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Joe Thomas makes appearance at culmination of successful 2018 Scholarship Drive

By DAVID McDONALD ‘19

Students and faculty crammed into Sullivan Gymnasium on Tuesday March 6th to observe the 80th Annual Scholarship Drive drawing. After being delayed for four days by a snow day, the drawing finally took place with the three winners being announced and the five top-selling students being honored. But the highlight of the event was undoubtedly the appearance of Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Joe Thomas to pick the winning tickets and offer his commentary on the drawing.

Every year as the Scholarship Drive ends and the drawing comes near, students are buzzing with speculation about who may be the guest ticket-drawer. This year was no different but students may have been surprised to see Mr. Cicetti bring the future Pro Football Hall-of-Famer and the most beloved member of the Browns into the drawing. On top of his legendary play on the gridiron, Thomas has gained notoriety recently for his candid off-the-field remarks made on his Twitter and his podcast. Never shy to comment on the state of his team, Thomas brought this same humor to Sullivan Gymnasium.

When the student-seller of the grand prize ticket, Mike Hilbig ‘19, answered Thomas’ question of where he’d give the prize money with, “the Browns,” Thomas replied with “We need all the help we can get.” Thomas also joked when Alexander Brunkholz ’20 walked down to the court for selling the third-place prize to a chorus of boos, “Congratulations, you are now the least popular person at St. Ignatius.”

Thomas isn’t the first famed athlete to be the guest drawer for the Scholarship Drive. In 2014, Ignatius alumnus and then Browns quarterback, Brian Hoyer ‘06, pulled the winning tickets. And in the last two years, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, whose jersey is retired by the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Cleveland-native UFC champion, Stipe Miocic, were the special guests at the drawings. On top of the prize money, the chance of meeting a local superstar certainly serves as incentive for students to sell tickets.

This year, not only did the winning students get to shake hands and take a picture with the celebrity ticket-drawer, they were subject to commentary that could only be made by Joe Thomas. Thomas is much more than a meathead football star, his humor and wit made him the perfect star to be invited for the drawing. Anyone who missed the event can find a video broadcasted by SIBN on the St. Ignatius website.

The Scholarship Drive drawing begins with every student hoping that they may have sold or even bought a winning ticket, but it ends with only three lucky winners. But even the fifteen thousand students who didn’t win got to enjoy the appearance of a legendary athlete and a local hero.

Is Field Day too early this year?

By DANIEL VRABLIC ‘20 and JAMESON BURNETT ‘21

Field Day is a newly formed tradition that is honored and revered by students here at St. Ignatius. Whether playing kickball on Wasmer Field or throwing water balloons at your friends, Field Day embodies the high spirits of St. Ignatius students. This year, however, is drastically different. This year’s Field Day is scheduled to be on April 27, nearly a month before the end of the school year. This date is not in the best interest of us, the students, and should be returned to its rightful date at the end of the year as it always had been before. If the date of April 27 remains, a cherished tradition could be in serious jeopardy.
With Field Day being a new tradition of competitiveness and bonding, the current April 27 date could jeopardize our ability to do such. Not only do students feel uncertain about the current position of Field Day, but seventeen years of weather reports that have been conducted on April 27 suggest that a field day on May 21 is a better choice. According to the data collected by cleveland.com, the average low temperature on April 27 has been in the 50’s or lower 50% of the time for the last 17 years. This alarming data also indicates that in Cleveland, we are just as likely to get a day in the 50’s in April as we are to get a day in the 70’s in May. Those 20 degrees make a big difference when participating in a water balloon toss.

In all fairness, the school’s reason for pulling Field Day into April is because it falls too close to AP exams should it occur on May 18 like it did last year. At the same time, moving Field Day forward by three weeks is overzealous. Not only does this whisk field day into what we can expect to be a 50o day, but a 50o day in April — statistically the stormiest month in Cleveland. Aside from the cold weather, field day is generally connoted as an end-of-the-year event, too. Hosting it several weeks before exams could be hazardous to the nearing-vacation vibe it gives.

It’s not too late to change Field Day back, however. Working with the St. Ignatius administration, the Eye intends to have field day hosted on a warm day with the sun shining; where it belongs. Because Field Day, as a tradition, is all but a holiday at Ignatius. It’s a day where we set aside our academics and band together with friends to compete for fun in timeless outdoor games. Quite literally, it would be a shame for our parade to be rained on, and at this moment we very well may be able to take precautions to make sure that doesn’t happen. Hopefully, the date will be switched to the end of the school year, where it belongs.

