Cardinal Mooney’s Joe Decapita, Ursuline’s Troy Vazquez-Atkins put past rivalry aside

February 8, 2016 at 12:05a.m.

By Charles grove

The rivalry of Ursuline and Cardinal Mooney high schools runs deep, but two former rivals have teamed up in Alliance, winning a national title with the Mount Union football team.

Joe Decapita of Mooney and Troy Vazquez-Atkins of Ursuline have since put aside their Holy War rivalry, both now members of the NCAA Division III national championship team.

Vazquez-Atkins, a member of the Fighting Irish teams that won state titles in 2008, 2009 and 2010, said he didn’t associate himself with Mooney players in high school, but that rivalry is mostly gone, until rivalry week rolls around.

“I got to know Joe at Mount Union. I kind of kept my distance from Mooney in high school,” Vazquez-Atkins said. “Once you go to college it’s not so much about the rivalry. I mean we still talk a bunch of mess to each other especially when the game comes up, but it’s more like we’re just both from Youngstown and we want to do well where we are now.”

Vazquez-Atkins transferred to Mount Union after playing a year at Notre Dame College and met Decapita during an introductory team meeting for new players during the preseason.

“Each player at the meeting was standing up and introducing themselves and I thought I was the only Youngstown kid here until Troy stood up behind me and introduced himself,” Decapita said. “I turned my head around and couldn’t believe it was him. You would always hear the coaches at Mooney talking about Troy and his brother on the offensive line leading up the Ursuline game so I did know of him.”

Although Vazquez-Atkins transferred in from elsewhere, both said the winning tradition of Mount Union was an enormous selling point when choosing loyalties at the collegiate level.

“My senior year Mount Union won the national title so I didn’t hear from them until late December,” Decapita said. “I remember the recruiter came and met with some of us and said, ‘Sorry I’m late. We just got done winning a national championship so recruiting got off to a late start.’ So when I heard that I thought, ‘OK. You definitely have my attention.’ ”

“Mount Union is very ‘We’re going to win,’ ” Vazquez-Atkins said. “We’re going to score 50 points. We’re going to rush the ball for 300 yards, pass for 400 and you’re just going to have to deal with it.”

The two linemen who used to battle on opposite sidelines in high school now find themselves battling each other once again, but in a different way as both try to reach the top of a competitive Purple Raider depth chart.

“It’s a very competitive atmosphere here,” Decapita said. “Depth charts change week by week so every week is your time to show and you always have that opportunity to move up or down.”

Vazquez-Atkins said this year was especially tough to move up with only two spots that were realistically up for grabs the entire season.

“Everyone competed for those spots,” Vazquez-Atkins said. “It just becomes a thing like you can’t mess up. You have to be perfect because if you mess up they’re just going to move on to the next guy.”

Both appeared in numerous games this season, but when playoffs came around and rosters had to be trimmed down, neither suited up for the eventual national championship ride — limited to the practice team, helping prepare the starters to keep the season alive.

Both still were able to attend all the playoff games, including Mount Union’s 49-35 win over St. Thomas in the Stagg Bowl to claim the national title, but both described the feeling as hollow since they weren’t able to participate.

“I was so excited when I saw our guys won but not being on the field, not being on the roster, it kind of felt empty,” Vazquez-Atkins said.

“It’s hard because you wish you were out there but it gives you a greater desire to get out there next year and get better,” Decapita said. “It was an empty feeling. I much rather would’ve been out on that field. But it’s still a great feeling to win a national championship.”

For now, both players remain working hard in the offseason in hopes of playing a larger role in Mount Union’s next run at a national title. But the good-natured jabs at each other’s alma mater isn’t going anywhere.

“When Mooney-Ursuline week rolls around we’ll get at each other a little bit and start bickering,” Decapita said. “We’ll be on the sidelines going back and forth but it’s all in good fun.”