Football rivalry grows between Valley and Stark County teams

Thursday, August 17, 2006 BY ERIC HAMILTON VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT CANTON — When Boardman and Fitch joined the Stark County-based Federal League in 2004, it was a natural progression of what has become a prep football rivalry between two regions that are passionate about their football. In recent years, thanks in part to the Valley flavor in the Federal, more and more schools from the Valley and Stark County are scheduling each other in football. The competition has been beneficial to teams from both sides and has been a key to the recent success of the respective teams. Since 2000, teams from the two areas have produced three state football championships and finished as runners-up five times. Valley teams claiming state brass were Ursuline in 2000 and Mooney in 2004. In 2005, the Cardinals lost in the title game, as did Canfield. Warren Harding was the big school runner-up in 2002. In Stark County, Canton Central Catholic won a Division III state title in 2000. Canton McKinley advanced to the Division I championship game in 2004, while Massillon did the same in 2005. Tyrrell big proponent St. Thomas Aquinas coach Tim Tyrrell, who played at Ursuline and YSU, is a big proponent of the increase of football games between teams from where he played and where he coaches. "I definitely think more teams from Stark County should play teams from the Valley," said Tyrrell, who was one of 15 Stark County coaches to speak at the annual St. Haralambos high school football preview Tuesday night. "There is great football tradition in both areas and both have some very competitive teams. It gives teams from here and there a good gauge of how good they are because the competition is tough. More teams other than us, Central and the Federal League members should play Valley schools." Those matchups have been happening more and more. In 2005, there were 22 games that featured teams from the two regions, including two in the playoffs. Stark County teams won 11 and Valley teams won 11. Canfield fared the best Canfield fared the best against Stark County, beating Alliance and Canton South in the regular season and knocking Louisville out of the Division II playoffs. Mooney won both its games against Stark, beating Canton Central Catholic in the regular season and again in the playoffs. Fitch and Boardman struggled in their second season in the Federal League, with the Falcons going 3-3 and Boardman 1-5 versus Stark squads. Despite the lopsided numbers in the Federal League, Canton McKinley coach Brian Cross, who played his high school ball at Warren Western Reserve, sees the rivalry between the regions as a competitive one. "Teams from both areas play very physical football," said Cross. "Fitch just lines up in that Stack-I formation and runs right at you. And Boardman runs the Wing-T and plays hard. I know Boardman struggled last year, but they're going to be better this year. "Those two schools bring great tradition to the Federal League and I think because we've played them before they joined the league, there's always been a good rivalry there. Football is very important to both communities in Stark County and in the Mahoning Valley." 20 games on tap This season, there will be 20 games between teams from Stark and Mahoning. Among them are Ursuline-Canton Central Catholic, Poland-Louisville, Warren Harding-Massillon, Warren John F. Kennedy- St. Thomas, Rayen-Lake, Canfield-Canton South, Chaney-Alliance and Canfield-Alliance. Alliance coach Ron Kuceyeski is looking forward to the chance to face Canfield and Chaney and thinks it will help his team get better, no matter the result. "I kept Canfield on the schedule because we developed a good rivalry with them when we were in the Metro Athletic Conference," he said. "It's hard to find good quality opponents, and we know Canfield will bring a crowd, too. So we signed them for two more years. "The difference between the MAC and the NBC is that every team in the MAC has good athletes, whereas in the NBC there are some good programs. There's a little more winning tradition in the NBC. But both areas have some fine football teams."