Saturday Night’s game marks the 53rd meeting between the St. Edward Eagles and the St. Ignatius Wildcats. As you prepare for the 7 o’clock match-up take a look back a few previous regular season meetings between the Eagles and the Wildcats.

The 2016 match-up was a blow out in most holy war game standards as the Wildcats strong running game led by Jimmy Andrews and seemingly impenetrable linebacking corp was too much for the eagles as they lost that FirstEnergy Stadium match-up by a score of 34-7. The Eagles did have a memorable year however beating Pennsylvania powerhouse, Pine Richland on ESPN thanks to the 300 yard and 3 touchdown rushing performance by Curtis Szelesta.

The 2017 match-up was much more exciting as the St. Edward passing tandem of Garret Dzuro and Zach Kincaid scraped for 10 points at Lakewood First Federal Stadium. Devin Madox was the primary target of the passing duo but the offense was spotty in comparison to the St. Ignatius offensive attack. The St. Ignatius offensive line was still strong after losing in the State Championship the previous year and Jack Jamison and the St. Ignatius O-line were determined to keep Omar Fatah and other St. Edward pass rushers off quarterback Daniel Alexander. The St. Ignatius team was too much for the younger inexperienced St. Edward team as they fell 17-10.

The 2018 holy war was hosted by St. Ignatius at FirstEnergy Stadium. The game was played in extreme weather conditions as the eagles fell 21-7. The St. Edward Team though extremely talented did not have their way with the St. Ignatius defense due to efforts by Tommy Eichenberg. The now Ohio State linebacker shut down Jordan Castleberry and Joey Formani’s efforts to rush the ball as the eagles were able to connect for only seven points in the match-up. Coach Lombardo did not exactly utilize the entire playbook in the final regular season competition knowing that the Eagles and Wildcats would meet again. The eagles defense would redeem their regular season holy war performance the following week as electrifying pass rush from Seamus O’Malley and solid Secondary play by the Nash Twins and Caden Kolesar led the Eagles to becoming State Champions.

Though the Eagles are 0-3 in the last three match-ups during the regular season they carry momentum from big wins over Cincinnati Buchtel and Winton Woods while the Wildcats are 3-3 on the year one of those wins coming over Division two powerhouse Archbishop Hoban.

Saturday 7 pm at Lakewood First Federal.

By John O’Sullivan ’21