SJP WILL have football

DON McCORMACK
Star Beacon

June 23, 2009 01:47 am

— Jim Timonere is mad as... heck, and if he had any kind of choice, he wouldn’t take it anymore.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t have much choice. He, too, has heard the rumors that are spreading like wildfire that his SS. John and Paul Heralds will not be fielding a football team this coming fall.
“Yeah, I’ve heard all the rumors, too, and I’ll tell you what I am telling everyone else — those rumors are total and complete hogwash,” the 1995 St. John graduate and former Heralds star said. “We are full go toward the 2009 season.
“I don’t understand how all of these types of things get started, but I know this — it’s unfair to our kids that they have to keep answering these kinds of questions.”
A thread on the popular Ohio message board, jjhuddle.com, contains several posts — anonymous ones — that state SS. John and Paul will not be fielding a football team come time for August practice.
“Yes, I’ve heard about (jjhuddle), too,” Timonere said. “And I say the same thing about all of that — it’s wrong.”
However, Timonere does admit the Heralds will be fielding what will likely be one of — if not the — smallest teams in the Buckeye State next season.
“We’re talking about having 13 or 14 players, so it’s going to be a difficult year, no question about it,” he said. “No, it won’t be easy, but we just finalized our schedule and we will be ready to go.”
Timonere said SJP graduated nine seniors this spring from a team that numbered 21 or 22 throughout the 2008 season, a season in which the Heralds finished 2-7. SJP went 2-3 in its final five games after opening with four consecutive losses.
“No question, we have lost a great class, both in terms of talent and ability and, for us, in terms of pure numbers,” he said. “We will have something like 40 guys in the entire school next fall, but we will have 13 of 14 of them — roughly one third — on the football team.
“I’m pretty sure every school would love to have one third of their boys out for their football team.”
Timonere said dealing with small numbers is nothing new for the Heralds, who began playing football in 1955 for coach George Patterson and who have fielded a team every fall since — save for the 1997 season — when a lack of numbers forced the school to not play football.
“My senior year (1995), by the time the season ended, we ended up with about 15 guys able to play,” he said. “But back then, we were dealing with being in the Northeastern Conference, which at that time, included the likes of Ashtabula, Madison and Riverside.
“I know we will be beginning with a bit less than we did in terms of numbers, but we believe we have put together a schedule that is workable for a school our size.”
Timonere said the safety of his young men is always first and foremost in his mind.
“I would never, ever put these guys in a situation where they could be hurt or injured,” he said. “So, please let me say this — barring something unforeseen or drastic happening, the SS. John and Paul Heralds will be ready for practice come August.”
And for those spreading rumors of the Heralds’ gridiron demise, Timonere didn’t hesitate.
“I wish I could get to those people who are saying those things,” he said. “And I mean that in I’d like to tell them to stop because it’s not fair to our young men.
“They want to represent their school on the football field. And they deserve that opportunity.
“We intend to provide that opportunity for them.”