Irish spirit: Fisher Catholic football
LANCASTER, Ohio —聽Sometimes the point of high school football is lost in the competition. Learning cooperation, teamwork, picking up another player, pushing one another to get better, and accountability are life lessons often overlooked by many who choose to see wins and losses or recruit rankings for the next level as the purpose of the sport.聽
Fisher Catholic is a must-see team for the football 鈥減urist鈥� of the world. They embody what high school football is supposed to be. Their roster is not large, but their hearts are. The team is filled with scrappy kids who play both ways and run an old-school offense.
“We have some big kids up front and three horses in the backfield, so we run a ball-control offense,” says head coach Luke Thimmes.聽Second-year coach Thimmes is excited about this group, on the field and off.聽“I really like their attitude and their inclusion of everyone. The seniors get with the freshman and show them the ropes. When someone does well, the whole team is happy for them,” says Thimmes.
The helpful attitude and overall team chemistry all start with the team captains: seniors Jack Tencza (LB-RB), Kavanaugh Frank (OL-LB), and Waylon Yeager (OL-DL). “They are captains for a reason,” explains聽Thimmes. Everything starts and ends with them and their leadership. The Irish will go as far as these three can carry them.
Fisher Catholic Irish is a storied program that plays in the Mid State League-Cardinal Division and is Division VII according to the OHSAA.聽Historically the team peaked in the nineties, with their signature season ending with a state runner-up in 1998. The Irish also had a stretch during 2003-2006 in which they had consecutive state playoff births – a place Thimmes hopes to return the Irish to soon. Since becoming the head coach, Thimmes has added some programs that will help develop the future of Fisher Catholic football.
“This year, we added a junior high team, which we haven’t had in years, and we started a youth football program last year,” explains Thimmes. Coach聽Thimmes didn’t do this all by himself. “I came into the perfect storm being a new head coach; the parents are so helpful and have done everything we have asked of them”, he says.
Freshman Grant Keefer leads the offense at quarterback. He is a talented QB with a ton of potential moving forward, according to his coaches. Keefer is usually looking to pitch or handoff the ball in a single-wing or double-wing set to senior Jack Tencza.聽Early in the season, Tencza proved that he could gain yards and take on the bulk of the carries. He is also no stranger to making stops on the defensive side of the ball at linebacker. Of course, Tencza and Keefer are not going far without the big guys up front. The offensive line is anchored by the other two captains Waylon Yeager and Kavanaugh Frank. They also make big stops on defense.聽As their coach said, there is a reason they are captains.
Coach Thimmes credits the school for the positive culture on his team. “[Fisher Catholic] is a great place to get an education, and the school’s overall culture flows into our locker room and what you see on the field on Friday nights or really in any of our sports programs.”聽
With a twenty-three-man roster with the hearts of lions, it is hard to tell where the Irish will be at the end of the season. However, there are a few things for sure. This team is fun to watch for fans of old-school football, and the kids with Irish across their chests will not miss the point of high school athletics. They play for each other and are asked to leave it on the field night in and night out. Playing both ways, most assuredly, they all will.
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