(percussive music)
(dramatic music)
(car zooming)
(birds chirping)
- [Cheerleaders] Irish! Number 1!
- [Andre Knott] The Akron Holy War is real because a blind man
can feel it.
- Irish! Number 1!
- It divided families, it divided neighborhoods.
It divided the city.
- There's families who's been grandfathered in,
great grandfathered in, it's bloodlines.
(crowd cheering)
- [Radio Announcer] He takes it into the endzone.
Touchdown Hoban!
- You know the phrase Holy War,
there was nothing holy about it.
(loud percussion) - Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!
- If you ask anybody about rivalries,
the first thing out of their mouth is Hoban St.V.
- [High School Girl] It's the Michigan-Ohio State game
except on the high school level.
- [Pat Hutson] It's kind of like Michigan-Ohio State
but it goes a little bit deeper.
It's a little bit more personal.
- St.V Hoban rivalry was really Akron.
You know, everyone knew each other.
- It's like your buddy from across the street
or your neighborhood.
You know, you ain't gonna beat my butt tonight.
I'm coming after you.
- Every single play,
remind them what a family hits like.
Let's go whoop some ass, let's go!
(intense music)
- It's a rivalry that's bigger than the game.
It transcends the entire city.
- There was just so much history there.
I could remember as a kid in grade school,
we're talking about the game.
(fast percussion)
You know, God, wouldn't someday I'd love
to be a part of that game.
- As a football player you realize
that the game itself is bigger than you.
- [Emily Hanson] It's not just about the football team
and the coaches.
It's a community celebration.
- It's more than Hoban, it's more than St.V.
This is an Akron thing.
- For someone who's not part of the rivalry,
you'll never understand it.
You just can't 'cause you've never been a part of it.
- [Robert Brownfield] People live and die by this game
because they care so much about their community
and they care so much about their school.
- [Cheerleaders] 1, 2, 3 beat Hoban!
- You wanna be as big as the moment.
- [Coach Tyrrell] Who's on? Who's on?
- And this is your chance.
(dramatic music)
(50's music)
- [Bernie Factor] The Holy War kinda started out as a backyard rivalry.
- [John Cistone] St. Vincent's was the only Catholic school
around at that time.
Then when you bring in a new school like Hoban,
that kind of creates a competition.
- [Bernie Factor] I lived in Firestone Park.
Half the guys in Firestone Park went to St. V.
The other half went to Hoban and we would relive
some of those games on Sunday afternoon
off of Wilbeth Road in an empty church lot
playing tackle football with no equipment on.
But it always seemed like it was that natural split,
St. V against Hoban.
(rock music)
- [Ralph Paonessa] 1959 was the first game between Hoban and St. Vincent's.
- Hoban didn't wanna play us the year before.
They weren't ready.
- [Don Zwisler] Prior to the fall of '59,
Hoban's schedule was the smaller schools in the area
that they played.
- So they wanted to wait another year
and then we played in '59 at the Rubber Bowl.
And of course they beat us.
(rock music)
- [Don Zwisler] My first time that I ever saw a Hoban football game
was the first Hoban St. V game.
(drums)
St. V was a big favorite in that game.
- [Ralph Paonessa] St. Vincent's were the established team.
We were the new kids on the block
trying to prove ourselves.
They kept on saying they were gonna kill us
so, pretty nerve wracking getting up to that first game.
- [Don Zwisler] Opening kickoff, Jerry O'Reilly from Hoban
- [Ralph Paonessa} Scored on an 80 yard touchdown run.
- And the upset was on.
- [Ralph Paonessa] We scored early.
And then we got a two point safety.
(drums)
After they scored one, we were ahead most of the game
16 to 7.
And then in the second half they come and score
and it's now 16 to 14.
And we just hung on and ended up winning.
(somber music)
- [Don Zwisler] That started the rivalry.
That was a real big day for the school.
- During the game I broke up a pass.
The ball was in his hand and I hit him.
And I saw the flash of light.
The next morning, my buddy and I went downtown
because we wanted to get a paper
to read about the game.
And my buddy runs to get the paper.
And I said, open that up, you're gonna see my picture in it.
He said, Paonessa, if your picture's in here,
I'll eat the paper.
He opens it up, he takes a bite out of the paper.
(somber music)
That's a picture I still have after 57 years.
(somber music)
I would imagine if we did not win that game
we could have been dismissed as so no big a deal.
- [Don Zwisler] St. Vincents obviously was well known
throughout the state.
And that was a big deal.
- Since we won that game, I think it probably had
an important part in keeping the series going.
(light music)
- [Don Zwisler] I and a lot of the friends I went to St. Martha's with
up in North Hill
decided to apply to Hoban.
I don't know if it was just because of that game
but it was a nice feeling.
(upbeat music)
Hoban won the first game in '59
then St. Vincent's won the next two.
In the fall of '62 we were underdogs again.
It was really fun showing up to school that Friday morning.
I had no idea what was going on.
The seniors at that time came up with the idea
about Mum Day.
When we drove in the parking lot
there was a big white sheet in front of the office
and just said "mum" on it.
We walked in the building and the seniors are standing there
telling everybody "keep quiet all day."
- You didn't dare open your mouth
or else you were dealt with by a football player
or even one of the brothers for that matter.
(tense music)
- [Don Zwisler] We went out to the bowl that night.
And the first play of the game,
a guy by the name of Tsaloff from St. V
ran the ball 65 yards for a touchdown.
It didn't look good early.
But we scored the next 24 and upset them 24 to 7.
You never knew who was gonna win that football game
no matter what the record was.
You threw the record out.
- [John Ross] The rivalry, it was personal
because you grew up with all of the guys at Hoban
and St. Vincent's through CYO.
(light music)
- [Tom Paris] Back in those days, kids lived next door to each other.
Kids played against each other through CYO
and that was the bulk of what made up both those teams.
- I was ticketed to go to St. Vincent's.
Got a chance to take a trip through Hoban with my dad.
When we got back into the car,
looked at me and said "you're going to Hoban."
And it was kind of like oh wow,
I thought I was going to St. V's.
No, you're going to Hoban.
- If you had that opportunity to going someplace
in fifth grade,
I probably went to Hoban.
Just at that time in my life.
- [Don Zwisler] I had three brothers going to St.V.
And it was their choice.
In '63, my senior year,
my brother Joe was a sophomore for them.
(light guitar music)
(whimsical music)
(suspenseful music)
- What's unique about our rivaly is that
not only is it the same city
but the rivalry happens in the same streets,
in the same neighborhoods, sometimes in the same homes.
Your parents might have went to Hoban
and then their kids go to St. V or vice versa.
- We have a young lady who is a sophomore right now.
Her entire family has gone to St. V.
- I'm a St.Vincent-St.Mary class of '79.
My two oldest daughters, my brother and three sisters
graduated from St. Vincent-St.Mary.
I've been a member of the booster club myself
for over 30 years.
I've done the stats for the football team
for the past 16 years.
Served on the board, the Hall of Fame committee.
My dad was president of the booster club.
My mom was a band booster president.
Now, as we kind of have a joking side of the equation,
my youngest daughter Megan is currently enrolled at Hoban.
(light comedic music)
- [Megan Hutson] My brothers, two sisters, my dad and all his siblings,
they all went to St. V.
- From talking to coaches and that sort of thing,
it was a really intense struggle.
- 'Cause I did not want her to go to Hoban.
I was dead set against it.
- My uncles and aunts, they all supported me.
And same with my brothers and sisters.
But then my dad was the one who,
that was a hard part to get through was him.
But he's all cool.
Not all cool with it now, but he's better.
(drums)
- When I was in eighth grade,
everyone in my class was all like
"yeah Hoban, Hoban is so great.
Hoban is so great, I love it."
And I went there on seventh grade visitation.
I hated it. (laughter)
I did not like it at all.
(intense drums)
- [Hoban Student] My brother went to St. V and I go to Hoban
and we're three years apart.
- [Jamie Adaway] Why'd you choose Hoban?
- It's better.
(laughing)
- [Jamie Adaway] Why'd he choose St. V?
- Why'd he choose?
I'm not sure.
I think he likes the color green, I don't know.
(laughing)
(drums)
- [Student] The atmosphere is way better than Hoban's.
It's like family, very family oriented.
- It was kind of like more of a family experience
being at St. V.
(drums subside)
- [Mary Murphy] I have three daughters.
All my girls went here and then I've,
my son's the youngest so, and he went here.
(shouting)
You've probably heard this phrase the whole time,
it feels like family, and it really does.
It's caring people and it's people that are committed.
- Murph and I hit it off right away.
We became great friends.
And you know, (laughing)
He's got great kids and
one happens to be my wife. (laughing)
It's great to be able to coach with a guy
who you're friends with on top of being family with.
The environment here is kind of great
because my brother's actually been able
to come over and coach the past two years.
