2024 VASJ Vikings Football **Official Thread**

Youngstown Ursuline vs Cleveland St. Joseph/ VASJ series
1965- St. Joseph 21, Ursuline 14
1968- St. Joseph 8, Ursuline 0
1969- St. Joseph 14, Ursuline 12
1973- Ursuline 33, St. Joseph 23
1974- St. Joseph 18, Ursuline 16
2020- Ursuline 47, VASJ 21
2021- VASJ 46, Ursuline 28
2022- Ursuline 40, VASJ 0
2023- Ursuline 38, VASJ 18
Ursuline 27, VASJ 20
Series is tied 5-5
I attended the '68 & '69 games. In '68 at Euclid (visitors stands were up against Lake Erie with freezing late October gusts cutting through our bones) the Irish were stopped just short of the goal and the tie as time ran out. In '69 on Halloween night at packed Rayen Stadium, Ursuline jumped out to a quick 12-0 lead but the Vikings rallied, 14-12. St. Joe in the '60s was the ultimate Catholic powerhouse of that era, before Moeller hit its stride. Interestingly both Moe & Joe were/are Marianist schools, along with Cincinnati Purcell & Dayton Chaminade.
 
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Cinciirish said:
Youngstown Ursuline vs Cleveland St. Joseph/ VASJ series
1965- St. Joseph 21, Ursuline 14
1968- St. Joseph 8, Ursuline 0
1969- St. Joseph 14, Ursuline 12
1973- Ursuline 33, St. Joseph 23
1974- St. Joseph 18, Ursuline 16
2020- Ursuline 47, VASJ 21
2021- VASJ 46, Ursuline 28
2022- Ursuline 40, VASJ 0
2023- Ursuline 38, VASJ 18
Ursuline 27, VASJ 20
Series is tied 5-5
I attended the '68 & '69 games. In '68 at Euclid (visitors stands were up against Lake Erie with freezing late October gusts cutting through our bones) the Irish were stopped just short of the goal and the tie as time ran out. In '69 on Halloween night at packed Rayen Stadium, Ursuline jumped out to a quick 12-0 lead but the Vikings rallied, 14-12. St. Joe in the '60s was the ultimate Catholic powerhouse of that era, before Moeller hit its stride. Interestingly both Moe & Joe were/are Marianist schools, along with Cincinnati Purcell & Dayton Chaminade.
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some added history from the Crown, Chanel also played Ursuline in 68 & 69 lost 14-0 and tied 0-0.



I'll bet the Sparky Dogs were still hot though??
 
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VASJ’s worst fears have come to fruition. Unfortunately Bo Jackson will remain sidelined the rest of the season due to the knee injury he suffered in Week 4 against Kenston.



www.news-herald.com

VASJ running back Bo Jackson’s season has come to an end

Bo Jackson’s senior season at Villa Angela-St. Joseph has come to an end. Coach Jeff Rotsky informed The News-Herald on Oct. 8 that while Jackson does not need surgery, the knee injury Jackso…
www.news-herald.com www.news-herald.com
 
C'Town216 said:
VASJ’s worst fears have come to fruition. Unfortunately Bo Jackson will remain sidelined the rest of the season due to the knee injury he suffered in Week 4 against Kenston.



www.news-herald.com

VASJ running back Bo Jackson’s season has come to an end

Bo Jackson’s senior season at Villa Angela-St. Joseph has come to an end. Coach Jeff Rotsky informed The News-Herald on Oct. 8 that while Jackson does not need surgery, the knee injury Jackso…
www.news-herald.com www.news-herald.com
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Great young man, sorry for his senior season ending injury
 
C'Town216 said:
VASJ’s worst fears have come to fruition. Unfortunately Bo Jackson will remain sidelined the rest of the season due to the knee injury he suffered in Week 4 against Kenston.



www.news-herald.com

VASJ running back Bo Jackson’s season has come to an end

Bo Jackson’s senior season at Villa Angela-St. Joseph has come to an end. Coach Jeff Rotsky informed The News-Herald on Oct. 8 that while Jackson does not need surgery, the knee injury Jackso…
www.news-herald.com www.news-herald.com
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That's a shame.
 
Horrible news for VASJ. Bo gave the Vikings any chance they had to advance to Canton. I see them going a few rounds - that's it.
 
Reminiscent of the Ryan Montgomery news from week 1, a big time prospect going down is awful.

Truthfully, I feel almost as bad for his teammates. Bo will go on to experience big time football and have experiences that will last a lifetime. For a lot of his teammates, playing alongside him was their shot to be part of those types of experiences.

Hopefully, they can come together and make a run without him. A lot will be told this Friday vs Ursuline.
 
Absolutely terrible news. He is an amazing athlete, and I’ve heard an even better person. I look forward to watching him at OSU.

