titles in 1997 and 1998, Ignatius has won titles in 1999, 2001, 2008, and 2011. McKinley has had (not counting Thom McDaniels return for one season) seven head coaches to just one for St. Ignatius.
When asked if he saw some differences between Kyle and Franzinger, Hall deferred his thoughts on the question and was quick to point out both teams were feeling each other out 12 weeks ago.
"I don't know that yet other than all I know is that he (Franzinger) is a protege of Kyle and his team are going to come in and play hard. Both teams were trying to figure out their personnel and see what we could come up with in a game situation," Hall said. "We must keep them in front of us."
Don't get the perception that Cleveland St. Ignatius is in a rebuild mode. They are still a formidable opponent that McKinley will have to traverse through in order to advance a round further in the state playoffs.
No comments:
Post a Comment