Being a young man growing in now to a father and a husband,
head coach and,
this community's a large part of that.
And... it's just been unbelievable.
(light music)
(intense hip hop music)
- [Coach Tyrrell] Ace, regular, and regular pony.
So you get three different personnel changes
in one formation.
- Yeah.
- Can you handle that? (laughing)
(dramatic music)
- [Coach Tyrrell] Season two, starts today.
Season two's
one game in the whole season.
(dramatic music)
St. V's got the fastest defense in the state!
(whistle blowing)
Let's go, get loose!
(hip hop music)
- [Coach] Big week, we got a lot of asses to kick!
Monday, focus, practice, do what you're told and work!
(hip hop music)
- Don't look back there.
You make a quick read on what is it,
it's pass, do this.
Boom here and sprint your ass up, now look.
- [Danny Clark] Down, 41, set!
(hip hop music)
(clapping) - Holy War on the breakdown
- Yeah! Yeah!
- Ready ready, breakdown! - Holy War!
(hip hop music)
(electronic music)
- [Coach Wattley] Let's go!
Crack some pads!
(hip hop music)
- You wanna blitz you, we can't blitz the Sam
so it's next to a blast, make it gray.
(hip hop music)
- [Coach] If you want to get on special teams, make a play!
- [Coach Wattley] Pick somebody up!
Good, Deamonte.
(whistle blowing)
- [Coach Wattley] It's there!
Ah!
(whistle blowing)
Anthony, Anthony, do we tackle with our shoulder?
Do we tackle with our shoulder?
- [Quarterback] Set go.
- [Coach Wattley] Settle.
Good. Good!
(whistle blowing)
Ryan, good depth.
(hip hop music)
(birds chirping)
- I'm Jessie.
I'm a senior and I'm a cheerleader.
- I'm Lauren, I'm also a senior
and I'm a cheerleader too.
We're about to decorate Mark's room for Mum Day.
(crickets)
- [Cheerleader] We are decorating Blake Bishop's room
since he's a senior for Spirit Week.
- What I'll miss most is, we're all so close
as a senior class and so just experiencing all the things together.
We're just such a family at Hoban
and it's just one of the best experiences
to go to school there.
- I've met all of my friends through cheer.
It's so fun, I love it.
- 'Cause you're like on the field with the football players.
You're just like a part of the game and it's really fun.
- My family comes in town from California
to watch this game
and they always come to this pep rally
and they're just blown away.
- The pep rally is so much fun.
- The best part is the pep rally when everyone screams.
That's the best part.
- [Lauren] My grandpa actually went to Hoban.
And then my mom and her two brothers went to Hoban.
So it's just kind of like a family legacy
like I knew all my life that I would be going to Hoban.
- I have a twin brother actually at Hoban too.
Actually there's 8 Petit's at Hoban right now.
We're all cousins so we take up a wall.
(birds chirping, crickets)
(light music)
- [Provie Tomei] This is an environment that we kind of grew up with
which is cool.
It's in your blood, you know.
(light music)
- [Tom Paris} My father was the head football coach.
I still remember going to practices
and dad would tell the kids, hey pick up those dummies
and bring my kid in too
'cause I was asleep on the dummies.
But I was there, I was there.
- Some of the athletes over there.
Hoban they had Neidert, Thomann, Chuck Mesco
who went to Penn State.
I mean we knew these guys.
We didn't know them personally but
we kind of like idolized them.
(light music)
- [Bernie Factor] In 1964, in a Hoban St. Vincent's game
to show you how important it was,
there was a player by the name of Lou Vassalotti
that played at St. Vincent's.
He had so many, what we called at the time, dingers
which they now call concussions
that at the game that night, in order for him
to play in that game, they put an ambulance into the stadium
into the Rubber Bowl underneath the scoreboard.
And some doctor devised little packets of water
that they put, affixed in his helmet to cushion him
so he wouldn't get another concussion.
Nobody thought anything about keeping him out.
He played in the game. (laughing)
- It was probably about the third quarter of the game.
And Paul Franjesevic was a tackling machine for us
and he was only a sophomore.
And Bernie Kress, star running back from St. Vincent's
rounded the corner and there was this huge collision.
And all of a sudden, St. V guy gets up and Paul didn't.
The young kids looked over and they went
"oh my god, I think he's dead."
Then we saw him moving, it was like, he's not dead.
Well it's funny because when you're a sophomore
you're always trying to get the coach to see you
so you can get a chance to get into the game.
After that hit you saw guys starting
to duck behind other guys trying to stay
out of the way. (laughing)
- [Director] Do you remember coaching against St. V that year in 1964?
(oldies music)
- Coach Cistone, who of course we all know
for his legendary run at St. V,
and the field being named after him,
he was part of the Hoban football staff
before he became head coach over at St. V.
- Yeah I don't tell many people.
I was there about three months.
It was a good opportunity for me.
You know, I was just young and just getting started.
I was athletic director and assistant to Tony in football.
So after this season, coach Wentz was gonna retire
at St. Vincent's.
So he had contacted me and wanted to know
if I would come over and follow him which I did.
And I'll never forget he said
"well now you and Tony
we're gonna see who recruits the best."
I don't know why but the Catholics don't get along.
(rock music)
- Week 10 against St. V was the Superbowl.
(rock music)
And our household lived or died by what happened
in week 10.
- [Bernie Factor] There were other venues, there were other little battles
going on, especially up by the water tower
on top of the hill.
Little fights that went on between Hoban
and St. V people during the week.
- In other words, during the whole week,
there was competition between the two schools.
- Hoban at the time back in the '60s
always had a bonfire.
Hoban would also get an old car, paint it green and gold
and then it was a dollar to take three swats at it
with a sledgehammer.
Mum Day was in full swing.
Mum Day did not only occur at Hoban high school
but it also occurred at the Paris house.
- Nobody talks, nobody says anything all day long.
And when we all filed into the gym,
I can still see Tony Paris standing on the stage.
And when everybody was seated he just screamed
get that stick.
- It was absolutely electrifying.
(birds chirping, cars driving by)
- [T.K. Griffith] My dad has been a part of this Mum Day on Friday.
My wife has been a part of the Mum Day here at Hoban.
Both of my children who have graduated from Hoban.
My aunts, my uncles, my own kids.
The Hoban family, this Mum Day tradition,
is huge for us.
(somber music)
- [Director} What do you guys know about what they do during this week?
- [Student 1] All I know, they have Mum Day.
when they just don't talk until the rally or whatever.
- [Student 2] Who cares about what they do?
- [Students] Oh, ooh, wow.
- I mean, I could say our spirit days are
better than there's because Hoban's wack.
Everything they do is wack.
- High five.
- Their spirit days is wack.
It's not good at all.
- [Student 1] Mum Day is pretty much Hoban's Christmas.
You wait so long for it.
It all just like comes together and it's amazing.
- The school is completely silent.
So none of the teachers talk.
None of the students talk in classes
or outside of classes.
And when we drive into the Hoban parking lot,
the seniors who have been there all night
decorating the school, they surround your car.
And they all just kind of go "shh."
At the end of the day, there's our pep rally.
We walk up from the basement.
And all you hear is like this drumbeat.
(drum hitting)
And because you're so used to the quiet from the day,
you feel the drum beat, like
(drum hitting)
in your body, it's crazy.
(drum hitting)
- It's eerie to walk through the halls
and for everyone to be silent.
Until you really experience that,
you can't really appreciate the initial cheer H on 3.
- It just erupts with noise.
And just how loud it gets.
(yelling)
- [Dr. Sweda] I was so taken aback by just the amount of energy
that had gone into it, that had led up to this,
that had existed in the gym.
I was in tears.
(crowd cheering)
(somber music)
- [John Ross] When you're growing up,
everybody wanted to play for Notre Dame.
You have high expectations.
But when you get into high school,
reality begins to set in.
So you kind of look at as you go through your career
particularly your senior year,
for many of us we knew that was it.
That was gonna be the very last game
and for many of us, it was the last game
of our career period.
So it was just all of that built in energy,
all of that personal relationships that you had
with all these people.
Everything came down to that final year.
(somber music)
And then that rolls into the bus pulling in
to the Rubber Bowl.
- [Bernie Factor] The Rubber Bowl was at least three quarters
of the way filled.
*somber music)
- There was a lot of people that have no connection
with Hoban or St. Vincent's that went to the ball game
because of the rivalry.
- And you could hear the noise outside.
"Beat Hoban, beat St. V's, beat Hoban and beat St. V's."
And then when you ran on to that field
you could just feel the electricity.
It was incredible.
(dramatic music)
- [Bernie Factor] Just hearing that 100 piece band
playing the Hoban fight song,
goose bumps, you know raised up on you.
- [John Ross] I could still see Mike Johnson scoring a touchdown,
it gets called back.