That said, even without him, VASJ has 3 other Power 5 recruits, which will be 3 more than 95% more than the teams they play. With that talent they should be fine against anyone. But there’s that one caveat……..the Rotsky effect.
 
topperbounce said:
Absolutely terrible news. He is an amazing athlete, and I’ve heard an even better person. I look forward to watching him at OSU.

That said, even without him, VASJ has 3 other Power 5 recruits, which will be 3 more than 95% more than the teams they play. With that talent they should be fine against anyone. But there’s that one caveat……..the Rotsky effect.
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Who is the DC at Chardon now, it was Rotskies old DC from Chanel around 2002-5?
 
hsfan60 said:
some added history from the Crown, Chanel also played Ursuline in 68 & 69 lost 14-0 and tied 0-0.



I'll bet the Sparky Dogs were still hot though??
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I was at both of those games. In '68 (week 2) Bedford Chanel came to Rayen to face a very "green" Irish squad that had stunned Pittsburgh Penn Hills (a perennial Pennsylvania power) 6-0 in the opener. The final score was 8-8 with UHS at the Chanel 3 yard line as time ran out. In '69, also in week 2, Ursuline toppled the Firebirds 14-0 at Mayfield Heights. '68 was a very unusual year as both Mooney & Ursuline had left the City Series but wouldn't have a full Steel Valley Conference slate until 1970. So both scrambled to fill a schedule.
Youngstown Ursuline 1968 5-3-2
Ursuline 6, Pittsburgh Penn Hills 0
Ursuline 8, Bedford Chanel 8 (tie)
Cardinal Mooney 36, Ursuline 6
Ursuline 30, Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas 20
Ursuline 26, Campbell Memorial 14
Ursuline 16, Cardinal Mooney 0
Ursuline 52, Akron Hower 6
Cleveland St. Joseph 8, Ursuline 0
Boardman 21, Ursuline 0
Ursuline 6, Struthers 6 (tie)

Youngstown Ursuline 1969 6-1-3
Ursuline 0, New Castle PA 0 (tie)
Ursuline 14, Bedford Chanel 0
Ursuline 27, Pittsburgh South Hills Catholic 7
Ursuline 6, Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas 6 (tie)
Ursuline 29, Campbell Memorial 0
Ursuline 22, Austintown Fitch 15
Ursuline 16, Cardinal Mooney 8
Ursuline 12, Boardman 12 (tie)
Cleveland St. Joseph 14, Ursuline 12
Ursuline 16, Hubbard 0

The Irish played 5 ties out of 20 games in '68 & '69.
 
Cinciirish said:
I was at both of those games. In '68 (week 2) Bedford Chanel came to Rayen to face a very "green" Irish squad that had stunned Pittsburgh Penn Hills (a perennial Pennsylvania power) 6-0 in the opener. The final score was 8-8 with UHS at the Chanel 3 yard line as time ran out. In '69, also in week 2, Ursuline toppled the Firebirds 14-0 at Mayfield Heights. '68 was a very unusual year as both Mooney & Ursuline had left the City Series but wouldn't have a full Steel Valley Conference slate until 1970. So both scrambled to fill a schedule.
Youngstown Ursuline 1968 5-3-2
Ursuline 6, Pittsburgh Penn Hills 0
Ursuline 8, Bedford Chanel 8 (tie)
Cardinal Mooney 36, Ursuline 6
Ursuline 30, Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas 20
Ursuline 26, Campbell Memorial 14
Ursuline 16, Cardinal Mooney 0
Ursuline 52, Akron Hower 6
Cleveland St. Joseph 8, Ursuline 0
Boardman 21, Ursuline 0
Ursuline 6, Struthers 6 (tie)

Youngstown Ursuline 1969 6-1-3
Ursuline 0, New Castle PA 0 (tie)
Ursuline 14, Bedford Chanel 0
Ursuline 27, Pittsburgh South Hills Catholic 7
Ursuline 6, Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas 6 (tie)
Ursuline 29, Campbell Memorial 0
Ursuline 22, Austintown Fitch 15
Ursuline 16, Cardinal Mooney 8
Ursuline 12, Boardman 12 (tie)
Cleveland St. Joseph 14, Ursuline 12
Ursuline 16, Hubbard 0

The Irish played 5 ties out of 20 games in '68 & '69.
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69 game at Maple Hts old Stafford stadium, 8-8 tie

The 0-0 tie was a game I scouted when Ursuline played at new Castle in 69, long ride from bedford.

In the 69 game our punter missed kicking the ball inside the 20 which lead to one of Ursulines TD's, our best player Tim Holycross (soph) who played ay OSU for Woodie had some vertebra in his back broken in 2nd quarter and was out after that.
Darnell Paul from Ursuline and Mike Luzak from Chanel both played at dayton. I though the 69 team was one of the biggest defensive lines I ever saw back then, maybe 270 ave?

