Rivalry extends to officials

Staff report

Boardman

The football rivalry between Boardman and Austintown Fitch high schools takes center stage Friday night but not before township trustees have a face-off of their own.

Austintown Trustees Jim Davis, Lisa Oles and David Ditzler will take on Boardman Trustees Brad Calhoun, Larry Moliterno and Thomas Costello in a cornhole tournament at 6 p.m. Friday.

The tournament is a part of The Vindicator’s Blitz tailgate party, which begins at 5:30 p.m. on the north side of Boardman’s stadium.

Vindicator editor Todd Franko said although students from each school play one another in video-game football at each Blitz game, this is the first time for a cornhole competition between elected officials.

“We’ve never had anyone take it this seriously,” Franko said. “... This is the start of something different.”

He promised spectators an up-close view of the cornhole game.

“We’ll let people right up to the action to root [for] their elected officials or berate them for their latest tax bill,” Franko said.

Austintown Trustee Davis lightheartedly advised residents to boycott Boardman during rivalry week.

“Don’t shop there, and don’t buy gas there. Come to Austintown to get your gas,” he told trustees Monday night.

Davis said he’s adhered to his boycott rule every year since he attended Fitch High School.

“Every week before the Boardman vs. Fitch game, I boycott Boardman,” he said. “When I worked in Boardman, I would go outside of the township to have lunch.”

Boardman Trustee Costello also engaged in the ribbing.

“It’s terrible that they would punish their own citizens just because of their concerns of what’s going to happen Friday night,” he responded.

“If that’s the case, where are those people going to go to shop and have dinner?”

Davis said once the match is over, the group will go back to being friends, but until then, police in Austintown are on the lookout for Boardman trustees.

“Police are on red alert for any Boardman trustees trying to do [reconnaissance],” he said.

Boardman Trustee Moliterno said the board “anticipates a victory on the cornhole field and the football field.”

As for the friendly back-and-forth between townships, Moliterno said the Boardman trustees want to “let our performance on the field speak for itself.”

Davis said regardless of the cornhole game’s outcome, he’s confident about which football team will emerge victorious.

“I can’t guarantee we’ll win the cornhole match, but our Fitch Falcons are ready to go,” he said. “They haven’t disappointed us yet this season, and there’s nothing better than ruining Boardman’s playoff hopes.”

Both Austintown and Boardman football teams have 6-win, 3-loss records. This is the first time in Blitz’s four-year history that it will end the season at the Austintown-Boardman game, instead of the Canfield-Poland game, Franko said.