And Tony Paris, being the stubborn guy that he was
by George, we're gonna run it again.
And we ran it again and Mike scored another touchdown.
It was just exciting to be able to say
we walked off the field and we beat St. V's.
(dramatic music)
- '60s it seemed like it was going back and forth.
We may have had an edge but not by much.
Were they good games?
Oh, you betcha.
You throw records out.
(rock music)
- My junior year was a major upset
of a pretty darn good Hoban team in '68.
And then in '69 we definitely had
a big victory against them.
(rock music)
- In '72 you didn't have all these playoffs.
You had to win your division outright.
And that was very difficult to do.
So after that, you only had two games.
The final four and then you went into the championship.
In '72 we won it.
(rock music)
You know Hoban was pretty good that year too.
They were pretty decent.
The following year we were pretty decent too
and we wound up losing.
And I recall it being cold as hell.
(funky music)
- [Tom Paris] Season didn't start in August.
It started later in the season.
So this was early November time frame.
- There must have been like six inches on the field.
Ralph Paonessa who was the head wrestling coach at the time
canceled his practice.
And the wrestling team came down and shoveled Dowed Field.
so there could even be a game.
- [Bernie Factor] It was played at Dowed Field.
And the year before it was played at Green Street.
- [Tom Paris] Most of the games were at the Rubber Bowl.
But there was a point in time where it became
a home and away game.
- And that was because of economic reasons.
So the games were played at the school fields
which was crazy because neither one of them
could hold the crowds that were there.
- That '73 might have been the last year
we played Hoban at Hoban.
- [Tom Paris] Dad, Tony Paris coached all the way
through the season of '73.
Hoban won 14 nothing that day.
So it was a great memory in regards to the win
but even a better memory because I remember that
being my dad's last game.
(sad music)
- [Provie Tomei] My senior year in '74,
we were AP UPI state champions that year.
Had a good team.
We won 14 to 6.
But the records were totally opposite.
We were 8 and 1, they were 1 and 8.
You're gonna play your hardest,
but they're playing their hardest.
(rock music)
- Those kids knew each other.
Hung around with each other
and they played against each other.
Some of the kids went to St.V, some went to Hoban.
That automatically creates a rivalry, so to speak.
That you want to be the best between the two schools.
- Same kind of kids, same kind of school basically.
It's like brother against brother.
(birds chirping)
- [Student} One of the things that makes us such rivals
and that we clash so much is because
like we're very similar schools.
But sometimes because other people are so similar to us,
like we rub against each other.
And so we wanna be like the superior
Catholic school in Akron.
- I know some people who just hate St. V.
Just driving by, they will just tense up and it's like,
I hate that place.
- [Jamie Adaway] I'm just so pro Hoban.
I'm so anti St. V.
And I know they're good people.
They're good people, right?
How many of you, again,
anybody have a best friend still there?
Wow, that's a lot.
- They're all friends.
And the students have a lot of choice
with where they can go.
- [Coach Wattley] This is a decision you make
and there's really no fence to ride on.
You pick one side and you just go with it.
- [Coach Tyrrell] Both schools are fighting for the same kids
just for admissions reasons.
In Akron, it's very tight knit.
And it's just one of those rivals
that the kids know each other so well going into it.
(cars zooming on the highway)
- [Dr. Sweda} If you live in Akron, everyone knows somebody
who knows somebody who went to school with somebody
who ended up working with somebody
that went to one of these two schools.
- [Anthony Boarman] I live in West Akron.
Here your neighbor can be your opponent one day.
It's one house, St.Vincent-St.Mary,
One house Hoban, one house St. Vincent- St. Mary.
- [Coach Wattley] Public schools, you're going one city versus another city.
One part of town versus another part of town.
People talk about Buchtel-Firestone.
I said no, it's different.
People talk about Eds and Ignatius.
I said I've gone to Eds and Ignatius game years past
and it's different, it's just different.
- In Cleveland, there's a different holy war
between St. Ed's high school and St. Ignatius high school.
When I first moved down to Akron a couple months ago
I soon learned that the Akron Holy War is much, much larger
than anything I experienced or watched in Cleveland.
- People come from all around the United States
to come back for this one game.
- It's Hoban St. V and there's everybody else.
(music building up)
(pads hitting)
- My name's Nick Ziemann, I'm with the Great American
Rivalry Series we feature and spotlight some of
the top high school football rivalries in the nation.
We got teams all across the country.
We've got teams in Washington State, California.
We do over 100 rivalries every single fall.
But the Akron Holy War is one of the biggest games we do.
(bluegrass music)
So at Hoban today, we'll be conducting
our in-school fitness challenge.
We have any student that wants to participate,
conduct as many chinups as they can.
(rock music)
The school that does the most throughout the week,
we present a trophy to that school at the game
on Friday night.
- [Tym Tagliaferro] We gotta do more pullups than St. V's.
Is St. V stronger than us?
- No!
- Are we stronger than St. V?
- Yeah!
(rock music)
(light music)
- [Coach Wattley] Let's go, reset, reload!
(hip hop music)
- [Coach Wattley] React!
Drive it, drive, ah.
(whistle blowing)
Brandon, left hash, left hash.
Gotta talk in the back.
Right there.
Gotta talk in the back!
(whistle blowing)
Hey, blast black.
What do you call it Brandon, something inside.
Get vertical, get flat.
(whistle blowing)
Good, Ryan.
Empty, what are we playing?
Key!
Fourth and one! - Set go.
(screaming)
- [Coach] Come on Bentley!
- {Quarterback} Set, go!
(pads hitting)
- Ball, ball!
- There you go runners.
- Defense on 3. Defense on 3. - 1, 2, 3 Defense.
- [Coach Wattley] Money time, hurry up.
- [Coach Tyrrell] Get in the damn huddle.
Let's go play football, let's go.
(intense rock music)
(whistle blowing)
- What are we in? What are we in?
- Strong left. Strong right. - [Quarterback] Blue... blue.
- [Coach Tyrrell] Good!
(whistle blowing)
- [Coach Tyrrell] Third and 10, third and 10!
Get three, cover three, Nate.
What's your drop?
(rock music)
(whistle blowing)
(rock music)
- [Coach Tyrrell] We're in 3.
So what's the screen that could hurt us?
Where's the back line up when they're in trips.
Let's see how much film you've watched.
(rock music)
- [Coach Tyrrell] Good fast ball, good fast ball.
We will not be touched.
(rock music)
- [Coach Tyrrell] What don't you understand about using your damn hands?
Again!
(rock music)
(whistle blowing)
- [Mike Winkler] Alright let's go! Run 'em hard! Run 'em like champions.
Let's go!
(rock music)
- Holy War on the breakdown. - Yeah yeah!
- Ready ready, breakdown. - Holy War!
(birds chirping, cars driving by)
- [FootballPlayer] This game, honestly.
A lot of people don't realize is
when kids are like teetering where they make
the decision to schools,
and they see us whoop St. V's ass,
or St. V whoops our ass, you know where they're gonna
start leaning to.
I mean that's how, it affects the freshman class,
it really does.
- I was going to St. V, my first choice.
- Like I didn't know anything about Hoban
because like St. V was so hyped up and everything.
So when I came here, it was like one
of the best decisions like I ever made.
Like no mistakes.
It was just a good decision.
Like I'm happy I didn't go there.
- I went to St. V my freshman year. And uh. - Mistake.
- Wasn't the school for me.
I came here and I shadowed and I loved it.
A lot of people didn't like me
'cause I had that St. V mentality.
I mean at first.
- I didn't like him. - I didn't like him.
- No one liked me, except the girls, the girls loved me.
- No. No!
(rock music)
- [Tom Paris] From the late '60s to the '70s,
neither team could win more than two games.
Then St.V pulled out four in a row
back in the late '70s.
- And getting beat that last year seven to nothing,
that was a big deal.
- [Tom Paris] I still can remember Tom Freeman in the last game.
Some people from Hoban say he never made it in
on the quarterback sneak.
And others from the Irish will say he did.
But we lost seven nothing.
And that's when the rivalry ended for a little while.
(somber music)
- It was during my time when we stopped the rivalry.
(somber music)
- My senior year, we did not play St. V.
- I was the class 1979, my football season was '78.
We didn't get to play.
Some of my friends who went to Hoban
never had a chance to play our senior year.
So I would say it's a little personal.
- [Dan Boarman Sr.] There was some bad blood there.
And at the end, they stopped playing in everything.
(somber music)
- It's one thing to stop playing football.
We severed all ties in all sports.
- And there's debate on why it ended from each side.
(percussive music)
- (laughing) You want fact or fiction?
- It depends on who you talk to, why it stopped.
- All I can do is speak from my perspective.
I'll let Hoban somebody speak from their perspective.
- We had Hoban always said it was St. V that did it.
People at St.V always said it was Hoban that stopped it.