When you look back at scores from that era their were a lot of really good football teams in NEO!
 
hsfan60 said:
69 game at Maple Hts old Stafford stadium, 8-8 tie

The 0-0 tie was a game I scouted when Ursuline played at new Castle in 69, long ride from bedford.

In the 69 game our punter missed kicking the ball inside the 20 which lead to one of Ursulines TD's, our best player Tim Holycross (soph) who played ay OSU for Woodie had some vertebra in his back broken in 2nd quarter and was out after that.
Darnell Paul from Ursuline and Mike Luzak from Chanel both played at dayton. I though the 69 team was one of the biggest defensive lines I ever saw back then, maybe 270 ave?

When you look back at scores from that era their were a lot of really good football teams in NEO!
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Thank you for the posts. Love the posts about the old days.
 
Big opponent in Gilmour for the regular season finale. They are 9-0 but I think if the defense that showed up in the Ursuline game shows up here, they should be able to score enough on O for a win. The passing offense continues to improve in the absence of Bo and I'd love to see it hit its stride as the playoffs near.
 
ghostofgutbrod said:
Big opponent in Gilmour for the regular season finale. They are 9-0 but I think if the defense that showed up in the Ursuline game shows up here, they should be able to score enough on O for a win. The passing offense continues to improve in the absence of Bo and I'd love to see it hit its stride as the playoffs near.
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The Vikings should have absolutely no problem with Gilmour.
 
From early perspective from Eitel, it’s looking like the Vikings will be on the road the rest of the way barring a major upset in round 1. They will either walk away with an 8-9 matchup against Hawken or a 7-10 Week 4 rematch at Kenston.

8-9 match up winner will likely get Ursuline in round 2 at Stambaugh.

7-10 match up winner will get Gilmour Academy vs 15 seed winner
 
Dominant performance against unbeaten Gilmour. Good to see the defense lock in and the offense attack through the air and on the ground while getting a lot of different players involved. Hawken this week and then staring down ANOTHER matchup with Ursuline. They've had our number over the last few years but if the Vikings play their best, they will have a chance to win.
 
Congratulations to the Vikings on a dominant performance against Gilmour! The performance against Ursuline was very good as well, considering the Vikings are without your starting running back Jackson.

Best wishes in the postseason. Very impressed by the team spirit. Who knows, maybe we will have a Bene vs. VASJ matchup?
 
I was at the Chanel game at The Rayen Stadium. I remember Chanel coming out in pregame sans helmets, but wearing red berets. I was about 12 and thought that was the coolest thing. Am I mistaken?
 
ace said:
I was at the Chanel game at The Rayen Stadium. I remember Chanel coming out in pregame sans helmets, but wearing red berets. I was about 12 and thought that was the coolest thing. Am I mistaken?
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The red berets were made by Coach Federico's wife, Fran. The defensive unit was called the Chetnik's, that is were the berets were original used.
(Serb., Cetniki, from ceta, "platoon"), Serbian guerrilla units that fought against the Turks and, in World War I, against Austro-Hungarian and German forces. In World War II, the Chetniks were armed bands of Serbs active in Yugoslavia during its occupation (1941-1945).
Chetnik soldiers in World War II wore golden-beret badges. The Chetniks were a Serbian nationalist and royalist guerrilla force that fought against the Axis powers in Yugoslavia during World War II.

Since the school colors were red and white , she made them out of flannel material.
 
hsfan60 said:
Score tonight????
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52-21 VASJ

Hawken came in with upset on their mind and hung close in a back and forth 1st half until VASJ got a stop late in the 2nd and never trailed again. They were tough but the Vikes were too much to handle but a lot of things to fix if they want to beat Ursuline next Friday in Youngstown.
 
Well it’s part 2 of the Ursuline vs VASJ 2024 edition. The Irish are the lone team to knock off VASJ at Gutbrod Field a few weeks ago by a score of 17-24. The Vikings have a chance to flip the script, grant it. It won’t be easy and the Irish has had the Vikings number with a 4 game win streak, with the Vikings last win over Ursuline coming during the 2021 season.

If the Vikings can get up and not come out flat, like they did last night, limit the mistakes, control ball possession, and have the defense play like they did against Ursuline like the first time, this will be a ballgame! The winner of this game will very much have a shot at making it out of the region with either Aurora or Geneva being the next opponent.
 
Is this the offseason where the administration tell Rotsky to take a hike? I sure believe so after that abysmal performance! Wasted Friday night of a laugher.
 
Interesting turn of events for Senior, Brian Kortovich. He recently flipped his commitment from Purdue to Penn State and will be playing for James Franklin in Happy Valley.

Congrats to Brian and best wishes during his college career!
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