43
2013 contained surprises, tragedy
Photo
Youngstown State football player Fred Herdman (57) embraces his brother Justin Herdman, left, and father Fred Herdman Sr. after YSU’s 42-13 loss to South Dakota on Nov. 23 at Stambaugh Stadium. It was the Penguins’ final game of the season.
Staff report
YOUNGSTOWN
LIKE MOST YEARS, 2013 began with promise and delivered some surprises.
1Major League Baseball became relevant again in the Mahoning Valley, with postseason games in the region. The area’s pre-eminent small college football program remained powerful despite a changing of the guard. And the locally-owned NFL team made a return to the Super Bowl.
But as the old year quickly passes into memory, disappointments and tragedy played roles.
Two high school teams finished as state runners-up. Three others qualified for state semifinals. Death left its mark, taking from us a colorful umpire and two high school football players. And once again, the Youngstown State University football team found a way to tease then disappoint its supporters by stumbling to the finish.
Here are the top 10 sports stories of 2013 in the Valley as compiled by Vindicator editors and staff:
1After coming close in 2012, this was going to be the year that YSU ended its six-year postseason drought. For three quarters of the season, a FCS playoff berth was in their grasp as fourth-year head coach Eric Wolford guided the Penguins to an 8-1 record. On Nov. 2, YSU went to South Dakota and returned with an exciting 38-34 victory.
But down the stretch, the Penguins collapsed. On Nov. 9, YSU went to Northern Iowa and lost, 22-20.
Their final two games were at the Ice Castle and left a bad taste in the mouths of fans.
First, North Dakota State rolled to a 35-17 victory at Stambaugh Stadium.
A week later, the Penguins’ season ended as South Dakota State walloped the Penguins, 42-13. A win would have secured an extra game.
“We had a chance to control our destiny today and we didn’t do it,” Wolford said.
The Penguins finished 8-4, the best in Wolford’s four seasons at YSU. The team tied for second place in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
“I’ll never be satisfied until we’re playing for a championship and I don’t think you can ever settle, but I think it’s very clear that we’ve made a bunch of progress,” he said after the final game. “We’re in the upper echelon of the conference now. We’re not at the bottom, we’re not at the middle. We’ve worked our way to the top.”
2Two Valley teams — the Springfield High baseball team and the Cardinal Mooney football team — played in championship games and finished state runners-up.
On June 7, Matt Weymer’s Tigers rallied from a 6-2 deficit against Defiance Tinora for a 13-7 victory in the Division IV state semifinals at Huntington Park in Columbus.
Two days later, the Tigers played Newark Catholic for the state title, falling 2-1 as the Green Wave won their seventh state crown.
“I said we had to play a flawless game and we did,” Weymer said. “They just beat us. That’s baseball.”
Second baseman Eoghan Bees, one of Springfield’s five seniors, said, “To go 2-1 in the state championship game on a day like this on a field like this, you can’t ask for more.
“The only thing you could ask for is to come out on top but sometimes that doesn’t happen. To have gotten this far, it’s still a successful season. Just not as successful as we would have liked.”
Six months later, Mooney football players shared that feeling. After a 6-4 regular season, the Cardinals breezed through four playoff opponents.
On Dec. 6, Mooney met Clarksville Clinton-Massie for the Division IV state championship. The game was played in a snowstorm at Massillon’s Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. The Cardinals, who were playing for their ninth state championship, fell, 27-21. The Falcons were assisted by a controversial pass interference call in the end zone late in the game.
The frustrating loss, said Mooney head coach P.J. Fecko, inspires “you to reach back, get back in the saddle, dust yourself off and figure out a way to get back in there and do it again.”
Three other Valley teams qualified for state competition.
In March, the LaBrae High boys basketball team led by Peyton Aldridge advanced to the Division III state semifinals where the Vikings lost to Versailles, 62-54, at Ohio State’s Value City Arena.
In June, Ursuline’s baseball team also played at Huntington Park, falling 2-0 in eight innings to Wheelersburg in the Division III state semifinals.
In November, the Western Reserve football team’s unbeaten season ended in St. Clairsville with a 14-10 loss to Glouster Trimble in the Division VII state semifinals.
3For the first time in 21 seasons, the Pittsburgh Pirates qualified for the National League postseason. Almost as surprisingly, the Cleveland Indians under manager Terry Francona also finished as the top wild-card team to earn the right to host the American League wild-card game.
On Oct. 1, the Pirates defeated the Cincinnati Reds, 6-2, in the first postseason game at PNC Park. The next night at Cleveland’s Progressive Field, the Indians’ magical run ended with a 4-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.
In the Pirates’ best-of-five divisional series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh led, 2-1, after their 5-3 victory on Oct. 6.
But the next day, the Cards’ 22-year-old ace Michael Wacha took a no-hitter into the eighth inning as the Cards hung on to win, 2-1. In the decisive game in St. Louis, the Pirates fell 6-1.
