Wranglin’ up a team tradition

By Jon Moffett

Thursdays mean fine dining for the Jackson-Milton football team.

NORTH JACKSON — Randy Horvath and Nancy Audino stand patiently behind four steam trays, waiting for their guests of honor.

Horvath is the owner of Wrangler’s Olde Country Restaurant in North Jackson, and Audino is one of his cooks. They are in the banquet room above the restaurant waiting for the Jackson-Milton football team.

Horvath looks down at his watch and then over at Audino.

“It must’ve been a long practice,” Horvath said.

Moments later, dozens of hungry high school football players and cheerleaders fill the room.

Wrangler’s has fed the football team every Thursday night for 14 years, Horvath said. Every week, the restaurant serves a pasta dinner to prepare the team for Friday’s game.

“A lot of schools don’t have someone who donates their time, and their workers — and especially the food,” said Tim McGlynn, Jackson-Milton’s head coach. “So it means a lot to me and it means a lot to our kids.”

Before the team is allowed to eat, McGlynn has a player say a grace for the team. He instructs that the ladies — cheerleaders — will eat first, followed by the seniors.

“It’s a lot fun,” Horvath said of feeding the team. “We’ve been doing it as our own prerogative. We enjoy doing it and we get to meet the kids.”

The team is treated to spaghetti with sauce, meatballs and Audino’s homemade bread. Horvath said the team eats about 10 pounds of pasta each week.

Horvath said the idea came from his time as a football player at Austintown Fitch High School. He and his teammates would be treated to a similar dinner at Mr. B’s restaurant in Austintown.

“It was just something that I thought was really cool, actually, as a kid growing up that I got to go out there and get fed,” Horvath said. “When we opened up our own restaurant here, I thought that it would be pretty exciting” for these kids.

Audino, a graduate of Jackson-Milton High School, was especially excited about the opportunity to give back to the students.

“I just have so much fun,” Audino said. “And they just keep me young.”

Audino shows her support for the school with an apron that has ‘Jackson-Milton Blue Jays’ and the mascot embroidered on it.

Dakota Mohan, 14, is a freshman and already appreciates the tradition.

“It’s really important to us,” said Mohan, who plays center/defensive end. “It hypes up the team.”

The Jackson-Milton Blue Jays began the year with a 2-0 record. They defeated Windham and Rootstown to open up the year. Though they lost the next two games, to United and Lowellville, the season has been a success because of the interest level in the football program, Horvath said.

“This year, we have the most kids we’ve had [on the team] in well over a decade,” Horvath said. “We’re feeding over 40 kids right now, so it’s pretty exciting.”

“I’m going to be honest with you, it’s really big for myself and my staff, and for these kids,” McGlynn said. “When I took the job, we had 19 kids out last year. We have 40 kids on the roster this year.”

McGlynn is in his first season as the head football coach at Jackson-Milton, but is the wrestling coach as well. Horvath said the familiarity with McGlynn brought out some kids who wouldn’t otherwise play football.

Jackson-Milton will travel to McDonald for its fourth consecutive road game on Friday. The team will be will fed tonight, courtesy of Wrangler’s.

jmoffett@vindy.com