As Central Catholic takes to the artificial turf at historic Paul Brown Tiger Stadium in Massillon tomorrow at 7 p.m. to battle unbeaten and fourth-ranked Canfield in the Ohio Division II state football final, the 13-1 Fighting Irish will be gunning for the school's first state playoff title.
It would not, however, be Central's first state championship.
Where sixth-year coach Greg Dempsey's squad is attempting to win one on plastic (turf), 43 years ago another young Irish coach, Tom McHugh, guided his alma mater to a championship on paper.
The 1962 Central squad certainly goes down as one of Toledo's all-time great teams. In the lineup were 10 players who would ultimately play Division I college football, including all four members of the offensive backfield.
The biggest names were senior halfback/defensive back John Ginter and senior fullback/defensive back Phil Hoag. One of the top prep duos in area history, Ginter went on to play halfback at Indiana University and Hoag defensive end along with the great Bubba Smith on Michigan State's great teams of 1964-66.
Defensive tackle Tony Viertlboeck gained state lineman of the year and All-American status, and later played at Houston.
Rounding out the backfield were senior quarterback John Mullen, who joined Hoag at MSU, and halfback/linebacker Dennis Bolbach, who played at Dayton. Other D-I college players included offensive tackle Dick Gralak (Xavier), defensive tackle Dave Scorziell (Nebraska and Toledo), defensive end Paul Krasula (Miami, Ohio), defensive back John Flynn (Toledo) and top backup Denny Zolciak (Bowling Green). Also, end/nose guard Dennis Jasinski later played at Ohio Northern, and defensive back Ron Seymour at Defiance.
Central opened with a win over Cleveland Benedictine 16-8 at Scott, then traveled north to beat Muskegon Catholic 46-0, setting up a City League showdown with powerful DeVilbiss and star back Jim Detwiler. After falling behind 14-0 in front of a crowd of 10,082 at DeVilbiss' Page Stadium, the Irish rolled to a 36-20 win. DeVilbiss, which would end the season 8-1 and ranked No. 6 in Ohio, would later help clear Central's state-championship path by knocking off top-ranked Alliance 28-8.
The Irish then cruised to four straight shutouts in CL play, 33-0 over Scott, 30-0 over Waite, 58-0 over Libbey and 37-0 over Woodward, before playing the landmark game of the season on the road.
A week after DeVilbiss hammered Alliance, Central, by then ranked No. 2, traveled east to beat the fifth-ranked Steubenville Big Red (8-0) and their star, All-Ohio back Lighthorse Harry Wilson. The 20-12 victory vaulted Central to No. 1 in the AP poll, and prior No. 1 Niles McKinley was tied 12-12 by Alliance. McHugh's Irish then wrapped up the CL title and the AP state championship by beating Macomber 32-6. Central would close at 10-0 with a 20-7 win two weeks later at the Glass Bowl over new rival St. Francis, which would join the CL in 1963.
Before the Ohio High School Athletic Association instituted a postseason playoff format for football in 1972, Ohio's gridiron champions were determined by vote of media members around the state.
Beginning in 1947 and continuing through 1971, the top-ranked team in the Associated Press state poll was recognized as the state champion. The AP poll had one class through 1964, then crowned champions in Class AA and A from 1965-69, and in AAA, AA and A in 1970 and '71.
The AP poll has continued ever since, now crowning six poll winners each year in Divsions I through VI. But, since 1972, the playoff winners are the recognized champions. In the 59 years of the AP poll, no other Toledo team has ever finished ranked No. 1, and relatively few other Toledo teams have even ended rated among the top 10.
St. Francis, under coach Dick Cromwell, broke the ice for Toledo in 1984, winning the city's only big-school (Division I) state playoff championship by beating North Canton Hoover 17-14 in the final. The Knights added a Division II playoff crown under Cromwell in 2001, topping Columbus Watterson 28-14. Central is the fourth City League team to reach a state final. St. Francis lost 12-0 to Youngstown Mooney in the 1982 D-II final. Southview of the Northern Lakes League was edged 19-18 by Walsh Jesuit in the 1999 D-II final.
Here are are some thoughts on the 1962 championship and the 2005 team from three men who were part of one title and are rooting for another.
Coach Tom McHugh: "That ['62] was a great team with some really great players. Winning that championship ranks right up there with the biggest events in my life, but no one person should take too much credit because many made contributions.
"What was great about it was that most of those guys were outstanding people, too, and went on to be very successful in their lives.
"I got to see this year's team play twice, in their opener at Detroit Catholic Central and last week. When I stood on the sidelines in Detroit, I was really impressed with the coaching and their organization. They are way ahead of where we were 43 years ago.
"The team now is very sound fundamentally. They don't make many mistakes."
McHugh, 73, the brother of former Toledo Mayor John McHugh, was a 1950 Central graduate who played for the Irish team that shared the 1949 City League championship. He later played at Notre Dame as a backup fullback under legendary coach Frank Leahy on the 1953 national championship team. He left Central after the 1963 season to coach at Xavier University and later Kenyon College before retiring from coaching in 1983. He resides in Mount Vernon, Ohio.
Dennis Bolbach: "We were a group of guys who wanted to control our own destiny. We didn't want to depend on somebody beating somebody else. It was a group of guys who grew up together. Five of us played a lot as sophomores.
"Coach McHugh was a good coach and he had a good staff. His strength was as a motivator. He was a good technique man, but mainly he found a way to get individuals to perform up to their abilities.
"I am just elated to see what this year's team has done. It's been a long time coming, and this is a really classy group of kids. They're solid citizens all the way around. As a group, it's no surprise to me that they're doing what they're doing. I'm proud that they represent me."
Bolbach, 60, later played three season at the University of Dayton, and came back to Central to teach and coach in 1968. He has taught a variety of subjects, was head wrestling coach, a longtime football assistant, and has been dean of boys since 1983. All four of his children graduated from Central.
John Flynn: "With the [state] playoffs today, you know where you stand. Back then, nobody from northwest Ohio really had a chance to win a state championship. It wasn't until Steubenville that we even thought we had a chance.
"We had over 10 college players on that team. That's unbelievable when you think about it. And look how good DeVilbiss was that year with Jim Detwiler and what a great player he was. There were a lot of great players in Toledo back then.
"I remember the Steubenville game. You talk about a knock-down, drag-out fight. They knew what we were doing and we knew what they were doing. It was like butting your head up against a wall.
"That was a big step for Toledo. We put northwest Ohio on the map. We had our fun, our time in the sun. It's somebody else's turn now.
"What's happening this year is great for everybody involved. Great for the athletes, great for the school, and great for Toledo as a whole."
Flynn, 59, a junior starter on the 1962 championship team, later played three seasons for the Uni-
versity of Toledo (1965-67), and was a first-team All-Mid-American Conference DB on the Rockets' first MAC title team in 1967. He was a football assistant at both St. Francis and Scott, and later head coach at White-
ford. He has been at Whiteford for 31 years, serving 27 as athletic director and five as assistant principal.
He was also the grade-school (St. Catherine's) football coach of current Central coach Greg Dempsey.
Contact Steve Junga at:
sjunga@theblade.com or
419-724-6461.
First Published December 1, 2005, 11:28 a.m.
