BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Monday's football practice has just ended at Colerain High School. It's almost dark when the players gather around coach Kerry Coombs. "Look at that," Coombs says. "The sun is setting. It's November, and we're still playing. Feels good, doesn't it?"
"Yes sir," the players shout in unison.
It will feel even better today when the Cardinals take the field against St. Xavier at Welcome Stadium in Dayton. A packed house of 11,000 will be there.
"This is what you play for," Coombs said.
Coombs has known this feeling before. Three years ago, the Cardinals were 13-0, a game from winning it all, when it fell apart.
A check of transcripts revealed that Ivan Pace, a defensive end, was playing his fifth season of high school ball. You're allowed only four.
Pace was ruled ineligible, 13-0 became 0-13, and the Cardinals never got the chance to play Cleveland St. Ignatius for the Division I state title.
This year's team is the first at Colerain to return to the playoffs, so the comparisons are natural.
"I don't want what happened in '95 to detract from this year," Coombs said. "That's not fair to these kids. The only thing I'll say is . . . "
Coombs pauses.
"I'll wait until it's over before I say anything."
Obviously, the pain of '95 is not completely gone, and it never will be. But the sweet season of 1998 has eased it, at least that's what the players hope.
"We know the guys from that team," safety Jason Miller said. "They're all pulling for us. What we're doing means a lot to them."
Linda Schulte, the principal then and now at Colerain, keeps a picture of the 1995 team on her office wall.
"We hate to talk about '95," she said. "We're having such a wonderful time now. We're so proud of these kids."
And this is a different group of kids. The seniors were freshman in '95. So there's no holdovers from that team among the players. And the Class of '98, unlike the Class of '95, was not supposed to play into November.
In '95, Colerain had a bunch of starters back from a team that had gone 12-1 in '94, including stars such as Jefferson Kelley, Ronnie Alexander and David Murphy.
This team had a handful of starters back from a 7-3 team, and none in the class of Kelley, Alexander and Murphy.
The Cardinals were picked fifth in the preseason Enquirer coaches poll and fourth in the Greater Miami Conference.
"This is just such a surprise," Coombs said.
The success of this year's team is a result of a senior class that had more perseverance than talent. Eleven seniors - six on defense and five on offense - are starting for the first time on varsity. Most of the seniors played on junior varsity as sophomores and juniors, waiting their turn.
"Those guys got to see what it took to win," Miller said. "They hung in there because they wanted the chance to play on Friday nights." All that youth had Coombs worried coming into this year. When Mike Ferris, the starting quarterback, tore ligaments in his ankle in a preseason scrimmage with Moeller, Coombs worried a little more.
Colerain runs the triple-option offense and a good quarterback is key.
Kyle Funk, a junior, took over at quarterback and the offense has averaged 35 points a game.
There have been some bumps along the way, particularly a four-week stretch in the middle of the season. The Cardinals had to come back to beat Fairfield 34-31. They beat Lima 14-7 the next week. Two weeks later, Lakota West took the Cards to double overtime before falling 34-28.
"All those close games are great for the fans," Coombs said. "But that's not how you want to do it."
That was true in the first round of playoffs as well. Colerain beat Centerville 28-27. If Miller hadn't tipped away a pass on a two-point conversion after Centerville's last touchdown, the season would have ended there.
"We're lucky he's 6-3, not 6-1," Coombs said.
If Colerain can beat St. X today, it will make the Cardinals 50-8 on the field in the past five years. They are officially 36-21 because of the forfeits.
Colerain has surpassed Princeton as the top public high school program in town.
"That says something about the community and the program," Coombs said. "That's very satisfying."
