Starting to matter again

Saturday was a great feeling with Youngstown State University championship football.

Not the loss, mind you.

But the game buildup itself, and the season, and the surge.

In a region that is as competitive as this place is, it will be hard to accept not coming out with a win over James Madison University.

We have that chip, right? It’s one so big, it’s seen on Google maps.

We want wins; we want champions; we want trophies.

But in a place that’s fiercely loyal to its own kind – whether by town, by school, by last name or by ethnicity – we also simply just want – want to be seen, want to be considered, want to matter.

When the week resumes Monday, and the Frisco fans are all home, and YSU classes start up, satisfaction will begin to eke out. In a sport that means so much to the history of this place, we finally matter again.

At this point, I should assert that I am a Buffalo Bills fan and son of that city. Four Super Bowl losses in a row is certainly still a record for that team. But more of a record now for that team in various football annals is that it was a fabulous era and one of the greatest teams of all time.

So finding the upside of down is body fiber for me.

This was a good season, and a great run for YSU football and by association, for us in the Valley.

From where we sit in the newsroom, we have a great chance to gauge pulse. The last five weeks have been pulsating.

Regular sports fans who kept YSU football on the back burner the last decade stepped forward first.

A couple of playoff wins brought nonsports locals into the sphere.

Then, when Kevin Rader made The Catch in Spokane, Wash., sports fans who aren’t even sure where Youngstown is now knew about the team and the city.

That’s good.

Though a Saturday win might have validated that YSU football is back, the entire playoff march validated that the overall YSU momentum is for real.

A new community built around bolstered student housing; new donors helping to fund the student living, new streets and sidewalks, a better budget and an overall new attitude. This season validates that.

The best “Youngstown” storyline of all for me is Hunter Wells. It was great on Saturday to see TV announcers spend extra time telling his story.

A two-year starter, other players surpassed him this year. His coaches bypassed him. But fate did not.

He stayed with it, despite even not traveling with the team. Injuries pushed him from fourth to first on the depth chart.

Then, this playoff march engaged.

That’s a life-win for him. So, too, is this season, despite what Saturday’s scoreboard shows.

We all want to matter in life.

By many measures, Youngstown and YSU are starting to matter again.

Todd Franko is editor of The Vindicator. He likes emails about stories and our newspaper. Email him at tfranko@vindy.com. He blogs, too, on Vindy.com. Tweet him, too, at @tfranko.