Indians and Pirates fans can’t wait for spring training to get under way.
4It was inevitable that Youngstown State would induct Jim Tressel into its Athletic Hall of Fame. Now that the former Ohio State coach has his Saturdays free, the honor was bestowed on Nov. 16 when the Penguins hosted North Dakota State at Stambaugh Stadium.
Tressel was the Penguins’ head coach from 1986-2000 then went to Ohio State for 10 seasons.
During his induction speech, Tressel got choked up when talking about Youngstown, saying, “My kids grew up here. K [kindergarten] through 12. That doesn’t happen in coaching. We were blessed.”
5Tragedy makes its first appearance on this list. Austintown Fitch High graduate Wally Bell, 48, a Major League Baseball umpire for 21 years, died of a heart ailment on Oct. 14 at Northside Medical Center.
His death came five days after working the Pirates-Cardinals playoff series.
“One of my dearest friends,” said Poland’s John Hirschbeck, whose 20-year MLB career as an umpire ended when he worked the World Series between the Cardinals and Boston Red Sox. “We worked together for 11 years. He was like a son to me. It’s devastating.”
Bell, who had open-heart surgery in 1999, was in Youngstown for the Austintown Fitch Hall of Fame dinner. He suffered a heart attack two days before his death.
Bell worked the 2006 World Series with Hirschbeck and also worked two All-Star games, four League Championship Series and five Division Series.
6Cross country produced state champions. In Division I, Boardman’s Mark Hadley won with a time of 5:10.63. It was the first boys title in school history. His time was the second-best Division I state-meet effort of the last 12 years, and gave him a cushion of more than 10 seconds over runner-up Toby Hardwick of Newark.
“I don’t know if my face showed it, but inside, I was smiling all the way down the final stretch,” said Hadley who will continue his running career at Furman University.
McDonald’s Bobby Johnson won the Division III race to lead the Blue Devils to the team title. It was the first time in the storied history of McDonald cross country that a team championship was paired with an individual title.
Johnson’s time was 15:54.48. Four other Blue Devils placed in the top 32 — Allan Coviello (12), Danny Loomis (18), Zach Hawout (31) and Bryce Street (32).
7At 10:05 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10, two communities were dealt a tragic loss as Sharon High school football players Cory Swartz and Evan Gill, along with Brookfield father and husband John Zdelar Jr., were killed in a car accident.
It occurred the night before the Sharon High football team was scheduled to play a first-round playoff game — something Swartz, Gill and the rest of the senior class had worked so hard for all season long.
The game was postponed for two days. After a spirited practice, followed by a candlelight vigil, the Tigers took the field in Erie, Pa., that Monday night with heavy hearts. With some wearing their lost teammates’ jerseys, the Tigers gave it all they had but lost in the final minute to Girard (Pa.), 22-19.
“[Cory Swartz] was my best friend and so was Evan Gill,” said Troy Hejazi, who wore Swartz’s jersey in his honor. “They needed to play on that field one more time and that’s how we were going to do it.”
It was clear this group will hold a special place in the community’s heart.
“I remember my first class 100 years ago,” Sharon football coach Jim Wildman said. “Believe me ... I’ll never forget this class.
8On. Feb. 4, Can- field High School officials confirmed that the public school no longer will schedule games against Cardinal Mooney, a private, Catholic school.
The decision — for now — ends one of the Valley’s top public-private athletic rivalries. Canfield and Cardinal Mooney have competed head-to-head in most sports, with the exception of football, for years.
9When Larry Kehres stepped down as University of Mount Union head football coach, some wondered if the illustrious Division III football program would skip a beat.
It didn’t. The Purple Raiders, led by Kehres’ son Vince, swept their regular-season schedule then won four postseason games at Mount Union Stadium to earn their 17th trip to the national title game.
Last week, the Raiders fell to Wisconsin-Whitewater, 52-14. It was their first loss since the 2011 Stagg Bowl, a 13-10 loss to Whitewater.
1On Jan. 20, the San Francisco 49ers trailed the Atlanta Falcons, 17-0, in the Georgia Dome, then rallied for a 28-24 victory to earn the franchise’s sixth Super Bowl appearance since 1981.
After the game, former owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. presented the Halas Trophy to his nephew Jed York, the 49ers CEO (both are Cardinal Mooney graduates who once lived in Canfield).
On Feb. 3, the 49ers played the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl 47 in New Orleans. Once again, they got off to a horrible start, trailing 28-6 early in the third quarter.
Then the lights went out in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and the game took a twist after power was restored.
San Francisco scored the next 17 points to make it interesting before falling, 34-31.
It was the Niners’ first Super Bowl loss, keeping the Pittsburgh Steelers as the only franchise with six Super Bowl wins.