OBERLIN, Ohio — On the day Mike Passerrello became Firelands' interim head football coach, he gathered his shocked team together. Passerrello had been with the team only a few months, originally hired as the defensive coordinator. Firelands opened the 2010 season at 1-1 when its head coach resigned after being arrested. The charges were later dropped, but it put...
Firelands High School coach Mike Passerrello leads a 9-0 team into a game tonight at Brookside. He has turned around a team with a losing tradition in recent years. - (Scott Shaw, PD)
OBERLIN, Ohio — On the day Mike Passerrello became Firelands' interim head football coach, he gathered his shocked team together.
Passerrello had been with the team only a few months, originally hired as the defensive coordinator. Firelands opened the 2010 season at 1-1 when its head coach resigned after being arrested. The charges were later dropped, but it put Passerrello in position to become a head coach for the first time in his life.
It also left the players wondering, "What else can go wrong?"
That's because there always seemed to be something dousing the dreams of the football team and its fans in this small Lorain County town of Henrietta, not far from Vermilion.
No matter who coached, who played, or what happened -- in the end, Firelands usually lost. The last time the team even had a winning record was 1997. The Falcons hadn't won more than three games in a season in 13 years.
Passerrello told the players that was about to change. He talked about excuses and commitment.
"No excuses, pure commitment," he said.
Tonight, Passerrello has the 9-0 Falcons on the verge of an undefeated regular season and Division III playoff appearance when they play at Brookside.
Signs of change in the locker room
Signs with that battle cry went up in the locker room. The words were posted in the weight room. Players wore T-shirts promising: NO EXCUSES, PURE COMMITMENT.
There would be no swearing by the players or coaches. After each practice, three players were assigned to clean up the locker room.
Players were expected to lift weights during the season, and be serious about conditioning after the season was over.
When they huddled up, they would lock arms.
Some players complained it looked strange. Passerrello said college teams do it, and the team needed to come together on the field.
"I had to force myself to stay positive," said Passerrello. "These kids had been beat up enough over the years. When I get mad, I go for a walk. I try not to yell much."
It takes time for words to become actions, and actions to turn into habits. Passerrello was the interim coach for the final eight games in 2010, and the Falcons lost their first seven games after he took over.
Then came the Vermilion game, a major rival -- only Firelands had lost every game to Vermilion since 1992. But on that magic night in 2010, the Falcons won, 28-21.
Quarterback Kyle Smith said he and other players had been telling teachers and school administrators that the man they call "Coach Pass" deserved a chance be their coach in 2011. The school agreed.
"The Vermilion game changed everything for us," said star running back Nick Deichler.
A rookie coach changes the culture
Passerrello is 33 and has never been a head coach before. For the past 10 years, he has taught health at Amherst Junior High. He is married to Amanda, an English teacher at Midview. They live in Elyria, and they have three children -- all under age 6.
"Talk about commitment, my wife has made the biggest one because of all she does with teaching, the kids and supporting our team," said Passerrello, who had been an assistant at Amherst, Westlake, Brookside and Oberlin College before coming to Firelands in 2010.
Passerrello's point to the players was that he had been around winning programs before. He didn't care about what had happened in the past.
They could be winners -- but it required No Excuses, Pure Commitment.
"A lot of us have been playing together since the fifth grade," said Deichler, who has rushed for 1,240 yards and 18 touchdowns this season. "We had a good team in middle school."
But none of them expected no excuses to equal no losses at this late stage of the season.
Firelands switched from the West Shore Conference (2-40 in those games over the previous six years) to the Patriot Athletic Conference. That certainly has helped the Falcons' record.
But the fact is Firelands in the past didn't beat much of anyone, in or out of conference play. Not only did the Falcons snap that losing streak to Vermilion in 2010, they hammered Vermilion, 34-0, early this season. It was the first time since 1985-86 that they beat Vermilion in back-to-back seasons.
"That game told me that we really could be good this year," said Steve Bajcer, a linebacker with five sacks.
Another key victory was, 35-14, over Lutheran West, where the score was 14-14 at the half.
