FOOTBALL N.Y. school moves on without star tailback

Michael Hart went to Michigan, but Onondaga Central School survived.
NEDROW, N.Y. (AP) -- When Onondaga Central School held its graduation in June, varsity football coach Bill Spicer's mind froze on one thought: Come September, star tailback Michael Hart was going to be playing for the Michigan Wolverines, not his Tigers.
"All through the summer it was, 'What are you going to do without Mike Hart? What are you going to do without Mike Hart?' " Spicer said.
The Tigers actually did pretty well this season. And Spicer feels a lot less pressure now.
Spicer has lost 65 pounds and is exercising regularly. During Hart's record-setting senior year, Spicer let himself go while agonizing over how much to play his star in lopsided victories -- he didn't want to embarrass an opponent, but still wanted to see how much Hart could accomplish.
"I'd have to say life is pretty good," said the 33-year-old Spicer, who this year adopted the slogan 'Playing with Heart' to energize his players. "Mike's doing well and the kids really responded throughout the year, made themselves better."
Hart leads way
With Hart leading the way, the Tigers won 39 straight games and three state championships. Along the way, he set national records with 47 consecutive 100-yard games, 204 touchdowns and 1,246 points. He missed becoming the country's all-time leading high school rusher by 188 yards -- Ken Hall set the record of 11,232 yards in 1950-53 at Sugar Land High School in Texas.
The Tigers won four straight games after the departure of Hart, who has gone on to star at Michigan. But they lost twice to Weedsport, including in the playoffs, to end this season at 8-2.
Onondaga Central is in a rural patch of rolling hills just south of Syracuse and last year had an enrollment of 339 that placed it in the lowest sports class in New York state.
It's not the sort of place you normally find college recruiters. Syracuse University coach Paul Pasqualoni knew about Hart and was the first to recruit the running back, but Hart was set on Michigan.
"In his sophomore year, I nominated him for all-Central New York player of the year. There were some people in the meeting that said, 'He's a good back, but he probably wouldn't start for us.' I kinda get a chuckle out of that," Spicer said.
So does Hart's mother, Rory Rushlow.
"It was an assumption based on size, not knowing him, his history or his willpower," said Rushlow, who thinks her youngest son, Eric, might end up being the best of the Hart bunch. "He may have gone to Onondaga, but he did the same thing against bigger kids."
"A lot of kids not friends with him said we were just a small school and he wouldn't be able to do that," said Richard Mather, a senior on the Onondaga cross country team. "They are surprised. They all knew he was going to Michigan but didn't think he would start and make that big of an impact. But our school has a lot of faith in him."
As does Hart's other brother, Chris, a sophomore tailback who led the Tigers in rushing this season with more than 1,100 yards.
"It gives everybody motivation knowing that a player at a small school could do as well as anybody in a AA school," said Chris, who rushed for 188 yards and scored four TDs in a 49-7 playoff victory.
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