- It had absolutely nothing to do
with the coaching staff or the kids.
All administration.
- And one of the reasons that we stopped it,
well it was mutual.
- 'Cause the stories I've heard is that
the rivalry got too intense and there was fights
and things like that. - No.
- There was vandalism that occurred.
Kids took it upon themselves to do certain things.
And that sure was an expense to the school.
So that came into play.
- I don't know if I should say so,
but the kids from the school a lot of times during that week
would go to the visiting school,
put up banners and do some other things
that probably weren't right.
- You see the Hoban letters on the hill.
They were painted green.
And I don't know who did it.
Have no idea, and my memory has faded.
- But then you also hear the other side
and it could be biased.
- [Dan Boarman Sr.] Hoban turned us in for recruiting.
And guess who we recruited? John's son.
(laughing) Johnny Cistone.
- From the Hoban side it was in regards to
gate money not being split appropriately.
- That time, Green Street was dilapidated and unplayable.
So we played our games at the Rubber Bowl.
Couldn't scheduled here's Dowed Field,
hey would you mind taking us in?
Tried to schedule a game there and rumor has it
Hoban asked for a down, for a deposit.
We've been playing each other for 20 something years
you think they'd,
I think they know we're kind of good for it.
- [John Ross] Hoban was kind of on the down swing at the time.
And they weren't really winning a lot of games.
St. Vincent was on the upswing at the time
and they were competing for the state playoffs
and things like that.
- [Dan Boarman Sr.] We had fairly good success at that point
and I'm not even sure what Hoban's record was.
But they hurt us point wise.
- Hoban was costing us reasons why
we were not getting into the computer playoffs.
- And Walsh Jesuit, was a new school
up in the Stow.
We wanted to play Walsh at the last game of the season
and move Hoban down into the middle of the year.
But they didn't wanna do that.
That created a problem.
- Hoban was going through some financial problems
and their enrollment was dropping.
If I recall, there was even talk of closing the school.
- I can remember them sitting next to John Cistone
and we thought the school was gonna close.
So did everybody else.
So just getting student athletes
to go out and play was tough.
Things looked pretty bleak until a lot of people
just donated their time.
And God bless them because I tell you what,
they give up their vacation at their regular job,
guys like Jim Morrison and Bob Piekarski.
And Bobby, Bob went to St. V.
Um, Jim went to St. Mary's.
Everybody got together in order to get students
in the building so we could keep the school going.
The kids didn't wanna go anywhere else.
The faculty didn't wanna go anywhere else.
Wasn't easy, but we didn't let it die.
(light music)
- Over time, Hoban's team then started coming back.
They started rebuilding the program.
(inspiring music)
- Ya know, I know St. V went to the playoffs like in '91
and Hoban was 9 and 1
and just missed the playoffs by like a quarter of a point.
They used to jaw back and forth back in school
but they never got to play each other.
(rock music)
- I knew every stat of like
I played running back.
I was All City, so I knew the stats
of the guy that played running back at Hoban.
I knew how many yards they got every Friday night.
We saw each other in different places,
it was like I'm better than you.
And it's like dude, you never tackled me.
Like, so we were always, in the back of our mind
we always wanna play them.
We literally will be like, dude, you get 10 of your guys,
I'll get 10 of my guys, we can play this.
And as we were going through high school,
it was kind of like a fairy tale for me
because by the time we were seniors,
we knew we weren't gonna play.
And towards the end of our senior year,
we were like "what's coming next year?"
- [Ralph Paonessa] Having played in the game and having coached it,
as soon as I came back, that's the first thing I thought of
was let's get this going again.
So I mentioned it to the administration
and they were, you know, kind of lukewarm about it.
- We had had a number of different discussions
about could we do this, should we do this,
what were the concerns on both sides.
- They kept on thinking of the possible problems with it
which I can see.
So I let it go.
The next year I mentioned again in '95
and I was told well you know, if you can get it,
go ahead and look into it.
- There was strong sentiment certainly among the players
and the coaches that we really would like
to be able to do this.
(somber music)
- Time heals all wounds.
- I think everybody said, you know, it's time.
(light music)
- [Ralph Paonessa] So I called John Cistone.
And he said well you know what, yeah we could do that.
Unfortunately we don't have an opening.
We had the third game open.
We wanted to play the third game.
And he said well we're playing Canton Central Catholic.
So I called the athletic director at Central Catholic
and I asked if you could let us play St. Vincent's St.Mary
on the third week,
he's got an opening later on.
And he surprised me by saying "okay." So then
I called John Cistone and he said "okay, we'll play."
(inspiring music)
We ironed out some things, the administration did.
- It was quite a process.
We wanted to have a safe environment.
And also, there were sentiments that it would be good
if it were on a neutral site.
- [Bernie Factor] They went back to the Rubber Bowl.
The game was just too big to be held
at a regular field.
- [Dr. Beiting] And we decided it would go back and forth.
It was a home game if we continued the series
after the first year.
- It was kind of a big thing, we heard about it
my junior year that we were gonna play St. V
the following year
and I ever remember the date.
The ol' Friday the 13th. (laughing)
- I know that Beacon Journal even a year before the game
was doing articles about it.
(inspiring music)
- For the most part I don't think
most of us realized how big of a game it was.
(rock music)
- Everybody's got an older brother
or somebody that's like, when St. V-Hoban played,
it was real.
Or it was a real battle.
Or you know, we have scars still from that game, you know.
Like we walked uphill to get to the game.
It's like that story.
(rock music)
(cheering)
- [Joe Bodnar] People were coming from across the country
just to see that game because it was so big.
- And you see so many different people.
People who hadn't come to a high school football game
in 20 years.
- [Ralph Orsini] Walking in and seeing the crowd on both sides,
pretty much realized that this
was gonna be something special.
- It was packed.
- You're playing in front of 17,000 people.
The sun's going down, the lights are on at the Rubber Bowl,
and it's showtime.
(tense music)
- There's not many times where I've said
man, I want back on the field.
But I know that I was jealous.
And I don't use that word very often.
I was jealous of the kids out there
that were playing in that game that day.
- [Bernie Factor] A lot of peop thought that it was crazy
for Hoban to renew the rivalry because of the success
St. Vincent's has had previous to that.
(drum beats)
- The atmosphere was incredible.
Now we got our ass kicked that game.
(tense music)
- We pretty much rolled that whole game, won 24 to nothing.
- [Bernie Factor] We went into that game believing
that we could start this, a new era,
picking up this rivalry again with a win which we did.
(cheering and clapping)
- [Cameraman] Ooh, baby, baby, baby!
- Um, well, I played well. (chuckling)
I did have an interception in that game.
(crowd cheering)
- [Cameraman] Woo hoo hoo.
Go baby, go, go!
(intense music)
- '96 was a learning curve as far as
what you're getting yourself into,
what kind of a stage you're gonna be playing on.
You've got 48 minutes to get it right
or else you're gonna be hearing about it
from all your friends and everybody in the community.
And there's pressure, you have to win this game.
(crowd cheering)
- [Game Announcer] Hoban Knights 24, Fighting Irish 0.
(silence)
- So '97 came around and it was a no brainer
that we were gonna go out and win.
There's no doubt about it.
(rock music and crowd cheering)
- [Jackie Mullet] No matter who you hung out with,
no matter what groups you were involved in,
everyone was there for the same goal that night.
(rock music)
- I would drill Tony Beiting as many times as I could
and I would just laugh.
(rock music)
I'd go back to the huddle and I'd be looking at Tony
and I'd just do it again the next play.
(rock music)
And I love Tony.
(rock music)
I love his mom, his whole family.
(rock music)
We went to grade school together.
(rock music)
I knew the majority of these Hoban guys
just through CYO.
But at this moment there's, there was
no friendship or love being given back and forth.
I mean we brought it all night
and we came out on top.
(rock music)
(crowd cheering)
- We ended up pulling it off, winning 21-13.
I remember the end of the game, just waiting,
waiting for it to be over so we could just charge everybody
and hug everyone.
It was just a huge deal for us.
These guys were our friends, our boyfriends.
- It was our last year.
- We were a very close group.
It meant a lot to everyone.
- It was like our Superbowl.
- Yes, yes, it was.
- That game was so great
'cause I actually was carried of the field
and ended up taking this picture and blowing it up.
And it sat in the school.
I've got it in my parent's house to this day.
My twin daughters still come over to my parent's house
and they'll see that and they'll see me.
It's a great, great memory.
(light music)
(light rock music)
(chattering)
- 15 seconds, come on. - Stay up!
- 70.
- Yeah, boy.
- Hell yeah, swear to god, man.
- Y'all will be good at it.
All you gotta do is hold your head above the bar
as long as you can.
10 pullups?
There was a couple of girls that were doing pullups
at Hoban yesterday.
One girl did like 14 of them.
