By Joe Scalzo

scalzo@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Somewhere in the middle of a 20-minute phone call, after he started talking about Roman conservatism, made references to George Patton, Douglas McArthur and Napoleon Bonaparte (the only Frenchman he likes), and made it clear (repeatedly) that he’s a Democrat, not a liberal, Western Reserve High football coach Andy Hake got to the heart of a question that would have seemed silly to ask 50 years ago:

Why does football still matter?

“Let me ask you something,” he says, his voice rising. “What would America be if it didn’t have football? It’s the last piece of culture that we have left, the last one that separates us, that tells us that we’re tough. They’re not doing this in France. When was the last time they won a war?

“The next time a war goes down, I hope the guys up front were high school football players, not guys that mastered ‘World of Warcraft’ or ‘Call of Duty.’”

For some people, particularly in a place like Youngstown, Ohio, asking why football matters is like asking why wedding receptions need cookie tables. But in 2015, when kids can choose to play dozens of sports, when the NFL is getting sued over concussions, when playing with your phone is more common than playing with your friends, it’s a question every coach needs to answer.

Because it’s not the players who are at war. It’s the sport itself.

“A lot of people are doing everything they can to get this sport to go away,” said Austintown Fitch coach Phil Annarella. “But I’ve been doing this for 45 years and nothing — NOTHING — teaches life lessons better than being part of a football program. The discipline, the work ethic, the responsibility, the importance of working with other people.

What about other sports? Can’t they teach those things just as well?

“If you have to ask that,” Annarella said, “then you’ve never played football.”

Reason 1: Football makes you tough.

Southington coach Bill Bohren started coaching football in 1965, when most schools had four sports (football, basketball, baseball and track) and TV sets had three channels. While it’s tempting to say kids have changed (for the worse) since then, Bohren doesn’t buy it.

“Kids are better than they’ve ever been,” he said. “They’re bigger, faster and stronger. They’ll do everything you ask. It’s the parents who aren’t as good as they used to be.”

The 80-year-old Bohren has been a head coach at 10 different schools, going 288-162-6 over 48 seasons, and there’s a reason he’s holding a whistle at an age when his peers are holding a remote control: He believes in football.

“I don’t think there’s any game that has all the traits that football has,” he said. “You get knocked down, you’ve got to get up. There’s a reason the military academies almost require you to play some kind of contact sport.”

Since Cardinal Mooney hired P.J. Fecko in 2000, the Cardinals have won four state titles and finished second three other times. It’s a legacy that started with his high school coach, Don Bucci, a four-time state champion who built his teams with toughness. Fecko does the same.

“Football pushes people to their threshold,” Fecko said. “You have to endure tremendous pressure, physically and mentally, if you want to succeed.”

Hake, who has led the Blue Devils to two state semifinal appearances and six playoff appearances since 2009, wants to do everything possible to limit head injuries — “That’s a big deal,” he said — but believes the game’s violence is part of its appeal.

“It’s been like this since the beginning of time, the most innate thing built into us,” he said. “Men love the clash of battle, and football is a controlled battle. It’s predicated on controlled violence. That scares a lot of people, but there’s no other way to approach it than by hitting, blocking and tackling.

“Only men can do it. Only boys can do it. I know girls have to toughen up, but it’s not a sport for women. It’s a sport for tough guys.”

Reason 2: Football teaches teamwork.

Golf, tennis, cross country, bowling and wrestling are solo sports, as are swimming and track (outside of relays). Baseball is played by nine soloists.

Basketball and soccer require teamwork, but neither compares to football, where one missed assignment — a left tackle missing a block, a receiver running the wrong route, a linebacker falling for a fake handoff — can ruin things for the other 10.

“There’s 11 guys on the field and you have to rely on the other 10 guys on every play,” Annarella said. “You have to rely on the 79 or 80 kids on the team, or however many you’ve got, because you have to have good scout teams. You have to have guys who can step in when you have injuries.

“When you wrestle, it’s you. When you’re playing basketball, there’s only four other guys. With football, all 11 have to play together on every play.”

That, Fecko says, mirrors life.

“The lessons you learn in teamwork when you’re under pressure and under distress are all tangibles that down the line are going to help you succeed,” he said. “You’re going to have to lean on somebody at work or at home and you’ve got to answer the bell and do the same for them down the line. Those traits are so valuable.”

Reason 3: Football changes lives.

Ursuline senior lineman Giacamo Cappabianca has been playing football since third grade and speaks about the sport like a wizened sage.

“Football matters because it actually reveals character and builds self,” he said. “I think it’s made me who I am today. I think I’m myself because of football. It shows you not to quit, to always work hard, to bring leadership and effort and hard work.”

Not everyone who plays football will be successful, just as not everyone who skips football will fail, but Annarella has seen what the sport can do, particularly for kids who grow up in the most difficult situations.

“Throw the sport out the door; all the other intangibles are so important to kids, more so today than ever,” Annarella said. “A lot of kids either aren’t getting it at home or aren’t getting it somewhere. We’re doing our best to instill the same values we’ve always instilled.”

Added Bohren: “There’s so much trash out there that kids can get involved with. As a coach, you’re really a parent away from home. If you run a good football program, kids learn an awful lot. The give and take is in a game, not in the alley where kids are stabbing each other but on the playing field, where, when you hit, you have to do it within the strict rules of the game.”

Reason 4: Football brings communities together.

Marching bands don’t play at baseball games. Cheerleaders don’t go to track meets. Soccer doesn’t sell out stadiums.

Basketball may be king in Indiana and Kentucky, but in most places in America — and Ohio in particular — no sport energizes a community like high school football.

“If this area didn’t have high school football, the interest in living here would be way low,” Hake said. “Think about how communities are so tied into schools. A community is the school. If you want to pass a levy, you almost have to make sure you have a decent football season, because that can pass a levy better than any politician or superintendent, better than any English scores. I’m not being funny. It’s a fact of the matter.”

Only 3-4 percent of high school football players will play college football. Less than 2 percent of college football players will make it to the NFL. For most of the more than 1 million high school football players in America, these are their glory days, the ones they’ll be reliving for the rest of their lives.

“Me and my buddies were talking, ‘What would we do if we didn’t play football?’” said Mooney senior Andrew Armstrong, who is one of the few who will play college football when he heads to Bowling Green next year. “I think we’d just sit around, lifting weights and playing video games. But we wouldn’t want to be any other place, coming in at 6 a.m. for doubles. We just love it.”

Yes, football still matters. And on Friday nights in the fall — when the lights are on, the stands are full and the future stretches out before you, 10 yards at a time — nothing else does.

“You have to hold on to who you are, because the minute you let that go, your greatness is gone,” Hake said. “Keep American football going the way it is, and long live our glorious republic.”