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URSULINE News and notes
Grades in order: Ursuline senior RB Akise Teague has had to deal with inaccurate Internet allegations about his grades and eligibility this year. According to Irish coach Dan Reardon, Teague received a 3.2 grade point average on his most recent report card and scored a 19.5 on his ACT. “He is an NCAA qualifier,” said Reardon, who said Teague will likely graduate with a 2.7 cumulative GPA in his core classes. “Someone has started all these rumors and the one thing I can tell you is they’re completely false.” Teague has scholarship offers from Wisconsin, Bowling Green, Ohio, Toledo, Cincinnati and Youngstown State.
Strength in diversity: Reardon said he thinks being independent in football has helped his team be more creative on both sides of the ball. “When you play in a conference, teams tend to mimic each other,” he said. “The SEC, for instance, plays a certain brand of football. Same with the Big Ten. Ohio State and Iowa are pretty similar football teams. Are they exactly the same? No, but from conference to conference, whether it’s college or high school, you tend to see certain flavors.”
New looks: The Irish played just one area team in the regular season — Cardinal Mooney — and also played teams from (or near) Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Columbus and even Philadelphia, Pa. That schedule helps the Irish avoid some of the preconceived notions that come from playing the same teams every year, Reardon said. “I think it forces our kids to focus,” he said. “Having some familiarity certainly has its positives, but kids sometimes assume a team is the same from Year One to Year Two.” As an example, he points to a 53-14 win over Mentor Lake Catholic in 2008 possibly hurting his team this fall. “I think some kids assumed because we beat them by a large margin two years ago, we would do that again this year,” said Reardon, whose team won 14-10. That was the only loss this season for Lake Catholic, which is playing in the Division II state semifinals.
Going for three: If Ursuline can win its last two games, it will become the fifth team in Ohio history to win three straight state titles. Cleveland St. Ignatius won five straight from 1991-95 and Newark Catholic won four straight from 1984-87. Cincinnati Moeller (1975-77) and Delphos St. John’s (1997-99) both won three straight.