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UHS binds past to present
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Wolford
YOUNGSTOWN
The similarities between current Ursuline High quarterback Chris Durkin and former Fighting Irish signal caller Josh Swogger are all too familiar.
Strong arms, able bodies and shaggy blonde hair.
Durkin, a rising junior, has been able to learn firsthand from Swogger what it takes to lead a tradition-laden program like Ursuline. Swogger embraces that opportunity.
“We have a mentorship program here,” he said at Urusline’s annual youth camp on Tuesday. “I’m in close contact with Chris. He’s going through some of the same things I went through by getting young playing time and taking over a team. There is that family bond and connection.”
The Ursuline mentorship program was the brainchild of former players and 2005 graduates Dom Cutrone, Andrew Frasco and John DeSantis. The trio is currently assistant coaches on the Irish staff.
“Every one of our players, grades 9-12, is going to be hooked up with a former Ursuline athlete who is successful with what they’re doing,” head coach Larry Kempe said. “The reason for the mentor program is that we want guys to take an active interest and tell them what it means to come to Ursuline High School and where it has taken them in their lives.
“It’s positive and those guys did a great job in creating that program for us.”
Also on hand at the camp was 1989 graduate Eric Wolford — the head football coach at Youngstown State. He has taken a role in the mentorship program, too.
“There are a ton of opportunities and [kids] need to take advantage of it,” Wolford said. “There’s a sense of entitlement in young people today and it’s something we have to continue to put our arms around as coaches and parents. There’s way too many kids that feel that they are entitled to a spot or something and if things don’t go their way, they quit or whine.
“You have to fight through adversity and earn your spot.”
Working just across the street from his alma mater has been a treat for the past two years.
“My first couple of years [at YSU], they heard me yell over here,” Wolford said, laughing.
While Wolford said he anticipates a strong season for the Penguins and a memorable opening day at Pitt (“I think we’ll see a lot of red in Heinz Field,” he said), he’s keeping watch on the Irish.
“Wolf will tell you that it’s all about the eye test,” Kempe said. “Chris, for example, passes the eye test. You get to a point where you pass the eye test, that’s when people are going to notice you.”
Durkin is 6-foot-4 and checks in 215 pounds. That’s just a mere inch and ten pounds less than what Swogger registered in his first year at Washington State. Behind Durkin’s first year at QB, Ursuline went 4-6, winning its last three games. In Swogger’s senior year he guided the Irish to the 2000 Division IV state championship.
“There’s so many great teams before we came here and it’s hard to believe there wasn’t a state championship team until the 2000 team,” Swogger said.
After transferring to Montana for his junior year of college, Swogger had brief stints on the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills practice squads before a few years in Arena Football. In April, he was inducted into the Ursuline Hall of Fame.
“The camaraderie — that’s something you never get back,” Swogger said. “You move on collegiately and you do different things. You never get back the experiences you had in high school.
“You’re always in a hurry to grow up, but when you’re grown up, everyone is in a hurry to go back to have one more season or even one more game with the high school guys.”
Swogger currently lives in Liberty, while working for a financial group in New Castle, Pa. He is married with two daughters and his wife, Angela, is expected another child soon.
“The girls are getting to the age where they want to play ball,” he said. “They see trophy, the plaque, the pictures and they’re starting to realize that daddy played football before he was daddy.”