Thursday, September 20, 2007
Soon after East High athletic director Marco Marinucci submitted his fall football schedule to Youngstown State University, he got a note from the school saying the Panthers could play several home games at 5:30 p.m. on Friday just before Ursuline or Mooney.
“There was no way our opponents or even my head coach was willing to play at 5:30,” Marinucci said.
As you’ve probably guessed, there are a few problems with sharing a stadium with three other high schools (Ursuline, Mooney and Chaney) and a college, not least of which is having little say in when you can play.
In past years at Rayen, Marinucci simply scheduled fewer home games (Chaney, for instance, has just one home game this year) or opted to play during a Saturday tripleheader.
But with the Panthers’ program on an upswing, Marinucci knew traveling two or three hours to play a game wasn’t a good idea. And playing in front of 300 people inside cavernous Stambaugh Stadium at noon on Saturday wasn’t too good, either.
So, with five home dates planned, he started calling around, looking for nearby schools with available stadiums and, hopefully, turf fields. He started with Canfield. But since the Cardinals already lease their stadium to Youngstown Christian, that wasn’t an option.
So he turned to Fitch, which was able to accommodate two of the dates. Warren Harding had one date available and Boardman filled the last one. The Spartans’ field is the only one of the three with grass.
Panthers make more
money on the road
The downside was the cost. Road games, particularly for schools like East and Chaney, make money. Most schools will guarantee around $1,500 to the visiting team. Rayen actually made $7,500 for last year’s Warren Harding game.
But a home game at Stambaugh costs $2,500. Fitch and Harding cost about $1,500, but security (which is included with YSU) adds close to $1,000 to the cost.
“It’s costing me money,” Marinucci said. “But I think the kids are deserving of having what you would call home games, even if it’s not exactly home.”
Having a downtown stadium, which I wrote about last week, wouldn’t solve the problem, but it would make things easier.
“I hope it comes about,” Marinucci said.
In the meantime, East will head south (it plays Cleveland Heights Saturday at Boardman), west (Akron East at Fitch on Sept. 29) and north (Canton Central Catholic at Mollenkopf on Oct. 12) before coming home to play Chaney at YSU on Oct. 25.
Five area schools have FieldTurf: Fitch, Canfield, Harding, East Palestine and YSU. Mooney has a turf practice field.
The field typically costs between $450,000 and $800,000 and is guaranteed for eight years, according to Harding athletic director Paul Trina, who often fields calls from other schools whose fields have been worn down or muddied.
“These [FieldTurf] fields don’t get worn out from wear,” Trina said. “They get worn out from sunlight.
“The good thing about northeast Ohio is, that’s not really a problem.”
Notable, quotable
entering Week Five
UMooney, the state’s top-ranked team in Division IV, is ranked 11th in the country by USA Today. Only Cincinnati St. Xavier (second) is ranked higher among Ohio schools. Mooney is 13th in the Rivals.com rankings.
Having seen Mooney play twice this year, that sounds about right.
UMooney’s two Penn State recruits (seniors Michael Zordich and Brandon Beachum) enjoyed watching the Nittany Lions thump Notre Dame 31-10 two weeks ago. Teammate Dan McCarthy is an Irish recruit.
“We had some fun with that,” Zordich said. “We had to hear about it last year from him when they whupped up on us.”
The Irish won last year 41-17.
UPlayer of the week: Western Reserve quarterback Shane Ewing, who scored the game’s final two touchdowns to rally the Blue Devils from a 15-14 deficit in a key Inter Tri-County League Tier Two game. Reserve won, 29-15.
UQuote of the week: “I’m gonna have to get the whip out and starting whipping some butt,” said Howland High football coach Dick Angle after a 14-9 win over Canfield.
Angle was happy with the win, but wasn’t happy with some of his team’s mistakes.