2024 St. Ignatius Football

Wildcat97 said:
First, the Mentor program has been on a decline. Is their house poor, no. But, that was not the win it was for a couple decades.

Second, I mentioned the 3 specific schools here in tandem with the remaining schedule. I should have been more clear. Taking the schedule in total, it is stupidly absurd. As was being stubborn on the Friday schedule and thus a travel team in essence.

It couldn't get much worse than the bulk of last year, before playoffs. Haddad was a large part of the turn in playoffs, no doubt. With the QB room being very vacant, and Welo calling plays, excuse me if my pessimism is currently high until I see otherwise out of Welo especially.
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I can't tell any fan how to feel, especially one of a program of Iggy's success. However...

1. Mentor is in the same boat as Iggy in regards to dealing with the retirement of a successful coach. If you ask Cardinal fans, this may be the year that everything comes together for a deep run. As I mentioned earlier with Iggy's 2010 woes, sometimes those lumps are necessary in order to toughen up & move forward.

2. Other than the seasons with the Parma schools on their slate, I can't recall Iggy having too many "gimme" games anyway. Even in the Wildcats' current state, I still don't think that many programs are knocking on Iggy's door. When you're a successful program without the luxury of being in a conference, you have to take what you can get.

3. You've seen more success than most of us on here, so I'm speaking to you as a fan that's seen a major decline of a program that involves negatives much bigger than football. The true advantage that parachial schools have is one that the OHSAA can't put a multiplier on. Your ability to structure a program without the "outside stuff." Issues that prevent kids from developing & staying encouraged/focused. Not that everything is perfect on your side, but your ability to take "inner city issues," instill discipline, and focus on football will make your program's recovery quicker than most. That's why communities can celebrate accomplishments because you set the table for your kids to be succcessful. This ain't about Warren, but I promise you that "talent" isn't the issue here and the interest that colleges have already shown your Wildcats leads me to believe that your cupboard isn't bare. Iron sharpens ron, so keep getting better. If you beat Mentor twice in a down year, a more experienced group should be able to compete with Coffman, Walsh, Avon, and the rest of your schedule.
 
Good news for you guys getting Restifo back even if it isn't in a big position. A lot of frustration I heard from my Wildcat friends over the past couple years involved not having someone like Restifo out there developing QBs, like 97 said.
 
Haddad plays like a missle. It’s what makes him great and also has caused injuries. Can’t change that, just hope he stays healthy. He is by far the best player on the team.

Conroy is probably second.
 
Agreed PDC, those are definitely the top two players.

Taking a guess at a starting lineup for this season. Looking to see significant improvement across the board this year (but especially on offense). Less sure about the defensive starters below, didn’t see much of the JVs last year.

QB: Woidke if he plays, if not it will be Chalhoub. Donovan likely next on the depth chart
RB: Washington, Colwell
FB: Bykowski
WR: Haddad and Simms as top two, Ruffin, Tekancic, Cupp all in the rotation. Younger Haddad could be in the mix as well
TE: O’Leary, maybe Blasko if he bulks up a bit
LT: Van der Oord
G: Young
C: Rick
G: Van der Cica
RT: Conroy

DE: Taylor
DT: Southworth, Garlick
DE: Rosol, Papesh
OLB: Rivera - know he played MLB last year, could swap him with Conrad
MLB: Conrad
OLB: Bender
CB: Drummond?
SS: Jimmy Thomas, Seighman
FS: Haddad
SS: Jayshon Thomas
CB: ?
 
PDC said:
Sons of former players, Larry, and Dan.
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I can’t believe Larry has a son already in highschool. We both went to St. Joseph in Avon Lake and he was 2 years younger than me. My boys are still a while from high school. Larry, Nick, Joe and even the younger Tony Gonzalez all played football together growing up.

I ran into Dan O’Leary probably 6 years ago and is such a good guy. Happy to hear familiar names in the pipeline.
 
eaglepride said:
And of course, some will say these names were stolen from ALHS even though we all went to Catholic grade school from 1st through 8th grade and it was well known where we were going. 😂
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Heard the same thing growing up in Strongsville and going to Sts Joseph and John for 8 years.
 
Funny part was us from St. Anthony's in Parma didn't hear the same thing. But I recall hearing it in the 90s about Strongsville. Jacques would never shutup about it, especially with Kerr
 
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