Restaurant Review: Il Rione Pizzeria

By Daniel Drellishak ‘20

In December 2017, Il Rione Pizzeria was opened in the Gordon Square neighborhood of Cleveland. The two owners include Ignatius graduate, Brian Moss, and a current Ignatius employee, Mr. Brian Holleran. With Mr. Holleran being from New Jersey, he has found the Cleveland area lacking one key food, pizza. Not just pizza, but New York style pizza. This lack of New York style pizza sparked an idea in Mr. Holleran. Why not bring the taste of authentic New York pizza to Cleveland by opening up a pizzeria? He did just that by buying an old, beat up apartment building and renovating it with a rustic, modern feel that is very welcoming.

What separates Il Rione from other pizza shops is the charred crust and the tasty sauce. The crust obtains the charred texture from the brick bottom oven. This special oven separates Il Rione from its competition simply because of other shops using the simple conveyor belt method, which excludes further development of the crust flavor.

The menu selection is very specific and brief. Reasoning behind this decision is so that every item that appears on the menu is the highest of quality. If crazy toppings, sauce, or crust is your thing, then you will not find it here. Only the best quality is served and that is what you get in Il Rione pizza.

Ever since the opening in December, business has been better than expected, said Mr. Holleran. On the weekends the shop tends to have one to two hour waits and the lines are out the door! Limited refrigerator space means limited dough, so they tend to sell out very quick. The service is fantastic and the environment is New York-esque. I would recommend visiting the pizzeria in the middle of the week to avoid the big lines on the weekends. Overall, Il Rione earns my five stars. Go check it out and bring your friends and family.

Weekly Update #27 – March 11, 2018

Sports

Hockey The Wildcats three-peated as state champions this past Saturday. Friday the Cats beat Dublin Jerome 6-1 with goals from Bain Kurtz (4), Eric Lile and Alex Bilardo. Benny Savarino made 15 saves. The Wildcats won in 20T against St.Francis due to a game winning goal by Greg Langermeier. Aidan Millett, Cam Kurtz, Bain Kurtz, and Mike McCaffrey also scored. Congrats to the players coaches and managers on an excellent season resulting in our third straight state title.

Basketball The 2017-2018 Basketball ‘Cats had two contests this week, first on Wednesday and again on Saturday. On Wednesday, the Wildcats battled the Medina High School Bees at Strongsville High School for a trip to the Strongsville District Final. The Bees, who finished the regular season with a record of 6-17, were coming off a huge upset against the second seeded Brunswick Blue Devils last Saturday night and looked to continue their Cinderella run with a win over the ‘Cats. The game was tight throughout, with the Wildcats heading into the half with a 30-26 lead. Medina started the second half with an 8-3 run to take a 34-33 lead, but the Wildcats quickly regained control and eventually came out triumphant over the Bees, 58-55. Senior Luke Wiskes finished with 14 points to go along with six rebound and two blocks while fellow seniors Jon Barnes and Josh Ozanne each finished with 10 points. With true victory over the Bees, the Wildcats advanced to the Strongsville District Final at the Wolstein Center on the campus of Cleveland State University for their third matchup of the season with the St. Edward Eagles. The Wildcats fought hard and never gave up, but the Eagles red hot 55% shooting percentage, including 43% from three, proved to be too much for the Wildcats to handle as the Eagles prevailed 71-57. Leading the way once again for the Wildcats was senior forward Luke Wiskes, who finished off his basketball career at Wildcat High with a career-high 22 point performance, in addition to a game-high 10 rebounds. Fellow senior forward Josh Ozanne ended the game with 11 points.

This loss ended the Wildcats season, as the team finished with an overall record of 16-7. If you see any of the Basketball ‘Cats at school this week, please congratulate them on a great season.

Finally, St. Ignatius Basketball would like to thank this year’s senior players Luke Wiskes, Josh Ozanne, Neeko Melendez, Aymin Bahhur, Jon Barnes, and Dom DiNunzio, and senior managers Gabe Liberatore and Reilly Casey for their effort, support, and hard work both on and off the court for the St. Ignatius Basketball Program for the last four years. Your contributions will forever have a positive impact on St. Ignatius High School and we wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. Until next season, Go ‘Cats!

