St. Ignatius's The Eye: Volume LXXIX Number II

This year’s version of the Saint Ignatius Wildcats football team has thus far proved to do a little better than its #5 ranking in the Plain Dealer Top 25 poll. The Cats’ rolled to an impressive victory over the previous #3 ranked team by the PD, the Benedictine Bengals, 43-7. Not a bad win for the underdogs. Junior quarterback Rudy Kirbus started his debut, as the new play caller, nicely going 12-19, throwing for 192 yards and 3 TD’s. Senior running back Andrew Stankus ran the ball 17 times for 109 yards. Although Benedictine supposedly had a highly touted running game with a superb line, it didn’t seem to be the case, as they scored one touchdown against the strong and fast Wildcat defense led by senior Sean “ H a n n i b a l ” Kavanagh’s 10 tackles. The following week, the Wildcats traveled to Youngstown to face Boardman. The Cats unleashed their deadly offensive attack against the Spartans, scoring 34 points in the first half, which proved to be all that was needed in the 34-7 win. Junior M.J. Ianni took his second punt return to the house in a sick display of moves, which broke numerous ankles in route to the touchdown. Also, the Wildcat defense looked completely dominant with senior Jim Ramella having two sacks and five tackles and junior Dan Dowd with nine tackles. After a 2-0 start, and blowing out both opponents a combined 77-13, the Cats needed a challenge. Philadelphia St. Joe’s Prep was supposed to be that challenge, having been ranked 8th in the nation by USA Today prior to the season. However, the Cats’ completely owned St. Joe’s, winning the game 26- 6, only allowing a late touchdown. Defensively, junior John Ryan and senior Alex “Boom-Boom” Lambrinedes were monsters throughout the game. On offense, Rudy Kirbus connected to junior Robby Parris for 5 passes for 89 yards, including 2 TD’s. With the defense playing well and the offense scoring at will, it looks like this could be another fantastic season for Saint Ignatius.