(rock music)
(laughing)
- It's not happening. (laughing)
(electronic hip hop music)
- [Coach Wattley] Stay together, stay together.
PAT. PAT block. Block left.
(hip hop music)
Ah! Nice try, Bent.
(whistle)
(hip hop music)
- I always say, 75% of my job is motivation.
During the week we play St. V,
that part of my job is simple.
(hop hop music)
(man mumbling)
- Yah so if you're the three, 'cause they slant so much,
it's just, boom, here.
- Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10.
- [Danny Clark] Tomorrow turn it up, pick up!
(clapping and cheering)
- Ready ready breakdown. - Progress!
(hip hop music fades out)
* Uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh
* Knights in the house
* Let me hear you make some noise
* We're gonna make you
(shouting)
- I know people from Atlanta that's coming.
Like, it's crazy.
- The whole city, like everyone's affected.
Like it's not just us cheerleaders that are on the field
or the football players who are playing the game.
- Dear God, thank you for this practice, thank you for,
when we win, truly everyone in Akron feels it.
And then opposite of when we lose.
So this game, the Holy War,
just has a lot of power over the whole community.
- Pray for us.
- And all the little leprechauns.
- Pray for us.
* Hoban, cheer, the team that you fear
* One two three, beat Hoban
(clapping)
* Hey
(crowd cheering)
- [Cameraman] Oh what a catch!
- I did not get to play in the Holy War my senior year.
St. V's unsuccessfully expelled me
and going back and watching the St. V's Hoban game,
(intense music)
- [Cameraman] Yeah! Yeah!
- It hurt bad, it hurt really bad.
And it definitely pissed me off.
Tony Beiting played great.
- [Cameraman] He's open, open.
Yeah, yeah!
- Keith! Keith!
(intense music)
- Now I'll also say this.
After I helped beat Hoban in '97,
St. V's lost for nine years in a row
which was great.
I always considered that just the curse of Berkowitz.
It was... it was fantastic.
(upbeat music)
- We went out there and we reeled some victories off.
I think it was just the preparation for the game.
(dramatic music)
- We're not playing until seven o'clock at night.
And at nine o'clock in the morning,
all the coaches are pulling into the parking lot
at different times, within 10-15 minutes of each other.
And it's like, didn't you have anything else to do?
No, I'm not gonna sit at home.
I'd much rather be right here.
(cheering)
- [Bernie Factor] The mindset was we're not gonna lose.
(inspiring music)
- [Bernie Factor] I just remember Ryan DeGeorge had blown out his knee
his senior year.
And against the doctors' wishes,
he suited up, put a brace on, wrapped it up
just to get into the game for a couple of series.
And of course he was lost the rest of the year
but he just wanted to be on that field.
And that kind of epitomizes the attitude
that the players took toward this game.
(light music)
- There's so much tradition there that
I don't think you can explain it, to be honest.
I mean it's hard to put it into words
because you have to go through the experience.
- It's gonna be jam packed, it's gonna be a sell out.
People gonna be scalping tickets.
- It's, it's unreal.
- You realize that that's a pretty big stage
when you're 15 years old.
- My junior year, I was extremely nervous.
I played safety but for the St. V game,
our defensive coordinator had a special idea. (laughing)
That they would throw me on to corner playing this guy.
I think his name's LeBron James or something like that.
(hip hop music)
- [Pat Hutson] We have a kid who took a blue collar job
up in Cleveland a few years ago
to play some round ball.
- [Play By Play Announcer] Two on one, he's taking the high dribble.
Ooh!
- He was a very excellent wide receiver himself
back in the day at St. V.
(hip hop music)
- [Play By Play Announcer] Oooh!
And Lebron James soaring through the air.
(hip hop music)
- I'm LeBron James from Akron, Ohio.
I'm blessed.
- [David Robinson] And he's already known across northeast Ohio
as a monster in every single sport that he plays.
So it was a little nerve-wracking going up
against him that year.
(hip hop music)
- [Game Announcer] Pass complete to LeBron James.
- I was really nervous up until I got my first
interception of the game.
(crowd cheering)
You know, defense, we were just getting so much pressure.
(crowd cheering)
- [David Robinson] Guarding him being scared,
is he gonna get past me and then looking up
and quarterback sack so,
it was, you know, pretty much like that a lot of the game.
- We were all too happy to beat him you know, and St. V.
- [Pat Hutson] I think St. V-St. Mary has a bullseye,
especially after the last 15 years, maybe 20,
we're probably one of the top 10 known high schools
in the United States of America.
Not just Ohio, not north Ohio
but in the country.
(grand hip hop music)
- [Pat Hutson] There's a lot of people like to gun for St. Vincent-St.Mary.
And they probably don't care if it's tiddly-winks.
If they can beat St.Vincent-St.Mary,
that's a great win for them.
(funky hip hop music)
- Coming out and scoring my sophomore year
was a big high point.
Being able to score quickly to a very good receiver,
very good NBA player.
And ultimately get rid of the butterflies
you know, very early on, fired up.
Obviously there was a quick rebuttal to that.
So it was a very close game.
(funky hip hop music)
I don't rememberwon that game, but.
- We took the victory.
(funky hip hop)
- My junior year, when we lost to Hoban,
the seniors that year, I remember I was good friends with
a lot of them. I remember turning to one of my friends
and saying this is terrible for those seniors.
They've never experienced a Hoban victory.
- And again, those were LeBron James' teams.
(crowd cheering)
LeBron had a winning record against everybody
in basketball and football, but were two and 0 against him.
(funky hip hop music)
- You know, back then, being a Hoban guy,
we didn't really care about him too much, you know.
Of course we didn't know what he would become.
Looking back, it was cool to play against him,
it really was.
- And my senior year, we had him on the ropes.
They had a great running back, Tyrell Sutton.
He kind of got out on us a little bit.
(inspiring music)
- And then ultimately lost as well.
- Turn around and a year later, I'm in the same boat.
Never having experienced a Hoban victory.
- I thought like we put, even those early years
and those early years when they had the Sutton boys
that were just great players.
Control Tony, control Tyrell.
And all of a sudden, boom, 70 yard touchdown.
(quick percussive music)
(crowd cheering)
(quick percussive music)
- In my time playing at St. V,
we were defeated (laughing).
- We never lost to St. V in football.
- Hopefully, you know there's another version of this
and you can talk about the four victories you had
and not the unfortunate experience that I had.
- It's kind of frustrating kind of when you look back
because you just on, it just kind of leave
a bad taste in your mouth.
(birds chirping)
(light piano music)
- Even if you don't fully understand why you don't like them,
you know you don't like them.
You know, it's just one of those things where
you have to not like them.
- You're going to the hated rival of me.
(emotional music)
- I had several uncles that graduated from Hoban,
played football there too, cousins.
My sister went there as well.
- They still have an award at St. V's under James Horrigan.
That's my uncle.
All my cousins, all the Horrigans went to St. V's.
- My grandfather, my parents went there as well,
brothers, sisters.
Plenty of McDonalds have gone through the St. V tradition.
- My dad, my brother, my sisters and my aunt all went there.
- Now I think you have new legacies.
You have kids coming from the public schools
and that you're seeing a whole different era
between the two schools.
- I grew up, and this is where I'm different.
I went to an Akron public school.
- I went to a public elementary and middle school
and so it wasn't that exact track for
my family specifically.
- And I think once they get to those schools,
they see the spirit and they see,
they just see the camaraderie.
And I think they see the disciplines of both schools.
- I learned more about life in so many different ways
at St. V than I did in college or anywhere else.
- And I think the spirituality has a lot
to do with it, they see.
- It was a very monumental time in our life
and really changed who we were on the inside.
I know that's where I found my faith.
- It stays with them, it's part of them.
And then when they leave, they have that same tradition.
- That's really where I think I kind of made
a decision of how my life would turn out.
- It was great for me.
Because I don't come from tradition.
It kind of made me wake up, like hey,
I wanna start a tradition.
I want my kids to have something
where they can look at in the future and be like
you know my dad did this, I wanna do that.
- They see the tradition and they feel it.
And they're part of it.
I can't speak for the public schools,
but I don't know how many schools you get that at.
- I wanted to be one of those guys.
I decided to go to St.Vincent-St.Mary
because of the championships, because of coach John Cistone.
- [Director] Can you talk to us about how it feels to be embraced
by the St.Vincent-St.Mary community
as well as the Hoban community who had just as good things
to say about you as the St. V side.
(emotional music)
- Well it's kind of humbling.
(exhaling)
(emotional music)
- That's the part I don't like.
(sniffling)
(somber music)
- It's a great honor.
(emotional music)
- But I don't know how ya earn it.
(emotional music)
- Well, it means a lot.
(emotional music)
- Like I said I don't know how you earn
all that, that honor,
but I'm grateful for it.