Wrestling Going into the last week of the wrestling season, there were two remaining Mat cats- Michael Drobnick and Najee Lockett. These two competed at the State Championships. Najee had a 5th place finish and Michael an 8th place finish. This concludes the wrestling season. Congratulate the Najee and Michael on an amazing season!
Special thanks to Gabe Liberatore, Jack O’rourke, DJ Huff, Cian O’haimhirgin, and Nick Hong for providing assistance with the winter sport updates.

Miscellaneous

Speech & Debate Team The final Speech and Debate tournament was held on Saturday. The Novice tournament was for competitors throughout the state, competing in their first year. Congratulations to sophomore Cam Cupar, 2nd place in Informative Speaking and the Duo Interpretation team of freshmen John and Alex Daoud, who placed third.

Jeff Outcalt “Tired”

C.A.T. Meeting The Christian Action Team, or CAT, provides students opportunities to fulfill the mission of the school by practicing the Corporal Works of Mercy. CAT meets every Thursday in room 227 at 3 p.m. and is open to all grade levels.

Friday There will be no classes on Friday, March 16, 2018.

Spring Formal Bring a date to the Spring formal which will be on March 16th in Sullivan Gymnasium from 8-11. The cost of a bid is only $20 and you will have a great time! Bids will be sold during lunch periods in Rade.

PodCats #13 – NCAA March Madness Preview

IceCats win state final over Toledo St. Francis

By Alec Steimac ‘19

The Saint Ignatius Hockey Program has done something not many others can claim: a “three-peat,” back-to-back-to-back wins in the OHSAA state championship. On Saturday afternoon at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, the Wildcats once again faced off against Toledo St. Francis in the winner-take-all finale.

In a game that went 37 seconds into a second overtime, the Ice Cats prevailed, 5-4, as sophomore Greg Langermeier took the puck end-to-end, skating through three Knights to net the game winning power play goal. Other Wildcats who contributed goals included Bain Kurtz ‘18, Michael McCaffrey ‘18, Aidan Millett ‘20, and Camden Kurtz ‘20. Junior netminder Benny Savarino contributed 30 saves to keep the ‘Cats in the game.

The Ice Cats punched their ticket to the finals on Friday afternoon, stopping Dublin Jerome 6-1. Bain Kurtz led the way, netting four goals on the day. Eric Lile ‘19 and Alex Bilardo ‘20 also found the back of the net for the Blue and Gold. This win was preceded by a 3-0 win in the OHSAA district final at Brooklyn on March 2, the second win over the Eagles this season, along with playoff wins over Rocky River (3-1), Midview (11-1), and Brooklyn (11-1). With the wins, the hockey team finished the season with a record of 30-9-1, earning the sixth state championship in program history.

This year has been a busy one for the Ice Cats as four different teams were created, including an all new prep travel team that has been playing all over the country and in Canada. Seniors Kurtz, McCaffrey, Santino Pignatiello, and Andrew Denk put their stamp on the Saint Ignatius Hockey Program, leaving the team poised to continue their unprecedented run of success.

PodCats #11 – Hockey Final Four Preview

We talk to forward Bain Kurtz ’18 and SIBN broadcaster Jack O’Rourke ’20 about the exciting state final four tournament this weekend.

Produced by Dan Drellishak ’20

PodCats #12 – Ignatius Response to Gun Violence

The first meeting to organize the Saint Ignatius student response to gun violence took place on February 23. This episode takes excerpts from the hour-long meeting lead by Dillion Gallagher ’19 and Sam Evans ’18. Please excuse the poor audio quality from the large crowd in the Atrium.

Produced by Luke Van de Walle ’19

Weekly Update #26 – March 4, 2018

This is what has been happening around campus this week.

Sports

Hockey It’s time to go dancing for the hockey team. The Cats clinched their third consecutive trip to Nationwide Arena with a 3-0 win over St. Edward. The Cats, who have beaten St. Ed 7 times in a row, including three straight district finals, won the hard fought contest Saturday afternoon. Aidan Millett scored a rebound goal late in the first. Captain Bain Kurtz scored off a nice pass from Captain Mike McCaffrey (yeah he’s back.). Charlie Klenkar put the coupe de Grace on the game with an empty netter. Benny Savarino had a 26 save shutout. The Cats, and Captain Michael McCaffrey with two assists coming off what many thought would be a season ending injury, advance to Columbus to face Dublin Jerome at 12:30 on Friday afternoon and if they beat the Celtics they will play US/St. Francis Saturday.