"In the past, we'd be OK at halftime, then get beat in the second half because we had so many guys that played both ways," said Deichler, who is a 5-10, 210-pound running back and safety.
One of the signs in the weight room reads: THE BIG GAME OF NEXT WEEK, NEXT MONTH AND NEXT YEAR IS BEING WON HERE RIGHT NOW.
That happened last week against Black River. Firelands was behind, 20-7, in the second quarter . . . and won that game, 55-26, to clinch the Stars Division conference title.
Two generations of Firelands quarterbacks
The last time Firelands won nine games, there was a Smith at quarterback. The year was 1989, and it was Dave Smith. Now, it's his son, Kyle, who is leading the Falcons.
"We've always had a good following from the fans and I went to games here as a kid," said Kyle Smith, who has 18 touchdown passes and eight rushing scores. "But this has been something else."
The stands are packed for home games. Fans are standing behind fences along the sidelines. Cars are parked everywhere to watch this team whose practice field is lined by a farmer's soybean crop.
The players wear green stickers on the front of their red and white helmets. It comes from a summer course taught by Passerrello and his coaching staff from a book called "The Team Captain's Leadership Manual" by Jeff Janssen. All 16 seniors attended. While all are not captains, the coaches wanted them all to think like leaders.
The green sticker stands for having emotions under control -- and moving forward together in the right direction.
In the locker room, each senior has a locker next to an underclassman. The coaches want to avoid cliques and to have the younger players mix and learn from the older players. "The biggest thing coach [Passerrello] has done is establish trust with the players," said Frank Horvath, the offensive coordinator.
Horvath has been a head coach for 29 years, including the previous six at Vermilion. Yes, he was the losing coach to Firelands last year. He said after he resigned as head coach, Passerrello asked him to join his staff at Firelands. Passerrello also added Jack Whaley, who had been the defensive coordinator at Benedictine.
"[Passerrello] really has changed the culture," said Horvath. "He's not a fake. He says things and backs them up -- and these are good kids who want to buy in."
Bajcer said when his brother played for Firelands a few years ago, "You almost had to beg kids to come out -- they kept making announcements on the P.A. for players to come to practice."
Now, the Falcons have 51 players on their roster. While Deichler and Smith are the stars on offense, they have received plenty of help from Joe Kudela (nine touchdown receptions, 23.6 yards per catch) and center Andy Thoms, considered the team's top linemen by the coaches.
On defense, Zach Hofecker leads the team with 113 total tackles, while Joe DeWitt is tops with 61/2 sacks. While as many as nine players are used both ways on offense and defense -- about 21 appear in most games.
Firelands has never qualified for the playoffs, and the Falcons enter tonight's game ranked eighth in the Division III, Region 9 computer poll. The top eight teams advance to the postseason. Their last undefeated regular season was in 1972.
"I know that 30 years from now, we will get together and talk about this team," said Deichler. "We know we are making history."
To reach this Plain Dealer columnist: terrypluto2003@yahoo.com, 216-999-4674
Firelands by the numbers
0: Losses this season.
2: Victories in the West Shore Conference the previous six years.
3.6: Quarterback Kyle Smith's grade-point average.
6: Victories in first six games in Patriot Athletic Conference this season.
9: Wins this season.
10: Consecutive wins. Streak began with win over rival Vermilion in final game of 2010.
18: Rushing touchdowns by Nick Deichler.
23.6: Yards per catch for Joe Kudela, who has team-leading 27 receptions, nine for touchdowns.
283: Rushing yards by Deichler in 55-26 Week 9 victory over Black River.
320: Passing yards by Smith in the Black River game, also throwing for four touchdowns.
1,240: Rushing yards gained this season by Deichler.
Firelands key dates
1989: The last time Firelands had nine victories, the record being 9-1.
1992: The last time Firelands defeated rival Vermilion before beating the team in the final game of 2010, ending an 18-game losing streak to the Sailors.
1997: The last time Firelands had a winning record -- and the last time the Falcons won more than three games in a season.
-- Terry Pluto