Chaotic five hours led to Edon-St. Paul matchup

NORWALK — The routine is always meticulous. As the head football coach and athletic director of 30-plus years at the same school, St. Paul's John Livengood can certainly be described as a creature of habit. But by mid-morning on Tuesday, that precise, daily routine got turned upside down. That's when Livengood received word that South Central was potentially trending toward being unable to play this Saturday's Firelands Conference opener against the Flyers in Norwalk. In just under five hours, not only was the game canceled, but the Flyers had already started breaking down film and practicing for a new team. With the Trojans forced to cancel because of COVID-related issues, St. Paul (3-0) will now host Edon (3-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Contractors Stadium at the Warren C. Whitney Complex. The game is a rematch of a 35-21 win by the Flyers in the first round of the Division VII state playoffs in 2019. "There was a lot of pressure," Livengood said of the hectic Tuesday. "There was a lot more than just the football game in play. The pressure was on." Livengood said he first received a text message around 10 a.m. on Tuesday from South Central athletic director Darren Hunt, who had relayed the game was in jeopardy. About two hours later, Livengood checked his email and read a publication that gets sent across the state for potential football game openings. Recognizing Edon from two years ago, he reached out the school without yet knowing what South Central's situation was. "I told them there would be a possibility we'd be coming open this weekend and asked if they would be interested," Livengood said. "They quickly responded that they would be be, so at that point I asked Darren to call me because I hadn't heard anything in a couple hours." After Hunt met with Trojans head coach Corey Fickiesen and superintendent Ben Chaffee, the decision was made and relayed to Livengood sometime between 1:30-2 p.m. on Tuesday. "We were already down to the field by then, so I went inside, contacted Edon from the locker room and negotiated to get them to come here," Livengood said. Edon was scheduled to open its Toledo Area Athletic Conference season on Friday at Northwood in what many viewed as the top two teams in the league. But similar issues had forced Northwood to also cancel. Though the game itself keeps the teams home and away as scheduled, it took some work to get the Bombers to make the 128-mile trip to Norwalk again. "We came to an agreement for them to travel here, and by 2:30 p.m. the contract was signed and we did film exchange before 3 p.m.," Livengood said. From 3:15-40 p.m., the Flyers were breaking down film of the Bombers, as the coaches got their initial look at the same time as the players. "We kind of did our game plan on the run and off the cuff throughout practice," Livengood said. "Then after practice, our coaching staff stayed until about 9:30-10 p.m. We worked late and put together a game plan for the kids, and here we are." On top of the general premise of losing a home date — and gate money as a result — there was plenty of reason to push hard to play at Contractors Stadium on Saturday. St. Paul has a 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks scheduled with military veterans and first responders. It will be the first time the Flyers have been home to read a statement and honor U.S. Navy Corpseman Max Soviak, the 2017 Edison graduate who was killed in action on Aug. 26 in Afghanistan. It's also the "Pass the helmet" for Pancreatic cancer research initiative this weekend in conjunction with the North Central Ohio Football Coaches Association. Current Colonel Crawford head coach Ryan Teglovic, a South Central graduate and former head coach of the Trojans, has been battling Pancreatic cancer since last winter. All proceeds will be donated in Teglovic's name to Pancreatic cancer research. Already with an open date in Week 8 (Oct. 8-9) because of New London's decision to not play 11-man football this fall, Livengood said the events planned only raised the stakes to a broader thought process. On top of keeping a game at home for the football team and managers, there are 70-plus students in marching band and cheerleading, concessions and 50/50 drawings. "That's why the pressure was really on," Livengood said. "You're trying to fill that not just from a football standpoint, but also our community. We have many things going on Saturday night aside from a football game that are very important to a lot of people. "I want our kids to play. They practice so they can play games. We'll play tough opponents or whoever it is. The fact that Edon is 3-0 and scoring 50 points per game, it is what it is. We're just happy to be playing at our place still this weekend." FC standings note After last year's shortened season because of the pandemic caused confusion with regards to the FC standings, some clarification was put in place prior to the 2021 season. Last year, not every team played each other in the FC, since the season was initially scheduled to only be six games. However, the conference athletic directors met before the season last month and decided if a team had to cancel a game because of COVID-related issues, it counts as a forfeit and a loss in the standings. That means both South Central and St. Paul will still have results for six games instead of five in the final FC standings.