Wrestling The Mat Cats wrestled in the district tournament over the weekend. We qualified two for the state tournament, Najee Lockett and Michael Drobnick. Najee was a district champion and Michael got second! There was also three state alternates, Logan Toth, Johnny Novak, and Aidan Gill. Wish them congrats and good luck in the halls!

Basketball The Senior Basketball ‘Cats played in their final home game in a sectional final victory over the Bees of Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School 56-48. The Wildcats struggled early, with the Bees jumping out to an 8-0 first quarter lead before the Wildcats tied the score at 10 to end the quarter and eventually took a 32-24 lead into the halftime break. Although the Bees roared back to threaten the ‘Cats, St. Ignatius never relinquished the lead. Neeko Melendez led the scoring with 18 points by way of 6 threes. Fellow senior Luke Wiskes had a solid outing with 9 points and 9 rebounds while fellow big man Aymin Bahhur finished with an impressive 12 rebounds to go along with his 8 points. The Wildcats are back in action on Thursday night for a district semifinal matchup with the Medina High School Bees at Strongsville High School at 7:00. Go ‘Cats!

Rugby The Rugby Cats scrimmaged Brecksville on Saturday, getting some practice in for many of the players from A side and B side. This upcoming weekend A side faces off against Avon Lake High School at Avon Lake.

Indoor Track & Field This past Saturday at SPIRE Darian Kinnard and Eichenberg placed 2nd and 13th in shotput. Yale commit Phil Zuccaro placed 2nd in the 200m with 21.89 and 4th in the 60m with 6.96. Our 4×800 relay of Blouch, Biehl, Saunders, Ripepi placed 18th. Liam McGuire and Nick Saul got 10th and 7th in the 1600m respectively, and John Wetula got 9th in the 60m hurdles in 8.35.

Miscellaneous

Speech & Debate Team This weekend the St. Ignatius Speech and Debate team competed at the state tournament in Toledo. Congratulations to debaters JJ Conway and Elias Najm, who finished second in Policy Debate; Leonardo Villa-Forte and Henry Wade, who were quarter-finalists in Policy; Jermaine Leonard, fourth in Original Oratory; and Jarred Meyer and Daniel DeVenney, who advanced to the quarter-finals in Original Oratory and Humorous Interpretation, respectively. Before the tournament began, St. Ignatius alum and current Hathaway Brown teacher, Jason Habig, was inducted into the Coaches Hall of Fame. Excellent work by all involved.

Science Olympiad Science Olympiad attended the Northern Regional Tournament this weekend. This week, the team placed 2nd out of the 17 teams, losing to Westlake High School by two points. In addition, the team pulled off a Clean Sweep of the Rube Goldberg Machine building event Mission Possible, taking both 1st and 2nd Place. The team also managed to bring home 8 gold medals, 6 silver medals, and 2 bronze medals, bringing home the most gold out of any team in the region.

All but one event placed, but due to the number of placements only those in the top 3 will be listed.

  • Geek Speak (Trial Event) – 1st Place: Isaac Smith ’18 and Jacob Leksan ’18
  • Astronomy – 1st Place: Sam Pike ’19 and John Pawlikowski ‘20
  • Disease Detectives – 2nd Place – Matt Borden ’18 and Jacob Leksan ‘18
  • Forensics – 1st Place: Andrew Passow ’19 and Tyler Cox ‘19
  • Helicopters – 1st Place: James O’Meara ’18 and Tyler Cox ’19
  • Game On – 2nd Place: Josh Frank ’19 and Caleb Palagyi ‘18
  • Hovercraft – 2nd Place: Josh Frank ’19 and Caleb Palagyi ‘18
  • Materials Science – 2nd Place: Matt Borden ’18 and Jacob Leksan ‘18
  • Microbe Mission – 3rd Place: Anthony Bogar ’19 and Isaac Smith ‘20
  • Mission Possible – 1st Place: Caleb Palagyi ’18 and Alex Rambasek ‘18
  • Mission Possible – 2nd Place: Robert Pafford ’20 (Assisted By Danny Mullen ’20)
  • Mousetrap Vehicle – 3rd Place: James O’Meara ’18 and Tyler Cox ’19
  • Optics – 1st Place: Matt Borden ’18 and Danny Mullen ‘20
  • Remote Sensing – 1st Place: Matt Borden ’18 and Caleb Palagyi ’18
  • Rocks and Minerals – 2nd Place: Matt Borden ’18 and Isaac Smith ‘18
  • Towers – 1st Place: Danny Mullen ’20 and Andrew Passow ’19
  • The Varsity Team will advance to the State Tournament held at Ohio State on April 28th.

