BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Holy Cross coach John Wysong demonstrates dummy drill to players.
(Saed Hindash photo)
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COVINGTON -- Football dynasties are painted in broad strokes, backed by broad shoulders. They are sown from seeds often planted decades earlier, tilled through generations with care.
This fall, hope takes hold at Holy Cross High School. The seedlings are the 36 boys on the school's first team, quietly coming of age this summer at Rosedale Park, hard by the Licking River.
After 2 1/2 years of planning, preparing and scrambling, Friday will require one last three-hour wait: a bus ride to Russell County, for the Indians' first varsity game.
"That ride, I'm not looking forward to," Holy Cross coach John Wysong says. "That's when the butterflies will be horrendous." The score Friday won't matter. Its lasting significance will.
How do you start a football program at a small, landlocked parochial school? Very carefully.
Wysong, 52, is entering his 27th year coaching high school sports.
(Saed Hindash photo)
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Since only 18 of the 30 Northern Kentucky high schools fielded football last fall -- many fighting shrinking rosters -- starting from scratch isn't easy. Only one school in Greater Cincinnati the past five years has added the sport: Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, last season.
In early 1996, Holy Cross boosters generated enough interest in football to form an exploratory committee. The committee investigated costs and visited Lexington (Ky.) Catholic High School, a similar-sized school which added football in the early 1990s, for ideas.
"So far, people have been intrigued," Principal Bill Goller said in November 1996. "We'll see how it goes."
Interest increased. Goller invited an old friend, Wysong, to come to Holy Cross and help get football started. Wysong founded a wrestling program, in part to help with conditioning for future football players.
Then in February, the announcement came: It's a go.
Holy Cross, enrollment 370, would need to raise about $35,000 for equipment and fees, then meet an annual budget of about $26,000 after that. Goller introduced an all-star staff, 59 students signed up to play and donations poured in.
Former Bengals' lineman Bruce Kozerski is an assistant coach.
(Michael Snyder photo)
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Wysong, 52, is entering his 27th year coaching high school sports. He spent the past 15 years as an assistant football coach at Purcell Marian. His assistants include 12-year Bengal veteran Bruce Kozerski and three other former star college players.
But Wysong had nothing: no game field, practice field, equipment or weight rooms.
All he had was six months.
"I can hardly wait," he said.
The challenge was to make history in a hurry. Here's a diary of the chase:
April 20
Taking advantage of spring practices, which the Kentucky High School Athletic Association brought back after a 22-year absence, was tricky during a miserable March. Of the 10 practices allowed, only two could be held outdoors.
That's OK, because coaches mostly worked on stances, footwork, and defensive drills. One night, the team ordered pizzas and used a classroom for a skull session on X's and O's.
Wysong has ordered helmets and pads for 50 players, figuring the turnout won't exceed that. The bigger worry now is finding a place for weight training.
"There's a little closet with four machines in it, but that's not useable for a big team," Wysong says.
May 8
A weight room is born. Kozerski found a friend from Holy Cross College, his alma mater, who was getting rid of some weights, and an Indians booster lets him set them up in his garage. Twenty-five to 30 players show up three times a week to work out.
The fall schedule is almost set. Since Holy Cross can't get a game field in short order, all seven games this fall will be on the road.
With no home games, there won't be a Homecoming. At least, none at Holy Cross.
"We may be a lot of other teams' Homecoming," Wysong says. "We'll see a lot of floats this year."
June 16
The playbook is taking shape. Coaches meet every other Wednesday night to pool ideas. The Indians will run a "Wing-T" offense, with three backs in the backfield -- one split out -- to disguise whether they will run or pass. The defense is the "50," the standard in high school.
July 15< the date teams in Kentucky can begin summer practice, looms.
"That first day, we need to be able to hit the ground running," Wysong says.
July 10
The City of Covington has finally awarded Holy Cross a practice field. If you can call it that. It's a narrow strip on a lower level at Rosedale, strewn with weeds and mud.
"That hill, we can use for conditioning, running up and down," Wysong says. "Coaches love hills."
Beechwood got a new blocking sled this year, so it gave Holy Cross its old one.
July 15
Thirty-one players show up at Wysong's Holy Cross classroom, which doubles this summer as the locker room. The players are measured for helmets and assigned numbers based on their probable positions. Kozerski eyes an undersized freshman.
"What (position) are you?"
A shrug.
"Can you catch?"
"I guess."
"Then you're a receiver."
The players adjourn in separate cars for the mile drive to Rosedale. Wysong begins the opening practice by introducing his coaches. "Everything they have you do has a purpose," he says. Believe in them. Believe in yourselves."
Every detail matters. Several drills -- even ones as simple as jumping jacks -- are restarted if the timing's off.
Late in practice, players are dropping, exhausted. "Get up, you're killing the grass," Kozerski jokes.
Practice ends late, but the players' spirits remain high.
"I feel good about this," senior tailback Adam Hardman says. "Everybody gave it their best."
July 18
Practice ended late each night this week, about 9:45 p.m., so the kids didn't get home until after 10. After a late Friday night -- "Three days of pushing it pretty hard," Wysong says -- roll call for practice at 8 a.m. today nevertheless nets perfect attendance. "That was the highlight so far," Wysong says. "That showed me they're determined."
July 25
The first day of contact. The coaches had worried players might quit after getting their bells rung, but most take to hitting with vigor.
In football, you've got to love the contact. Fear will equal failure.
Kevin DeMaris, a bookish sophomore with a 4.0 GPA, surprises the coaches with his intensity.
"Most of us probably aren't in game shape yet," DeMaris says, "but I think I'd probably be ready to play today."
August 4
In the second week of "two-a-days," the grueling cycle of three-hour practices each morning and afternoon, there still seems little attrition. The roster, which had grown to 34 players, grows by two more today, to 36.
One, senior Don Poston, played two seasons at Scott. That makes him the only player with high school football experience. Wysong estimates 15 percent of the team has had some grade-school experience.
"Poston looks like he's going to be one nasty kid," Wysong says. "He's a great addition."
Other players start to stand out: 5-foot-9 running back Josh Wagner, 6-6 senior tight end Mike Wells, and surprising 5-6 offensive lineman Kenny Jackson. Six-foot-1, 280-pound junior lineman Joe Perkins seems the furthest along.
August 7
The defense looks good. The biggest concern is on the offensive line, getting players to "fire out" quickly after the snap. Today's practice, the offense clicks.
"We have days nothing works right," Kozerski says. "Then the next day, it looks like they've been doing it for 10 years.
"To get where you want to be, you've got to take every hard step. You can't expect to run full speed if you've never walked."
Holy Cross will not compete for a district championship this season, so it opted to enter the state's eight-man football playoffs. While that will provide end-of-season incentive, the early goal is to get going in time for Week 3: at Dayton.
That's one of just two games it plays against local teams this fall.
CHCA coach Cliff Hern, whose team went 2-8 in its inaugural season last fall, preaches patience.
"There were games last year where we were not competitive," he said. "As the season went on, we got more acclimated to it.
"You have to go through it once. There's nothing Holy Cross can do about it. You have to count victories in other ways, as opposed to the won-loss record."
Five days from their opener, Holy Cross' coaches worry little about losing. The effort has been outstanding, so pride already blooms.
"These guys will leave everything out on the field, every week," Kozerski says.
Someday, if and when a state championship trophy nestles in the school's trophy case, this team should be remembered. This time. This feeling.
"We're already having fun," junior quarterback Andy Krallman said. "And making history makes it even more special."
