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Moeller, Sycamore football teams know each other well
11:33 am, Nov 3, 2011 | Written by mdyer | | By Kevin GoheenEnquirer
ContributorPool parties in the summer time are an easy setting for a reunion. That’s the plan Jim Stofko, Jim Engelhardt and a few others who used to coach the Sycamore Athletic Club’s Comets youth football team decided to do this year as a way of sending those kids off into their senior years of high school.Thirteen of those Comets will have another reunion on Saturday night at Lockland’s Roettger Stadium when fifth-seeded Sycamore (8-2) and fourth-seeded Moeller (7-3) meet in the first round of the Division I, Region 4 playoffs.Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. The game doesn’t figure to be as relaxing as a jump in the pool.“It’s definitely a rivalry because I grew up with all of those kids but it’s more important to focus on the game itself,” said Moeller senior center Chris Henke. “If you get too caught up in all of the rivalry stuff you won’t focus on the game.”Henke is one of five Moeller players and eight Sycamore players who were on the Comets for a five-year stretch starting when they were seven years old. According to Stofko, who was their head coach, the team went 56-3 playing through the sixth grade level in the Southern Ohio Youth Football Association.Stofko’s son, Nick, was on the Comets and is now a senior defensive back for Moeller. He and Sycamore quarterback Kyle Sess rotated at the position for the Comets and had Moeller wide receiver Monty Madaris in the backfield with them.“It’s going to be tough to watch this game because there will be some torn feelings. All of those kids were great,” said Stofko, now an assistant coach at Thomas More College. “They were darn competitive and they had some great parents. You hear all of the horror stories about youth football and parents and I don’t think in the five years we had one complaint. Nothing. It was fun every week.”Both teams started the season 7-0 to put themselves in position for the postseason before having less than desirable stretch runs.Sycamore had losses at Middletown and Mason; last week’s 41-13 loss at Mason was particularly disturbing for the Aviators.“We are much more focused than last week,” said Sess. “There was a lackadaisical feeling last week because people were already talking about the playoffs and ‘who cares about Mason this week because we’ve got a playoff game to get ready for.’ That was the mentality we had last week. I think it was a wakeup call to everybody.”Moeller lost its last three to Indianapolis Cathedral, Lakewood St. Edward and Louisville Trinity. All three programs won state titles last season. Trinity is ranked No. 2 in the USA Today Super 25 rankings.“We used the philosophy that those three games made us a better football team,” said Moeller coach John Rodenberg. “We’re both coming into this game with a loss and whoever wins is going to have their confidence and whoever loses is going to be out. That’s how I look at it. We have to fight and get it back.”This is just the fourth time Sycamore has made the playoffs but the third time it has played Moeller in the first round. Moeller is 2-0 in the previous playoff matchups, winning 31-7 in 1996 and 35-28 in 2007.Moeller is in the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season and for the 12th time in the last 13 seasons but is trying to stop a dubious streak; its lone playoff win in the last six seasons was against Sycamore in 2007. The Crusaders have lost in the first round as the higher seed to Middletown and Centerville in each of the last two seasons.“We hear it a lot, people saying the Moeller is going to be one-and-out again but we’re not going to make the mistake of overlooking teams,” said Moeller safety Mitch Catino. “This game has taken on a new meaning.”The schools are separated by a few miles in the Blue Ash/Montgomery area. Whether the kids played youth football together or not, the neighborhood rivalry is there.“You know that they’re down the street from you,” said Sycamore offensive tackle A.J. Williams. “It’s not as bad as a Duke-North Carolina kind of thing. I wouldn’t say it’s that bad but at the same time you see some of the guys at the same restaurants you go to with your family.”Posted in: General
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