100 years and counting: SMCC celebrates the past with an eye toward future

SANDUSKY — The football landscape at St. Mary Central Catholic has undergone a sobering shift in recent years, but some traditions refuse to die. The Panthers could barely field a team four years ago, but SMCC is on the comeback trail, a testament to a never-give-up attitude preached for decades by coaches and players alike. The St. Mary's community will celebrate 100 years of football at Saturday night's home game at Strobel Field. The opponent is from Michigan and there will be just eight Panthers on the field, but it's still football. "It's still a great team game. The biggest thing is watching a group of kids come together," said SMCC assistant coach Toby Notestine. "I think what I've enjoyed most about the game is teaching kids to do their best. You fail a lot in life, but it's important to learn how to do things the right way. That's what is great about football. You get knocked down, you get back up and keep playing." SMCC has too much to play for to buckle under the pressure of lower enrollments and a cultural shift that in some corners questions whether kids should push themselves in a tough, physical sport. For SMCC legends who built the foundation for a program ripe for a renaissance, there's no question whether the effort is worth it. Chuck Lococo, a 1953 St. Mary's graduate, is one of those treasured bridges to the past, when legendary coach Lee Zierolf called the shots and the team practiced at Central Park, across the street from the Cameo. Zierolf led St. Mary's for 22 years and guided five of the program's eight undefeated teams — 6-0 in 1934, 7-0-1 in 1935, 7-0 in 1940, 8-0 in 1942 and 8-0 in 1957. The 1934 team did not allow a point all season. "To me, he is a legend," Lococo said. "Tough as nails. Honest but tough. He didn't care if it was snowing or raining. We practiced." SMCC has played 925 games, winning 446, losing 451 and tying 28. Can the Panthers reach 1,000? The goal, really, is to make memories for another 100 years, to produce more players and coaches such as Mike Opfer. Opfer, a 1981 graduate who was an assistant and head coach for the Panthers for a combined 34 years, is a walking SMCC football encyclopedia. He put together a commemorative program highlighting the program's rich history and can draw on unlimited football facts. • For starters, did you know that 1980 All-Ohio tight end Bob Brotzki went on to star at Syracuse and was drafted by the Baltimore Colts? • In 1966 when SMCC and Sandusky both went undefeated, the community held a parade. • SMCC's rivalry game with Fremont St. Joseph was played on Sunday afternoons from the mid-1940s to the mid-1970s. • SMCC played in the shortest overtime game in Ohio history in 1985 when the Panthers defeated Perkins, scoring on a Joe Will touchdown on the Panthers' first play in OT. On Perkins' first play, Matt Keech intercepted a pass to end the game. • Ed Sustersic, who coached the 1957 team to an 8-0 record, played for Paul Brown on Cleveland's All-America Football Conference championship teams in 1946, '47 and '48. Opfer also knew Zierolf, who regularly held court at the Opfer house after Mass on Sundays. Opfer's uncle, the Rev. Ed Scales, would entertain Zierolf and a handful of other former players. Those history lessons from Opfer's childhood left a lasting impact. "They'd sit around at the kitchen table and eat cinnamon rolls after Mass," Opfer said. "Coach Zierolf would say, 'Sit in the corner and hear some stories.' That was my first taste of it. I went out and bought a plastic football helmet." Lococo played in a leather helmet his sophomore year at St. Mary's. Helmets began offering more protection a year later. "There was no facemask so you had to protect yourself," said Lococo, who played center and halfback. "Football isn't as tough as it was when I played. We had some mean, nasty guys. I would snap the ball and I had two guys against me. I had a bloody nose and everything else." The Panthers' home base is Charles A. Lococo Athletic Fieldhouse, located next to Mills Creek Golf Course on Sandusky's west side and across the street from Zierolf Field. There is a leather helmet on display, and the facility serves as a football museum of sorts. Ten conference championship teams are featured high on one wall, 34 All-Ohio players are enshrined on another. Those players include two-time all-state selections Butch Weyer (1964, '65) and Spencer Dye (2003, '04). Dye is the Panthers' career rushing leader with 5,347 yards. Notestine, who said he got into coaching by accident, remembers Weyer well. "I got out of the service in 1974 and stopped at the Cameo. Chuck Lococo was the junior high AD. He asked me what I was doing in the fall," Notestine said. "I said just going to school." Lococo asked Notestine if he'd be interested in helping coach the junior high team. He said yes. "I had real long hair, I had got out of the service and let my beard grow," Notestine said. "(Lococo) took me out and introduced me to Butch Weyer and said, 'Coach, this is your new junior high coach.' "Of course, he was my idol when I was in junior high. Butch was the man at St. Mary's. He shook