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Can our state champs do it again?
With Ursuline and Cardinal Mooney leading the way, the 2010 high school football season could be another banner year in the Valley. Follow it all season long in the new weekly Blitz section.
By ROB TODOR
Welcome to football 2010!
For the next 10 weeks — we invite you to follow your favorite teams as they compete for league championships and playoff berths in The Vindicator’s Blitz.
We started this process many weeks ago, with the first production being the preseason Coaches Corner section on Aug. 1.
Today we invite you to take a look at our informative season guide, which includes all the teams in the tri-county area and features rosters, outlooks and comments from the coaches and all the season schedules.
Beginning Thursday – and continuing every Friday through Oct. 29 – we will publish a stand-alone Blitz section previewing that week’s lineup of football matchups throughout the Valley.
Today’s section features a look at 46 area teams that begin the quest for a state championship. You can find the final standings from the 2009 season, as well as the final individual and team statistical leaders.
And check out the past champions section, which includes the state playoff winners from each season of the OHSAA contests, all the way back to 1972.
Want to know how your favorite teams have fared in the playoffs? Check out our local team-by-team playoff history.
New to the list this year is Salem, which made its postseason debut in 2009 under first-year coach Mike Kopachy.
You can also relive all the games that Ursuline and Cardinal Mooney played on their way to state championships in 2009.
It was a season of firsts with those two championships. Ursuline became the first Valley school to win back-to-back state championships. Coach Dan Reardon guided the Fighting Irish to their third state title overall.
The first — back in 2000 — came under the coaching leadership of Jim Vivo, who is back in the Valley, at his alma mater, Chaney High.
Cardinal Mooney’s state title in Division III — the school’s seventh — meant the Valley could celebrate two state crowns in the same season for the first time.
We invite you to follow along in the Blitz weekly in The Vindicator and on vindy.com. We’ll have features on the top teams and athletes, standings, stats and picks every week.