Mitchell’s Job Opening Mitchell’s Ice Cream has reached out to Saint Ignatius and wanted students to know that there are many job openings at the Mitchell’s stores in Ohio city, Beachwood, and Solon. If interested, pick up an application from one of the stores listed above.

Jeffery Outcalt Weekend review reviews:

  • Lacrosse practice at Browns facilities: 8/10
  • Townhall brunch and art museum + company: 9/10
  • Cavs game: 6/10

Very excited for Ignatius Polo Friday. Go cats.

C.A.T. Meeting The Christian Action Team, or CAT, provides students opportunities to fulfill the mission of the school by practicing the Corporal Works of Mercy. CAT meets every Thursday in room 227 at 3 p.m. and is open to all grade levels.

Lastly, if you have an activity you wish to have featured on a weekly basis, please tell me and I’ll add it to the list. That’s all for this week men. Have a great one.

Taking a stand against gun violence

by Ferenc Somogyi ’21

“We are here today to build consensus,” proclaimed Dillion Gallagher ’19, Junior Class President and co-organizer of the Saint Ignatius gun violence protest, on Friday, February 23. The protest was Ignatius students’ response to the recent Parkland High School shooting tragedy and the resulting political movements on the local, regional, and national levels. Through our protest, Saint Ignatius men answered their call by acting and planning for the future to stop school shootings, functioning on a similar agenda to other bold high schoolers around the U.S. now advocating to end gun violence. The protest strongly encouraged brotherhood that surpasses political boundaries and opens the doors for wholehearted cooperation.

The gun violence protest (organized by Dillion, Sam Evans ’18, and Mr. Pacetti), which had been announced only a few days earlier, was held in the Atrium after school. The turnout was impressive given the short notice of the event and its inconvenient placement. “This is actually really reassuring,” Dillion said on Friday afternoon. It truly showed that Ignatius students want to make the world a better place, no matter the effort it takes.
Functioning as both a visible sign of Saint Ignatius’ commitment against gun violence as well as “planning ground” for future ways in which the school can make a difference, the protest effectively served a dual purpose.

“At the end of the day, you’re going to get more done if you work with people with different ideas.”

Dillion Gallagher ’19

Various anti-gun violence activist movements that Saint Ignatius students plan to take part in were discussed. The protest organizers outlined three main goals for their movement: education, activism, and advocacy. Ideas brought to the table included an Ignatius prayer and activism day on March 14th, a Columbine High School shooting anniversary commemorative event, attendance at the March for our Lives march in Washington D.C. and Cleveland on March 24th, and communication via phone and email with congressmen, government officials from both major political parties, and families of gun violence victims.
Additionally, the meeting gave students in attendance the opportunity to speak their minds about the recent gun violence-related events in our country. Boldly putting aside political standings, freshman to seniors and even some faculty and school-affiliated adults took the floor, calling for innovative endeavors and, above all, cooperation.

“At the end of the day, you’re going to get more done if you work with people with different ideas,” Dillion remarked.

Clearly stated by the protest organizers was the challenge of this Ignatius movement. Keeping the discussion about gun violence going over time will be an issue to surmount. However, the school and the protest organizers firmly believe in students’ abilities to make this journey a meaningful one – so much so that students in attendance at the protest could sign up for leadership positions in the movement’s coming programs if they wished. Recently, an email with the same sign-up opportunities was sent out to the entire school in case anyone else wanted to take the lead.

This movement is solidly a student-driven one and depends on Ignatius men’s commitment to get things done.

We live in an era of turmoil. Aside from political divisions, events like school shootings test our nation and our world, and shake us out of inaction. We must always strive to unite, and together to defend our Christian and American ideals, so that we can do what needs to be done to prevent such evils from ever happening again.

As proclaimed so eloquently by Mr. Wilhelm at the protest, “If not now, when? And if not us, who?”

Contact Mr. Pacetti, Dillion Gallagher ’19, or Sam Evans ’18 to get involved and make a difference. Look for the recent sign-up email if you want to take a leadership role in the movement.

This episode of PodCats includes excerpts from the February 23rd meeting. 

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About The Eye

The Eye is the student-led publication of Saint Ignatius High School.

Editors-in-Chief: Kelly Coleman '23, Young Kim '23 & Aidan Oliss '23