Thursday, August 28, 2008
By Steve Ruman
Howland and Mooney are part of the extravaganza in two states this weekend.
Cardinal Mooney coach P.J. Fecko and Howland coach Dick Angle are two men who prefer to have total control over their football programs. Yet when it came time to schedule a week two opponent for the 2008 season, neither had a say on who that opponent would be.
“I actually found out we were playing Covington [Ky.] Catholic one night when I was watching the local news,” Fecko said.
Meanwhile, Angle was told that he would be playing a team from Pennsylvania, then it was a team from Kentucky before he finally confirmed that the opponent would be Klein Forest (Texas).
The confusion surfaced after Mooney and Howland accepted invitations to participate in this year’s edition of the Kirk Herbstreit Challenge. Now in its third year, the Herbstreit Challenge has blossomed from two games played in Columbus to a 15-game extravaganza that takes place at three sites in Ohio and Texas.
There are four games Saturday at Canton’s Fawcett Stadium and seven over the course of the weekend at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. In Texas, four games will be played Monday at Texas Stadium.
All of the games played in Canton and Cincinnati will pit Ohio teams against some of the top football programs from throughout the country.
Howland plays Klein Forest at 11 a.m, followed by Canton McKinley vs. Indianapolis Cathedral, Mooney vs. Covington Catholic and Massillon vs. Jordan of Sandy, Utah.
The Mooney-Covington game is slated to kick off at 5 p.m.
“Once we were invited to play, it didn’t really matter who they lined us up against because we knew that every team coming to Ohio was going to be one of the best teams in their respective states,” Angle said. “As it turns out, they put us up against one of the larger schools from football-crazed Texas.”
Klein Forest, located in Houston, has an enrollment of over 3,500 students. Last year, Klein Forest went 10-2 before falling to Class 5A state finalist Pflugerville. The Golden Eagles return a wealth of talent, including senior Dominic Wilkins, who is ranked as one of the top running backs in Texas.
“They are well-coached, they play an aggressive 4-3 defense, and because of their numbers they have the ability to platoon a lot of players,” Angle said. “That’s a concern, because we’ve not gotten to that point just yet.”
Howland opened its season last week with a 31-7 win over Ashtabula Lakeside, while the trip to Canton will mark the season-opener for Klein Forest.
To prepare for the contest, Angle participated in a passing scrimmage earlier this summer at Fawcett Stadium against Canton McKinley.
“We tried to meet the challenges that we might face Saturday by holding the scrimmage at 10 a.m., and we just wanted the kids to get a feel for the stadium and the locker rooms,” Angle said.
Angle noted that he also exchanged scrimmage films with the Klein Forest staff.
“You’re only going to see so much from a scrimmage film, but then again in the age of the Internet, there aren’t many secrets out there about either team,” Angle said.
The Mooney-Covington Catholic game features a pair of schools which each boast six state championships. Like Mooney, Covington last won a state title in 2006.
“This is a program that is extremely rich in tradition,” Fecko said. “Covington competes against some of the top schools in the Cincinnati area, so big time football is nothing new to them.”
Mooney opened its season last week with a 34-20 loss at Mentor, while Covington has yet to play.
“I don’t know if having one game under our belt will be an advantage, but it can’t hurt,” Fecko said. “It’s nice to get the opening night jitters out of the way, and sometimes it takes a week to get the communications between players and coaches down pat, but Covington is a very experienced team, so they’ll be more than ready.”
Mooney is making its second appearance in the Herbstreit Challenge. Last year, the Cardinals defeated Gateway (Pa.), 27-6.
Fecko hopes last year’s experience pays dividends Saturday.
“We’re going to Canton expecting the unexpected. Last year our game was about 90 minutes late in starting, and it was an extremely hot day,” Fecko said. “Our players were getting antsy, and we were trying to keep them cool by keeping them on the chartered buses. But they handled the challenges really well.”
Angle called the invitation to participate in the event “an extreme compliment,” and said that the Howland players of the past decade should take pride in the invitation.
“I made the comment to my coaching staff that 10 years ago, Howland wouldn’t have been invited to clean up the stadium after the games,” Angle said. “This program has come a long way. It took a lot of dedication and hard work to get to where we’re at. This team knows that they have a huge responsibility to maintain what the previous teams have established.”
Last year, Howland finished 11-1. The Tigers went 10-0 during the regular season for the first time in school history. Mooney won 14 straight games before falling to Coldwater in the Division IV state title game.