St. Ignatius overcomes sloppy play to shut down Boardman

Matt Florjancic, Special to The Plain Dealer, November 07, 2009 11:42 p.m.

PARMA, Ohio -- It was not the disciplined effort head coach Chuck Kyle wanted from his top-seeded St. Ignatius Wildcats, but they started defense of their 10th state championship with a 17-0 win over Boardman, the No. 8 seed in Division I, Region 1 at Byers Field Saturday night.

The Wildcats (11-0) had nine penalties against them for a loss of 89 yards.

"It's one of those things where you go, 'OK, that's what they called,'" said Kyle. "We'll take a look at the video and see how we have to improve and fix that. That's not good because that hurt us a few times. You get a drive going and you get a penalty. That was a little disturbing."

St. Ignatius advances to the second round of the postseason and will face Glenville next Saturday at a site to be determined. The two teams met in Week 1 this season and the Wildcats escaped with a 14-13 victory.

"After the first game, I think everybody kind of figured that was going to happen at some point," Kyle said of the rematch. "They're very good and they're very talented. Needless to say, we need to get everybody back because we're going to need everybody to play them. It'll be just another classic football game with them.

"It's been a one-point difference several times," Kyle said. "They're quite a challenge to defend and they're a physical defense. We have to get up bright and early and start working on them."

Both rush defenses made for tough sledding on the artificial turf.

The Spartans (7-4) gave up 64 yards on 35 Wildcat rushes, while St. Ignatius gave up 53 yards on 24 Boardman attempts. St. Ignatius overcame the miscues and lack of running room because senior quarterback Mark Myers threw for 273 yards and two touchdowns against Boardman's 4-4 defensive scheme.

"You want to get some yards running when you can, but it's an eight-man front," said Kyle. "Why pound it out and run yourself into a wall? They played tough. They're a good football team. We felt with Mark, we were going to find some seams and ended up hitting a few big plays because it ended up 1-on-1 with the receivers and you have to take advantage of that when it happens."

St. Ignatius initiated the scoring with a four-play, 30-yard drive that ended with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Myers to tight end Blake Thomas. The play came on third-and-18.

In the second quarter, the Wildcats faced a third-and-19 from their own 21. Myers took the snap and fired the ball along the left sideline to 5-8 junior wide receiver David Joseph, who found open space and motored 79 yards for the score.

"It's all about hard work," said Joseph. "Every single day in practice, Coach Kyle makes us work as hard as we can. We get on the field and that's what we do every day."

"When you've got a kid that's a Division I quarterback and up for Mr. Ohio, you can't stop both things," said Boardman coach D.J. Ogilvie. "We were just a couple plays away from being in a great game to the end."

Matt Florjancic is a free-lance writer in Broadview Heights.