St. Edward wins its first state title for its current players, its many alumni who never got to experience a championship, and for an Eagle whose life ended tragically years ago.
View full sizeSt. Edward fans celebrate the Eagles' victory Saturday in the Division I state championship game at Canton. St. Edward defeated Huber Heights Wayne, 35-28. Photographs of Fawcett Stadium, which is located no more than a punt, pass and kick from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, hang on the locker room wall at St. Edward High School in Lakewood. The Eagles' season was dedicated to getting to and winning the Division I state championship game here.
On a magnificent, snowy Saturday night of high school football at its finest, St. Edward came from two touchdowns behind in the second half to beat Huber Heights Wayne and its dazzling, Ohio State-bound senior quarterback Braxton Miller, 35-28.
The first state championship in St. Edward's history featured many of the same players who went 4-6 last season. But a firmer concept of commitment had molded them into a whole new team.
Many observers thought the huge, mobile St. Edward offensive line was the equal of some Division III college lines. So maybe the starting point was the sweat the players shed in the weight room and in grueling August workouts.
Or maybe it was a more distant starting point.
These Eagles were playing not just for themselves and their moment in time, but for all the school's other superb players, from Tom Coughlin in the 1960s, to Tom Cousineau and Paul Girgash in the 1970s, to Chris Williams, Dan Graven, Kevin O'Keefe and Dan Andrews in the '80s, to DeJuan Groce, Rodney Bailey and Bobby Adams in the '90s, to Alex Boone and Shaun Carney in this century.
"We're playing for all the great players here who never got a chance to play for state or never won it," said one of the St. Edward captains, Shane McManamon.
They were also playing for the memory of Shane's brother, Jamie.
In the spring of 2004, driving back from Cornell University as a freshman, Jamie McManamon died in a one-car accident in western New York that almost claimed the life of his mother, Kerry, too. She was thrown from the car like a rag doll. "It's a miracle she is still alive," said her husband, Jim.
Everyone says Shane, a defensive lineman, is his lost brother all over again in looks. He wears the same number, 61, which was retired by St. Edward after Jamie's death, then unretired for Shane. He plays on the defensive line while Jamie went both ways as a lineman. He is a St Edward captain, as was Jamie. He is being recruited by the same school, Cornell, because he also has a sterling academic record. He even moved into his brother's old room at the family's Westlake home, as part of the process of coping with the loss.
Jamie was seven years older than Shane, but the gap was bridged by the older brother's demeanor and the younger one's emulation. "He didn't just show me how to play sports. He showed me the way to be a man," Shane said.
When Warren Harding beat the Eagles in the playoffs in 2002, going on to the state championship game that seemed St. Edward's for the taking, it was because a last-minute flaw in the defensive scheme left only one man to cover future Michigan and NFL star Mario Manningham.
Jamie took the loss with a maturity far beyond that of a boy whose dreams had been smashed. He put an arm around the shoulders of his position coach, consoling him while other distraught players second-guessed the defense. No St. Edward coach ever forgot the moment.
"I showed Shane and [teammate] Rob Coury the tape of the Warren Harding game every Saturday night," said Jim McManamon. "I wanted them to see those players crying after a loss, so they could cry tears of joy after a victory.""
Although few expected Shane to play in the days after Jamie's funeral, he was in the St. Bernadette lineup for the next CYO baseball game in 2004. He focused his talent fiercely in hitting three home runs against St. James. "I had the best game of my life. I thought sports was the best way to keep Jamie's name alive. I was playing for him," Shane said.
A half-hour after the game Saturday night, players around Shane McManamon were still celebrating on the whitened field. "To do this for St. Ed's, while wearing my brother's number, is unreal," Shane said. "It's the greatest feeling in the world."
In the chapel at St. Edward is a huge window, which was filled with sunlight on a recent visit. It is decorated with pieces of stained glass, each shaped like a teardrop. They symbolize the tears of grace, the infinite mercy and unmerited favor believers are convinced they receive from God. If a worshipper moves from one side of the chapel to the other, it causes the colors to change, from purple to green to gold. One of the teardrops is dedicated to Jamie McManamon. It is the only one without a colored filament in it.
It is pure, clear and unstained, like his memory, like the Eagles' season.
To reach Bill Livingston: blivingston@plaind.com, 216-999-4672