By Steve Spiewak
MaxPreps.com
The Friday night showdown between St. Xavier and Colerain is the biggest game in Ohio this season. With the Division 4 Region IV championship on the line between two nationally ranked opponents, it's probably the biggest game in the country this weekend.
With a game so important on the national radar, it could be easy to overlook the fact that this game embodies all that is great about high school football in Ohio.
St. Xavier vs. Colerain is two undefeated powerhouses, two battle-tested, resilient pillars of success in their respective conferences.
St. Xavier vs. Colerain is also coaching - homegrown, dedicated coaching. Bomber head coach Steve Specht is a St. Xavier alum and former football captain. He was an assistant coach for many years before being named head coach in 2002, just like Colerain's head coach Tom Bolden. Bolden was a standout Colerain football player before later joining the staff. He was named head coach in January.
St. Xavier vs. Colerain is loyalty. It's also versatility, and willingness to adapt. It's Danny Milligan kicking, returning kicks, and catching passes for the Bombers. It's Quentin Sims, previously used as a slot back and receiver, filling in at quarterback for the injured Colerain signal caller Doug Reynolds. It's Doug Reynolds, standing on the sidelines in street clothes through a chilly, windy practice, supporting his team in a new way.
It's fan support. It's 20,000 people at Nippert Stadium on Friday night. The game will be a bigger draw than the University of Cincinnati basketball game going on simultaneously. The Bombers will have their huge student section - "X" - composed of strictly "Y" chromosomes. Colerain will be well represented by Cardinal faithful, red and co-ed.
St. Xavier vs. Colerain is a budding rivalry, between two teams that never meet during the regular season, but have managed to connect in the playoffs in both 2005 and 2006. It's an unusual rubber match; you can bet both sides have been keeping score.
"The rivalry itself has become its own season, almost," said Nick Brunker, host of the High School Football Tailgate Show on ESPN 1360.
Almost?
On the field, undeniably, it's defense. St. Xavier has allowed just over 9 points per game. Colerain has allowed just over 8 points per game. In an age where spread offenses and high point totals are fashionable, both teams bask in their defensive duties.
This game is oak trees, not palm trees; leaves falling, not tumbleweed blowing. Autumn in Ohio means those defensive hits sting a little longer, the pride of a successful stop or great tackle fades a little less quickly.
It's crisp execution in bad weather. Not the other way around.
St.Xavier vs. Colerain is big, real big, like high school football in all corners of Ohio.
"Football in Ohio is huge," St. Xavier senior linebacker Evan Miller said.
Huge, yes. Everything, no.
Football is not everything. Specht, Bolden, and all the assistant coaches spend long hours on modest salaries to teach the Bombers and Cardinals lessons on and off the field. They would probably not hesitate to say that they are in the business of producing fine, upstanding young men. Sometimes, in some places, the business of winning football games trumps this more noble pursuit.
Not in Ohio. Not at St. Xavier. Not at Colerain.
This is evident in their everyday genuine warmth towards the players, other coaches, and even the media, despite the harsh November cold. It's clear to anyone who even briefly drops by a St. Xavier or Colerain practice that these players are not means to an end for the coaches. They are the end.
The season's end, however, will come Friday night for either St. Xavier or Colerain. One team will continue on, one team will go home. Both teams will eventually move on from this clash of football giants. Both schools will look towards winter sports, with one eye on that certain day in August, when the magic begins all over again.
St. Xavier vs. Colerain is Ohio high school football. And it's spectacular.