(emotional music)
(electronic music)
- [Dan Boarman Sr.] One of the first things that I did
when I came back in 2007 is I sat down
and talked to every kid that was on the team.
And one of the questions that I asked was
what are your goals for next year? And interesting...
99% of the kids had said...
Beat Hoban.
- [Dan Boarman Jr.] When we coached at Copley,
it was the Copley-Revere game, we thought that was huge.
- No discredit to them, but it's not.
It's not in the same scale as St.Vincent-St.Mary-Hoban.
- Blew it out of the water.
- You know at Copley, our rival at the time
when I was in high school was Revere high school.
(percussive music)
- And I kept telling Caoch Boarman, it's gotta be
kind of the same thing.
And he goes, no it's different, it's different.
And I was like well, it's the same experience, you know.
He goes, it's just different.
Trust me, it's just different.
(rock music)
- [Coach Wattley] The game was on Saturday at the Rubber Bowl.
And we show up to the game, I'll never forget it.
The tailgating line had already started.
People had already started trying to get into the stadium.
He said, I told you.
- [Anthony Baorman] And I was absolutely wowed by the crowd that was there.
- [Dan Boarman Jr.] It was a huge crowd.
- [Anthony Boarman] There were probably 15, 18, 20,000 people.
- [Dan Boarman Sr.] Blimp flying.
- [Dan Boarman Jr.] LeBron was on the sideline.
- [Dan Boarman Sr.] LeBron was on the side.
It was just, you know I've been very lucky in my career
coaching in big games.
But this one was pretty big.
And I remember our first half.
We didn't play very well.
(hip hop music and crowd cheering)
- That game especially was a disaster
when we are as a staff together in '07.
(crowd cheering)
- Our kids were so tight.
- We were down at halftime, 22-7.
Happened to be in the press box at the time
walking past Hoban people
just letting me have it.
Telling us this is your, this is gonna happen again,
this is over and all the other times
and you just felt the anxiety from the team
saying like here we go again.
- I said guys, relax, it's just another game.
Play like you're capable of playing.
And we came out and played very well that second half.
(hop hop music)
- They made some big plays.
(crowd cheering)
- We're driving at the end of the game.
The previous games, if we were down like that,
we found a way to win.
And St. Vincent was able to find a way
to stop us that time.
(crowd cheering)
- [Coach Wattley] We deflect the pass on the last play of the game, we win.
(light guitar music)
- And I'm walking out of the press box
and I see people crying on the Hoban side.
Same people that were like ripping me
and jawing me as I'm coming out of the stands
are in tears saying I can't believe this is happening.
(crowd cheering)
- I told coach Boarman that and he goes,
I told you this is just a whole different thing.
And after that game I just understood the magnitude of how
not being part of the community prior to that,
how people in the community, how serious they take it.
(uplifting music)
- After Hoban had knocked off about 9 wins in a row,
that was our first win back.
- And that was the beginning of our string against Hoban.
- We wanted to start something there and we did.
(inspiring music)
- Growing up, I was one in a long line of people
from my family to go to St.Vincent-St.Mary.
To be able to have my first game as a varsity player
be against Hoban, it was something else.
(intense music)
- The last year at the Rubber Bowl, 12 nothing lead
and we turn the ball over three times in the fourth quarter.
(intense music)
- [Anthony Boarman] And Doran Grant had a fumble return for a touch down
and an interception for a touchdown
that ended up helping us win the game.
(intense music)
- We ended up losing 20 to 12.
And we dominated that game for three and a half quarters.
But it's a four quarter game.
(intense music)
- I didn't want to just have a one or two off.
I wanted to just beat them every single year.
(cheering)
(light rock music)
- Then we get into some of the games that we're losing
and in those games were heartbreaking losses for us.
(light rock music)
- [Freeland Oliverio] It was my senior year, and you know,
we've already beaten Hoban three times in a row now.
But I remember the week leading up to that
I was telling them, I said guys,
I want to shut them out.
(light rock music)
- I want to show them who's the superior team.
(intense music)
- And I want it to be boring for everyone except for us.
(crowd cheering)
- It ended up being that way.
(intense music subsides)
- It wasn't just expected that you would go out
and play football, but you'd go out there
and you'd kick ass.
And to do that for St.Vincent St.Mary
where there's such a rich football tradition,
such a rich history there,
really was kind of like playing in the big leagues
to an extent, you know.
(birds chirping)
- [Carley Whitney] Everybody is invested in high school football
for this week.
- It doesn't matter if you are a senior or freshman,
sophomore, junior.
- Whether or not you're a football player,
whether or not you're in the band or a cheerleader.
- This one week a year brings everybody together.
- It's the only week of the year
that's got its own name of it.
So it's kind of cool.
- During what we call Hoban week,
or now we call it beat Hoban week.
Not to give a week in honor to Hoban
but to give a week in honor to beating them.
(light guitar music)
- [Jamie Adaway] Do we know anything about their preparation this week?
What traditions, what they're wearing?
- Monday is America Monday.
So everyone is in patriotic wear.
- Yesterday was USA day.
- [Jamie Adaway] Yesterday was USA day.
- Tuesday is Travolta Tuesday.
Like dress like Grease and John Travolta.
They just pick random things.
But it's, it's super fun.
- Wednesday is Wildebeest Wedneseday.
I can't remember Thursday.
- [Jamie Adaway] Wildebeest Wednesday?
- Yeah.
- Does anybody know why St. V's calls it Wildebeest Wednesday?
(comedic music)
- I think it was the first year in 2007.
We beat them.
- The students section, the students jumped over the barrier
and stormed the field.
- A Hoban student wrote an article in the student newspaper
about calling us wildebeests.
Thereafter, every year, we had Wildebeest Wednesday
during Hoban week.
- They again just took it and owned it.
They said this is great.
- Kids are dressed up in gorilla suits
and they dressed up like wild animals
and just, any insult that people try and put towards us
we just own it and we won't let anything bother us.
- What, that doesn't make any sense.
Why would they try to make fun of us
when we were trying to make fun of,
that doesn't make sense.
- [Jamie Adaway] 'Cause it's a rivalry, that's the fun of it all!
(birds chirping)
- [Coach Tyrrell] It isn't any other normal week.
We as coaches don't even try to pretend like it is.
- With every day, the energy has gone up with the kids.
- Today you can just feel, it just got turned up a notch.
You know, it went from eight to nine
and until this thing happens on Friday
which I can't even quite explain or believe
'cause I don't know how 855 students are silent for a day.
- We have a student council meeting.
This is the most important meeting I think probably
of the year because we have Mum Day.
- We have each area separated
and we designate you guys as the captains of that area.
- Okay, so then seniors on spirit and then activities.
- You don't know this.
- Yes I do.
- You're staying after school with me
so we're not gonna go home.
We're just gonna stay here.
We'll get some food and we'll start setting up for lock in.
And then all seniors, you're bringing in drinks.
Pop, water.
- Mum Day will be the most important day
of your four year life at Hoban when you are a senior.
So seniors have been waiting for this day
for four years.
So you need to be quiet.
Just respect their tradition.
Respect their quiet.
- All right, thank you very much.
(chattering)
(percussive music)
- Year one was rough.
- [Anthony Boarman] It was like 45 to seven.
But I think it was 10-7 at half.
- Hoban played us really well and we were way better
than they were that year.
- [Coach Tyrrell] Our kids played their butt off.
But they were I think ranked number one in the state.
(intense drumming)
They had everybody coming back from a state championship,
so they were trying to go back to back.
(intense drumming)
- [Pat Hutson] I will just leave it at this.
At the end of the day
- Six rings.
If we wanna count the AP UPI, I like to.
So that's another one, that's seven.
Won the state title in '72, AP UPI '74.
- '81 we won the state.
'82 we won it.
- '88.
- And then 2012 and 2013.
(marching band drum music)
(crowd cheering)
- [Coach Tyrell] Second year was a great game.
- It was more of a tossup.
There was no disputed favorite or underdog.
- We haven't beat them in I think seven years
heading into that game.
And we were winning 21-10 at half.
(dramatic music)
- They're inching back.
(crowd cheering)
- We play 48 minutes then we go into overtime
and we play three overtimes.
- They had this heavy package and they just
from the one yard line and they just went boom.
(celebratory music)
- [Dane Kersh] We fell to our knees.
- I remember like it was yesterday.
(celebratory music)
- [Jacob McNeil] And their sidelines rushes the field
and I said man, like, it's over.
- Triple overtime, and it was probably
the most depressing day of my life.
- No, I will 100% say that was the most depressing
day of my life as of right now. - Yeah.
(somber music)
- [Chris Hamad II] If you go to that game, whether you want to or not
you have to pick a side.
We've had lifelong customers here that
when I first started to work here I didn't even know
they were St. V or Hoban people.
But once that week rolls around,
all of a sudden everybody comes out of the woodwork
with their stories.
