Struthers knows hard work

After racking my brain for practically minutes, I've decided something about city names -- they often have nothing to do with the cities themselves.
For instance, I grew up in Uniontown, Ohio, a suburb that has -- as far as I can tell -- absolutely no labor unions. I now work in Youngstown, where people complain about the lack of young people.
(On the plus side, I've found Canfield to be much more optimistic than our evil neighbors, Can't-field.)
Which brings me to my point (I hope.) The town of Struthers starts with the word "strut," which is the exact opposite of what you'd expect from a Struthers team.
Thus, the name has nothing to do with the town. (See? I told you I was going somewhere with this.)
For the most part, Struthers teams tend to be overachieving, hardworking teams with overachieving, hardworking players.
(This may be because Struthers students sometimes decide to transfer to area parochial schools to play football, but we assure you that this did not happen this year and that the school did not have to forfeit four games because such a student was academically ineligible.)
Underdogs: As a sportswriter, it's easy to write about Struthers because they're usually underdogs. Injuries loom larger, teamwork means more and, aside from guys like Rick McFadden, most Wildcats don't get Division I college scholarships. They play because they love to play.
Which brings us to Jim Franceschelli, the Wildcats' 5-foot, 7-inch, 132-pound junior point guard. He's a fun player to watch, combining the endurance of a cross country runner with the build ... of a cross country runner.
The only way Franceschelli is going to get a Div. I scholarship is if he grows about 14 inches.
So Franceschelli makes for a good story. Start with a scrappy, undersized point guard standing tall against the basketball giants, slap on some statistics and quotes, and bingo -- it's a story.
That formula hit a small snag on Dec. 11 when Franceschelli ran into the wrong giant. With two minutes left in a 69-50 win over Chaney, Franceschelli collided with Chaney junior Keilen Dykes (6-4, 250).
"I didn't even see him," Franceschelli said. "We hit shoulder-to-shoulder, and then I think my head hit his shoulder. I fell right back and it felt like I couldn't move."
Things sort of got worse from there.
"They were asking me questions and at first I could answer, but then I started stuttering and getting double vision and my eyes rolled in the back of my head."
Stabilized: After the collision, Franceschelli was sprawled out on the floor for about 35 minutes before paramedics stabilized his neck and carried him out on a stretcher. He was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center, where a CAT scan showed no damage, and was diagnosed with a mild concussion.
Franceschelli's father, Jim, was in the stands when his son got hurt, and rode along to the hospital.
"We've been down there before," the senior Franceschelli said with a laugh. "He's sort of an injury waiting to happen. But they took care of him. The trainer and the team doctor did a good job."
Dykes, who was uninjured, made sure Franceschelli knew the collision was unintentional.
"I have a friend who works at Chaney and [Dykes] told him to tell me it was just an accident -- he didn't see me coming," Franceschelli said. "I thought that showed a lot of respect and class."
Three days later, Franceschelli played just 11 minutes in a 64-51 loss to Mooney, but is expected to be back at full strength in the next week or two.
With Franceschelli in the starting lineup, Struthers (3-3) won three of its first four games. The Wildcats lost to a much taller Fitch team Tuesday but will soon be back to their frenzied, unselfish, winning ways.
When that happens, they'll have something to cheer about.
They might even strut.
XJoe Scalzo is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write him at scalzo@vindy.com.