TRAVELING COACH 56 PRESENTS: SPORTS DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: THE AKRON HOLY WAR

High School football all across the country has its traditions. Whether it is traditional dynasties, tailgating, pep rallies, bon fires, or passionate student sections all of this is a part of the pageantry. However, rivalries are what make high school football so special. Rivalries are built on competing for everything. Teams compete on and off the field 365 days a year for one annual contest between two schools who are bound by proximity and familiarity. It’s imperative that there is a back and forth in the win loss column and competitive games to raise the intensity of such a feud. These games are the one chance every year for bragging rights.

Amazon Primes 2017 documentary The Akron Holy War captures the essence of what a rivalry is at any level of football. The documentary centers around 2 catholic schools separated by 4 miles in Akron, Ohio. St. Vincent/St. Mary’s Fighting Irish and Archbishop Hoban Knight’s intense rivalry started in 1959 and continues to this day. Anthony Fanelli, the film’s director, tells the story of a rivalry from its infancy and takes you through the decades of contests recounted by the players who lived through it, while intertwining the week leading up to the 2016 contest.

Past and present administrators, coaches, players, and people in town tell their narrative of what this annual game means to them. Coach John Cistone is the embodiment of this rivalry. John Cistone was a star football and baseball player at St. Vincent’s, and stayed home to play football at Akron University. After his graduation he cut his teeth at Hoban as an assistant coach. When the Fighting Irish had a opening for their head football coach they didn’t have to look very far and hired Coach Cistone. He went on to be the head coach and athletic director for 31 years at his alma mater. As an Akron lifer, he experienced all sides of this rivalry. From its inception, to its absence, and finally its rebirth Coach Cistone was always the constant. In his interview when asked what being revered and respected by both schools meant to him he barely get out the words. He said “humbling” as his eyes started to well up. Before they cut the scene so he could compose himself, he said with a crack in his voice “This is the hard part”. His emotions jump out of the screen as you. Coach Cistone dedicated his life to coaching young men the game of football, in a city he will forever call home.

One alumnus exclaimed this rivalry divides families, neighborhoods, and communities. It all starts at the CYO level for the kids of Akron. They play youth football together and then have to pick a side which really sparks the rivalry. If you’re a quarterback your best receiver may end up going to Hoban while you end up at St. Vincent’s. Family dynamics can change as well. Pat Hutson, a St. Vincent alumni, sent all his Children to his alma mater except for his youngest daughter who attended Hoban. She says “all of my uncles, cousins, and sibling have come to accept it; even my dad has come to accept it”. Then when thinking about it for a second exclaims “well kind of”. Students have to pick a side and the players on both sides explain how the outcome of the game when they are in 8^th grade goes a long way to making their decision of which school to attend.

At most high schools with football tradition there always seems to be some negative push back from a segment of the student body. In one of my earlier reviews, Go Tigers! , they show how not everybody is anamered with the football program. In this documentary, however, you see no evidence of this. The student bodies loves their school, their football teams and, most importantly, this rivalry. The fan bases pack the stands, paint their faces, and tailgate in the parking lot, its an event. This rivalry became so intense the game was called off in 1977. Depending on whom you ask you’ll get differing opinions on why the rivalry had a 20 year gap. Some say St. Vincent’s was starting to get too good, others said it’s because Hoban fell on hard times financially. The prevailing thought was that the vandalism got too much and the rivalry went from spirited to destructive. In 1996 the rivalry was reborn upon much deliberation among the administration.

Both student bodies absolutely live for spirit week. The cheerleaders prep for the game, decorate the senior football player’s rooms, and talk about how they have relatives from California and Georgia coming into town just for this game. Each day has a theme. America Monday, Travolta Tuesday, and wildebeest Wednesday all pale in comparison to Archbishop Hoban’s tradition of Mum Day on Friday. The entire senior class on Thursday night sleeps in the school gymnasium. They wake up Friday morning and nobody is allowed to speak during the entire school day until the pep rally. When I say no one is allowed to speak that includes administration, teachers and anybody else that’s in the building. Getting over 855 students to not utter a word is the most impressive feat I have seen in a high school. It is a testament to how much the student body and faculty care about this rivalry. One teacher explain to the underclassmen how “this is the most important day you will have here as a senior”. A female member of the student body lit up when talking about the feeling of mum day. She says in a reverent tone, “the feeling of the silence over the entire building for the entire day is amazing, and then at the end of day a drum starts to beat and you can feel it in your chest, it’s a powerful feeling”.

The film closed with highlights from the 2016 version of this storied rivalry. Hoban, who won their first state championship the year prior, controlled the game and came out on top 24-0 in front of packed crowd at Akron University. Both teams went on to the playoffs and had a rematch. This game was more closely contested however, Hoban prevailed again, 21-7, on their way to back to back state championships. This win by Hoban takes the all-time series to 21-21.

I have been part of a few rivalries during my time as a high school player and coach. As a player I was a part of the first three games of Immaculate High School and Notre Dame of Fairfield. These two teams were the only Catholic school teams in the conference. Every Thanksgiving, for 17 years, two small schools would battle in what was always a heated rivalry that featured crazy weather and a lot of fights. When I moved on to other schools their rivalries never had the same intensity. However, when I got to Masuk I recognized just how special a rivalry can be again. There is endless preparation, the burning of the shoes (a last practice ritual were the seniors talk around a fire), and usually playoff implications on the line. The War on 34, like all good rivalries, the records can be thrown out the window. This past season I got to experience a New Jersey Tradition. Don Bosco and Bergen Catholic is a great tradition in Jersey High School football. The traffic alone was like trying to get into a Sunday Giants game. The smell of zeppole and roars of student body 2 hours before game time told me all I needed to know about the importance of this rivalry.

If you were to tie all those characteristics of these rivalries together you would get St. Vincent’s/St. Mary’s vs Archbishop Hoban. This game encompasses all of which a rivalry should. Characteristics such as location, family, student & faculty unconditional support, faith, and competitive balance are the backbone to this storied game. All those aspects can be summed up in one word, passion. People truly care about this game and you can bet it is on the top of my must see list.

Traveling Bro: Andy Berkowitz – St Vincent’s/St. Mary’s (’95-’97) Offensive/Defensive Lines

After the loss in 1996, when the rivalry was restarted, Berkowitz was ultra-motivated. Nobody played option responsibilities in 1997 better than Andy Berkowitz. He was all over the quarterback every single play for the Fighting Irish. He said every time he hit the quarterback Tony Beiting he would laugh and admitted they were old friends. He was carried off the field that day. His senior year however was a different story. Andy worded as he was “Unsuccessfully expelled from school”. He took solace however in the fact that St V’s lost 9 years in row after the 1997 win. He called it the “Berkowitz Curse”.