Me, obviously being from Hoban,
I have to bite my tongue sometimes.
That week I just kind of smile and just nod. - Yes. (laughing)
And just have a good day.
It's definitely exciting to be here
and to see everybody with their families.
It's just kind of like a revolving door of both schools.
- [Sandy Hamad] But to see all these people come together
in this great little city of Akron, Ohio,
it's just a great thing to be a part of
and we are very blessed to have these two schools
in our community and to have this rivalry.
Akron is very blessed with Hoban and St. V.
They're all good people.
(light music)
- [Cheerleaders] We're decorating the boy's locker room!
- My family all went here.
My mom went here, my dad went here.
My dad has nine siblings and they all went here as well.
- [Director] This isn't what it usually looks like?
- No.
- It usually smells too.
- It still smells.
- We made goodie bags for all the football players.
And they just have like a bunch of goodies in them
and like candy and stuff.
To cheer them on for the game.
- Now some of my cousins though,
the uncles and the aunts are going to Hoban.
So it's a big, some family drama. (laughing)
(lighthearted airy music)
- This year's theme is like arcade theme.
And so like this floor is the Mario Kart hallway.
(shouting)
- [Student] It's hiding something.
- [Another Student] My hair.
- Our school being Archbishop Hoban Knights,
we really wanna have like,
the feel in the gym like the knights of the castle.
- That's fine, we got it.
(rattling)
- [Students] Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!
- Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Stop! (drums banging)
- Let the seniors do it!
- Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! (drums banging)
Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Stop! (drums banging)
- Now everybody do it!
- Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! (drums banging)
- Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Stop! (drums banging)
(yelling)
(light music)
(chattering)
- [Tym Tagliaferro] Ladies and gentlemen please stop what you're doing.
I ask that you now please go out to your cars,
bring in all of your stuff for sleeping.
(cheering)
(marching band music)
(cricket chirping)
(fan blowing)
(locker shutting, footsteps)
(drums banging and crowd cheering)
- [Tyler Gilchrist] Our senior year, I mean the only thing
that was our minds was we need to beat St. V
and we had it circled on our calendar.
- It was probably the most nervous day of my life.
- Yah, I remember I woke up in the morning,
I was so nervous I threw up.
- They scored on the first play.
The first play of the game.
They went 70 yards on a little slant route.
(crowd cheering)
- [Jacob McNeil] It was a busted coverage, they go up seven nothing.
And our sideline's kind of weak, like whoah,
what just happened?
- And then after that we just controlled the game.
(tense music)
(whistle blowing)
(crowd cheering)
- [Game Announcer] Touchdown, number 23!
(drumming)
- We came back and ended up scog 24 unanswered points.
(drumming and crowd cheers)
- [Cameraman] Oh!
(drumming and crowd cheers)
- 24 seven was the final.
(drum beat)
- The first person I found was Dane.
(light music)
- There's a picture of us jumping up on his head
and he's holding me up.
- A lot of people and the student section
were just like, we didn't know what to do.
(cheering)
- 'Cause we hadn't beaten St. V in eight years.
I still get goosebumps sometimes thinking about it.
(upbeat music)
- [Tyler Gilchrist] We found out about week 10 that
if everything went according to plan
that we would see them again
in the regional championship game.
(tense music)
- Just the magnitude of being in the regional finals
is tough enough on a high school team.
And then you're playing your rival again.
(crowd cheering and drums banging)
- It really just came down to, in that game
is who had the ball last.
(cheering)
- And we had the opportunity to run the clock out.
We had enough firepower at the end
just not to give the ball back.
(light music)
- All the seniors from St. V came up
and congratulated us on winning.
And I respected all of them for coming to do that.
It took a lot of guts and a lot of heart.
- [Coach Tyrrell] They stayed out there for our trophy presentation.
So it was an awesome thing to watch.
At the end it almost brought you to tears
how well they respected each other.
- They said good luck, and go win a state championship.
(light music)
- [Andre Knott] As a high school kid, I realized
I wanted to cover sports.
And I want to cover sports in northeast Ohio.
(grunting)
- [Announcer] Wow, that's a pretty good chest bump right there.
- Yes it was.
And maybe the hardest assignment I've had in my job
was when Hoban was in the state championship game
and the assignment was given to me.
And I gotta tell you it was nerve wracking
because I'm still a 16 year old in my heart.
(crowd cheering)
- [Game Announcer] Touchdown!
- I was proud of them but I didn't want them to win.
While I'm on the sideline, I had coaches
that will remain nameless from St.Vincent St.Mary
saying stop this game however you can.
Run on the field, do not let them be state champions.
And they went on and won the state championship.
The football players were great, the kids were great.
It's a moment that I will never forget.
- Congratulations.
(cheering)
- Coach, what does it mean to have the first
state championship for the Hoban Knights?
- You know what, right now I'm just speechless.
Just means so much.
It means so much to this community,
means so much to the school.
- Danny, what does it feel like to be a state champion?
- It means the world to us.
This has been our dream since we were six years old.
(whimsical music)
- The relationships afterwards are probably
much more important.
- Now that I am a police officer, it's kind of funny
how many Hoban grads and St. V grads actually work
for the police department in Akron.
You still have a little rivalry back and forth
between those people.
But it also brings a lot of camaraderie too.
- Being able to coach with your dad and your brother
is something that a lot of people wish for.
And it's been one of the greatest coaching experiences,
it'll be something that I'll always cherish.
- Parental abuse.
(laughing)
- You'd think it'd be him yelling at us.
- Oh, not even close.
- And he'd be getting on us about something.
We'd say, we don't need this, we're going to Hoban.
(laughing)
- Realistically though, as a coach
you give up a lot of family time.
There's a lot of things that I didn't do with my sons
because I'm coaching somebody else's sons.
Having coached, my last year was 42 years,
it was really a privilege to be able to work with them
those last seven years together.
- You love the school, you love the people.
Most of all, you love the kids.
You see these guys, makes you feel really damn old.
But when their kids come back, and these guys are parents,
and that's what makes this whole thing kind of unique.
- The one thing that gives me the most satisfaction of all
is to have former players come up with their own kids
and introduce me and say that was my coach.
And uh... that's special.
(airy music)
(drums banging)
(footsteps)
(coughing)
(silence)
(bell ringing)
(footsteps)
(drums banging)
(parade music)
(cheering)
* Hey
(footsteps)
(hooting)
(stick hitting table)
- I'm back!
(cheering)
- [Willie McGee] Let's go, lights out, knights out, let's go, yeah!
(cheering)
- [Willie McGee] I can't hear you!
- [Student] No, no, let me go!
No!
No, let me go!
Let me go, no!
- [Willie McGee] Our seniors this year, 2016,
we have the new champions!
(cheering)
- [Willie McGee] Next up we got Brandon Touchdown Bishof
(drum banging and people cheering)
- [Student] Let me out of here!
No!
- [The Knight] You think you can yell?
You think we can't yell?
We're the Hoban Knights.
We'll show you how to make some noise!
- H on three
- One, two, three,
Give me an H!
- H!
- Gimme an O! - O!
- Gimme a B! - B!
- Gimme an A! - A!
- Gimme an N! - N!
- What's that spell?
- Hoban!
- Louder!
- Hoban!
- Louder!
- Hoban!
(everyone shouting)
(cheering and chanting)
* Okay okay okay okay
* I want ya'll do it, do this dance now
* Ju ju on that beat, aye! * Ju ju on that beat, aye!
* Now slide, drop
* Hit dem folks, don't stop, aye * Don't stop, aye
* Don't stop
(cheering)
(Irish dancing)
(cheering and clapping)
- [Mike Del Medico] The difference this year.
(cheering)
- I know we're faster.
I know we're smarter.
(cheering and clapping)
- And last but certainly not least,
this is maybe the best fan base in the damn country.
(cheering)
- [Student] You've been quiet all day. Get loud!
- Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!
Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Stop!
(chanting in unison)
- Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!
Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Stop!
(chanting in unison)
- Now everybody do it! (drums)
- Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!
Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Stop!
(yelling)
(birds chirping)
- [Football Player] Hoban has always been in my life.
Since the day I was born, it was basically destined
that I was going here.
I've always dreamed of playing Hoban football,
to just put the gold helmet on and put the jersey on
and play in these big games.
It's bigger than football.
This game is a lot bigger than us.
- [Coach] Let us pray.
Dear Lord, be with us tonight.
Keep us focused and alert.
Help us to remember our assignments and plays.
Help us to use the gifts and talents
that you have given us.
Keep us free from injury.
Help us to make good decisions.
- Our Father.
who art in heaven, allowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done
on Earth as it is in heaven.
(rock music)
- This is like the epicenter.
- [Jay Brophy] We got everybody dressed up.
Everybody in their different colors
and they're intermingling you know as they go along.
And it's just having a good time.