my hand and about crushed it and said, 'Not until you get damn haircut and a shave.' I left and was back an hour later, clean-shaven with a buzz cut. Forty-nine years later I'm still doing it." Notestine, who also coached on Sandusky's staff for 21 years, was the head coach in 2019 when SMCC switched to 8-man football. Toby Hammond, another bridge to the past, is now in his fourth season as head coach. He was helping out at Danbury in 2019 and saw the challenge that awaited SMCC. "Football has been very important at St. Mary's and it's one of the reasons I got back in coaching here," Hammond said. "I started thinking, 'I don't want to see this program die on the vine.' They maybe had 17, 18 kids. Our second year we went 5-4, first time we had a winning record since 2015, I think. But the following year we only had 17 kids come out. "My No. 1 goal was to make football relevant around here again. Not that I have any magic wand, but this year we have 28 kids out and 20 are freshmen or sophomores." Hammond made an unforgettable impression during his first stint as SMCC's head coach, from 1985-90. His 1989 team went 10-0 in the regular season and was rolling before star running back Mike Will was injured during a second-round playoff win over Ayersville. The Panthers lost in the state semifinals to Minster. In 1990, SMCC nearly won it all. The Panthers defeated Kirtland, St. Joseph's and Archbold to advance to the Division V state championship game. SMCC led St. Henry 17-0 heading into the fourth quarter, but some untimely mistakes and a key injury helped St. Henry — which had a roster that included future NFL players Bobby Hoying and Jeff Hartings — rally for a 20-17 victory. Tim Lamb, a first-team All-Ohio tight end as a senior in 1990, said the Panthers were better his junior season. "We went 12-1 (in 1989) and probably should've been state champs," he said. Lamb, now the principal at Huron High School, said Hammond, known for his colorful vocabulary, had a knack for inspiring his team. "Toby Hammond was the guy who turned it around for us," Lamb said. "It was the passion and fire he had for the game, and he put together a good staff. We would run through a brick wall for that guy. He wasn't soft and we ate that up. He worked us hard, but there was a benefit to it. I get all fired up talking about it now." Hammond had a simple explanation for the Panthers' success in the late '80s. "People ask he how we did it," he said. "We were the smallest school in the (Sandusky Bay Conference) and we won the league a couple years and did well in the playoffs. I told them we had better players. The teams you had to beat back then were Margaretta and Huron, and we were the three smallest schools in the league. "Most of those (SMCC) parents worked at Ford, New Departure and some of the other factories. They were blue-collar parents. Football was important to them, football was important to the kids. Winning was important." It didn't hurt that the players believed in the coaches. "The first year it was me, Ty Roth and Mike Opfer — that was the varsity staff," Hammond said. "All three of us were in our 20s and we could relate to the kids. We went to the run-and-shoot to get our athletes out." The good times didn't last, though. As enrollment dwindled, the program struggled. SMCC made the playoffs just five times after a trip in 1993. The move to 8-man football four years ago raised eyebrows in some circles, but the Panthers have adjusted. Hammond can look back to the glory years, but he prefers to focus on the next game — and what's coming when he and Notestine retire. "I think (Notestine is) gonna be 70. I'm 67. Eventually we're gonna get out," Hammond said. "The big goal for the two of us is to train young guys so they can see what it takes. "We both learned under Butch Weyer. He taught us a lot, about organization, how to run a practice, discipline, the offseason. We owe a lot to him. But we gotta train some young guys so they can carry on." ----- SMCC's Sandusky Bay Conference championships 1951, 1955, 1957, 1966, 1968, 1989, 1990, 1992 SMCC's Sandusky River League championships 2014, 2015 St. Mary CC All-Ohio players 1935: Norman Hoelzer, halfback 1940: Dick Lill, halfback 1942: Rich Kaman, halfback 1951: Gerry Braun, halfback 1957: Larry Capucini, halfback 1957: Tom McCafferty, linebacker 1964: Butch Weyer, linebacker 1965: Butch Weyer, linebacker 1966: Dick Wiesler, running back 1966: Dan Brady, quarterback 1966: Ron Weyer, linebacker 1968: Mike Dennis, defensive end 1969: Larry Missig, defensive tackle 1975: Dave Roth, defensive back 1976: Mitch Naufel, linebacker 1977: Jeff McCarthy, defensive back 1980: Bob Brotzki, tight end 1989: Bruce Scally, O-lineman 1989: Mike Will, running back 1989: Tony Rutger, defensive back 1990: Rod Scott, defensive line 1990: Ed Will, linebacker 1990: Tim Lamb, tight end 1991: Yon Roth, linebacker 1991: Brett. Bilgen, quarterback 1992: Keith Capizzi, O-lineman 1995: Nathan Painter, D-lineman 2003: Spencer Dye, running back 2004: Spencer Dye, running back 2005: Berkley Miely, kicker 2005: Jude Riedy, linebacker 2005: T.J. Blanton, quarterback 2005: Adam Olds, receiver 2007: Ryan Wasylik, linebacker