Dons won only Class A football crown 22 years ago
Friday, December 4, 2009
By RALPH COX- The Herald Star
The Madonna football team has made it to the state championship game three times prior to this unbeaten season, two of them in this decade.
The other time came 22 years ago, when the 1987 Blue Dons went 13-0 and easily manhandled Matewan by 22-8 for the only Class A championship in school history.
What better way to find out what that dream season, the first undefeated Blue Don team and first to win 13 games, was like than to talk to the three amigos of the team, Mike Arlia, John Porco and Jason Backel.
Arlia, a guard, and Porco, the center, played side-by-side while Backel was the quarterback. They have remained fast friends over the years going to college and living together at the University of Dayton.
"Nothing can ever take away the fabulous memories I have of that championship season," said Mike Arlia, who recently was the athletic director at Madonna. His son, Connor, is an outstanding junior wide receiver and part time running back on this team.
"I tell Connor to enjoy every game, have fun and make us proud," Arlia explained when asked what he talks about with his son. "I ask him after every game if he had fun.
"I tell him to do the entire thing for yourself. Don't do it for mom and dad or grandma and grandpa. You're the one who has to lift weights and endure three hours of studying film.
"Another thing that I remember from the 1987 run is being treated like a king of the town for about a month after we won. Everything became amplified. The media guys were around us non-stop. I really don't remember being nervous or anxious."
Porco said the first thing he remembers is the team had to practice on Thanksgiving Day because back then the championship game was played on the Saturday after the holiday.
"I think my family was more excited about playing in Charleston than I was," he said.
Porco said the other thing he remembers is that the Blue Don regular season was more difficult than the playoffs.
"We played a tough schedule and when we started beating teams like Oak Glen, then a Class AAA school, and going down to Sistersville, which had been in the last seven Class A championship games, winning five of them, and which had perhaps a 40-game home winning streak and beating them, we knew we were a very good team.
"Beating Sistersville, the defending state champion in a very hostile environment, set the tone for the season," Porco continued. "We played Wheeling Central, then a Class AA school, but they didn't have much. I think we beat them 40-0, but we played Mingo, Toronto, Frankfort and Windber, a WPIAL Class AAA school from near Johnsontown, Pa. All of them had winning records. We beat Windber on a last second field goal by Steve Baloga."
Like Arlia, Porco suggested the current Blue Don team win the game Saturday against Man for themselves and no one else.
"I would tell them that they are the ones who toiled in the weight room and on the practice field," said the Wheeling attorney, who received his law degree at West Virginia University. "Coach Jimmy Paul used to tell us that if we won the state championship no one could take it away from us. We didn't understand what he meant then, but we do now.
"That was just a great group of guys we had on the 1987 team. Every time we get together the group begins talking about that football season. I wouldn't trade those memories for anything."
Backel, a pharmacist who owns Custer Pharmacy in Cadiz, says he remembers the 1987 playoffs as being business as usual.
"We didn't change anything when we went to Charleston," he said. "We even went to church together there at the St. Pius Center where we stayed. We had a lot of confidence because we played so many strong teams during the regular season. Actually, the playoff games were the weaker part of our schedule that year.
Backel said the Blue Dons didn't have to throw the ball much against Matewan because the running game with the group of running backs that became known as the four horsemen was going so well.
"They couldn't stop our option plays and all I had to do was get the ball to Tim Daugherty, Brian Hock, David Osaba or David Burns. We rotated those four backs, and I remember that our line was extremely intelligent. We had guys like John Nieman and John Porco, who were 4.0 students.
"When I called a play in the huddle, I didn't have to tell them they had to pull on the play, they knew exactly what they were supposed to do.
"Another thing I remember about the championship game was that just like this year, Brooke was undefeated and played before us on Saturday. I knew several of the Brooke players and they were classy guys. After they got done celebrating their win, a lot of them came over to us and wished us good luck."
The 1987 team was different from the current team in regard to prior success. This 2009 team is battle-tested, having gone 13-0 last year before losing to Williamstown in the championship game, and has been in the playoffs three straight years.
Backel said the Blue Dons had records of 3-7 his freshman year, were 5-5 when he was a sophomore and 3-7 again as juniors.
"We just exploded out of nowhere our senior year," he said. "We just had that chemistry, we played together and we all had the same focus. We just jelled."