- I'm going St.V 28-20.
- I got 14 seven St. V.
- Hoban's gonna win by three touchdowns.
- Go Irish!
(rock music)
- This is the neighborhood rivalry.
This is truly a neighborhood get together
where everybody knows each other.
- We are cousins.
We can tailgate together.
- We can tailgate but once we go through the gates
we go our separate ways.
rock music)
(drumming)
- Hoban!
- Irish!
(rock music)
(drum beat)
- [Radio Announcer] From Infocision Stadium and Summa Field
on the campus of the University of Akron,
it's the renewal of the Holy War, St.Vincent-St.Mary
takes on Archbishop Hogan High School.
(drum beat)
(light locker room noise)
- [Coach Tyrrell] Let's go, bring it in.
Bring it in tight, let's go, bring it in tight!
One quick message for you, one quick message.
This game is big enough that you don't need
a pregame speech to get excited for it.
- I believe in you guys.
These coaches believe in you guys.
Stand up, everybody.
- The game of football is played with respect.
You're gonna know that the rest of your life.
- Right now, we start making our own luck.
- No matter what you do, you could be coaching
your little boys, always teach them
the game of football is played with respect.
- [Coach Wattley] For the next 48 minutes, the only guys that matter
are the guys in the black jerseys!
This is your damn family!
- Now, now!
Every single play!
(screaming)
- One, two, three, BTA!
- Remind them what a family hits like.
Let's go whoop some ass. Let's go!
(shouting)
(inspiring music)
- [Game Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the field
the Knights of Archbishop Hoban High School.
- [Hoban Players] Knight time, knight time, hoo, hoo!
(shouting)
- Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! - St. V! St. V! St. V!
- [Coach Wattley] Who can make a play?
- [Players] I can!
- [Coach Wattley] 48 minutes, let's go!
- [Game Announcer] Now Irish fans, please welcome to the field
your Fighting Irish!
(cheering)
- [Radio Announcer] Good evening everybody, glad you could join us.
Obviously the focal point of high school football
whenever these two teams play.
- What's that spell? - Hoban!
- [Radio Announcer 2] It's becomes such a rivalry and gosh,
they've got a wonderful crowd already.
I mean it's just the, man, it's a college atmosphere
so certainly there's a lot of emotion attached
to this football game.
- [Radio Announcer] Hoban won the toss, deferred to the second half
so Grant Kersh will kick it away.
(drumming)
Justin Sampson gets the ball on the big hop,
tries to take it wide left
but he is covered up.
- Hey, itt's all about speed, gentleman, it's all about speed.
- [Radio Announcer] Donte Taylor at quarterback for the Irish
will give to Williams, and,
on the play fake.
Taylor takes it around the right end and
he picks up good yardage.
- Hey Ryan, boom, blast, boom, black!
- [Radio Announcer] Taylor in the shotgun will throw it.
He's got a man on the slant.
And with some nice wide time.
- Will, Will!
- Let's go let's get loud, let's go!
- Defense! Defense!
- Defense, defense!
- [Radio Announcer] Taylor on the play fake.
Pocket collapses.
He's on the run and he's gonna be caught from behind.
And sacked by Reid Allen. (cheering)
- That's a freaking first down if we block it right.
- Let's go, get it up!
- [Radio Announcer] Sibley stands to the left of Clark in the shotgun.
Clark's gonna throw.
Looking, firing. - [Coach Wattley] Pick it, pick it!
And it is incomplete.
(cheering)
- [Radio Announcer] Come to the end of the first quarter we are scoreless.
St.Vincent-St.Mary and Hoban.
(cheering)
(drum, drum, clap)
(cheering)
(drum, drum, clap)
- [Coach Wattley] Guys, one play at a time.
(drum, drum, clap)
- You need to line up the safety to number 12 and 15
if they're in spread.
(drum, drum, clap)
(tense music)
- [Coach Tyrrell] That's it, Donnie Swain!
That's it, baby!
(cheering)
- [Game Announcer] An Archbishop Hoban Knight touchdown!
- [Coach Tyrrell] Great job, let's go.
Great guys, go defense, let's go.
- Let's go Irish!
- [Radio Announcer] He takes the snap that time out of shotgun formation.
(bells ringing)
- [Coach Wattley] Caleb's blocking nobody.
- [Radio Announcer] They're not yielding any positive yardage on the run.
They give it to Williams and he's covered up immediately.
- 26 Dave. Left 26 Dave.
(crowd noises)
- [Radio Announcer] Todd Sibley's got some running room.
And he takes it down to the Irish one yard line,
first and goal.
- Go Hoban!
- [Radio Announcer] Empty backfield.
Clark gonna run with it.
He takes it into the endzone.
Touchdown Hoban! - [Hoban Fan] Hoban number 1!
- [Radio Announcer 2] With 7:08 to go here, St. V's gotta get something going.
- [Radio Announcer] Taylor, play action, now rolls right.
In trouble.
Fires and it is picked off!
Intercepted.
It was John Bazelli, the outside linebacker.
- Spread, spread, spread, spread.
Gun split trips H, go, Tebow show.
Go Tebow show.
- [Mark Murphy] Go with the motion!
- [Coach Wattley] Four press!
(drum beat)
- [Coach Tyrrell] Who's on? Who's on?
- [Radio Announcer] Second and goal, Clark fires across the middle
and he's got Houser for the touchdown!
- [Coach Wattley] How'd he get beat inside?
- Good job, good job.
Great ball, great ball.
- [Radio Announcer] The first half is over.
21 to nothing.
Hoban leads St.Vincent St.Mary.
(parade music)
- [Dom Davis] You know all the seniors that graduated last year,
we regretted too much about this game.
Don't make the same mistakes my class did in this game.
'Cause there's nothing worse than being in college
with a new team and thinking back, oh damn.
(hip hop music)
- Hey eyes, eyes here.
A true champion never ever stops playing ever.
There's not a play that a true champion ever takes off
when you're playing your rival.
- Go, big, green!
(dance music)
- St. V M. Irish!
(cheering)
- Three plays.
That's the difference right now, three plays.
It's gotta take some passion
and some competitive fire to get back in the game.
- We are the heavyweight boxer.
They are on the ropes.
- We gotta turn it up now!
- Knock them in the mouth, let 'em know
who the true team in Summit County is!
- [Player] No mercy!
- One two three, Irish!
- Four five six, family!
- Here we go Irish, here we go! (drum beat)
Here we go Irish, here we go!
- It's 21 nothing now but I would not even be surprised
if St. V would get right back in this game.
- [Coach Wattley] No missed opportunities this time.
Blast black.
- [Coach Tyrrell] Right wide, 27 rocket.
(drums banging)
- [Radio Announcer] Low snap.
Clark fires and it is intercepted on the far sideline
by St.Vincent St.Mary.
(cheering)
- [Coach Wattley] Let's go!
Let's go, let's go!
(drumming)
- Hey, we want a touchdown.
Hey, we want a touchdown.
- [Radio Announcer] And from the 13.
In the shotgun formation.
(light music and cheering)
- [Radio Announcer] Taylor to throw.
And it is intercepted!
(cheering)
(somber music)
- [Chris Albanese] The Akron Holy War is the rest of the year.
When the whistle blows, you know the rest of the year
you have bragging rights.
- [Radio Announcer] Clark's gonna keep it on first down.
Has room across the 40.
To the 45 and dropped.
(somber music)
- Knowing you're gonna have to run into these people
for the next 364 days as a victor or a loser.
And it's one of those things where
it's just a chip on you shoulder
you just hold and you just try to push it
and go through it.
- [Radio Announcer] Good snap, ball down.
The Kersh kick is in the air.
And Kersh is good.
- [Provie Tomei] You know there's gonna be years when
one school's gonna be up more than the other.
You got us this year.
But we're coming back and get ya next year.
- There's always next year.
And that's what's great about it.
(cheering)
- [Radio Announcer] And that'll do it as another incomplete pass.
- [Randy Thomas] Whether you grew up with the rivalry
or it's brand new to you, it's something
that you'll take forward no matter what.
- [Coach Wattley] Congratulatio coach. Good luck to you the rest of the season.
- [Coach Tyrell] Good luck. Thank you.
- [Dan Boarman Sr.] It brings out the best in people.
It shows you can be buddies but yet rivals.
(shouting)
(drumming and cheering) - [Students] Thank you seniors! Thank you seniors!
- [Ralph Orsini] It's intense, it's exciting
and it's football at its finest.
(cheering)
(dramatic music)
- The Akron Holy War comes down to
two very, very important things.
And it's passion and it's family.
(cheering)
* With the green and gold * Green and gold!
* Up on these rocks, we stand as one.
- The Akron Holy War is...
it's 48 minutes that last a lifetime.
(epic music)
(epic music fades out)
(silence)
(drumming band music)
(cheering and drumming)
(percussion music)