A lot on the line for Irish, Cards
Last Friday, Larry Kempe was walking outside Stambaugh Stadium after Ursuline’s big win over Erie (Pa.) Strong Vincent when a couple fans came up to him and said, “You know what week this is, right?”
Inside, Kempe was thinking, “This already?” but he just nodded and said, “Yeah, I’m well aware what this week is.”
This is Kempe’s first head coaching gig but he was an Irish assistant the previous eight years. His son quarterbacked Ursuline to three straight state titles. He gets the Mooney-Ursuline rivalry.
But he’s also a football coach. And football coaches don’t like distractions.
“There’s a lot that surrounds the game and that, in itself, is a hassle,” said Kempe, a blunt-speaking, shorts-wearing curmudgeon who is as crotchety as he is likable. “I think [the distractions] are fun for the kids. Me, not so much.”
Mooney coach P.J. Fecko, meanwhile, is entering his 13th Ursuline game. He’s used to the extra demands and the extra buzz.
“But in your first year as head coach, every game is like that,” said Fecko, who is 7-5 in the rivalry. “I think once the ball is in the air, it’s just a game. Now your instincts and the coaching takes over. You don’t have much time to think about it.”
Mooney-Ursuline is about more than bragging rights and pep rallies and fans who haven’t attended a game all year asking you for sideline passes. (Don’t ask Kempe about that.) Because the winner of tonight’s game might be hoisting a trophy in Week 15 and the loser might be buying tickets in Week 11.
The Irish (5-3) are sixth in the Division V, Region 17 computer ratings. Mooney (3-4) is 14th in Division III, Region 11. Both teams have 7-1 opponents looming (Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary for Ursuline, Fitch for Mooney), which makes tonight’s game even bigger.
“The nice thing about Joe Eitel,” said Kempe, referring to an online computer ratings guru, “is he tells you that you control your own destiny. If it doesn’t work out, it’s our fault. We don’t have to rely on anyone else.”
Mooney can’t say the same. Like Ursuline last year, the Cardinals are at risk of being buried by their brutal schedule. Last year, the Irish beat Mooney in Week 9, only to miss the playoffs. The Cardinals went on to win the Division III state title. Think Ursuline might have done the same in Division V?
Three of Mooney’s losses this year have come against Division I teams with a combined 23-1 record. The other was in double overtime to Mentor Lake Catholic, a loss that could cost them a postseason berth.
But if you’re looking for a panicky quote from Fecko, well, he doesn’t do those. He talks about things like turnovers and field position and controlling the line of scrimmage.
(Fecko’s on-the-record quotes remind me of a line from columnist Jimmy Breslin, “If people talked the way they did in newspapers, the world would die of boredom.”)
Because the teams are so familiar — and because their schemes don’t change that much from year to year — the game usually goes to the most physical team.
Mooney, which leads the all-time series 37-17-3, usually has the edge in that area but the Irish have won two straight and three out of four.
“The more physical we are, the better off we’re going to be,” Kempe said. “We’ve got to take the game to them.”
So, it’s simple: Take the game or lose the season. Because tonight’s game might decide the state championship.
We just don’t know which one.
Joe Scalzo is a sports writer at The Vindicator. Write to him at scalzo@vindy.com.
Subscribe Today
Sign up for our email newsletter to receive daily news.
Want more? Click here to subscribe to either the Print or Digital Editions.
AP News