For years, high school football in Niagara Falls meant, well, that basketball season was right around the corner.
Over the last decade before the city's two public high schools merged into one, the Power Cats of Niagara Falls and Explorers of LaSalle could usually look forward to two things each autumn -- their annual meeting, which often represented the best chance at avoiding a winless season for one or both schools, and a series of whuppings from just about everybody else.
Both programs lacked continuity in the coach's office, equipment and training facilities comparable to their competition from more affluent suburban districts and fan support, except when they played each other.
In the case of the Power Cats, they even lacked a halfway decent nickname. That moniker was mercifully put to rest when LaSalle merged into Niagara Falls High School for the 2001-02 school year. Two years later, I still haven't found anyone who can tell me what, precisely, a "Power Cat" is.
Since converting to the much tougher-sounding Wolverines following the merger, Niagara Falls slowly chipped away at the district's recent reputation for football futility. The biggest change, though, had nothing to do with names or uniform colors. The addition of Joe Shifflet, who built powerhouses at Sweet Home and Tonawanda, gave the program direction and purpose.
The Wolverines reached the finals of the Section VI, Class AA consolation playoffs in each of the first two seasons after the merger, achieving the long-elusive .500 record a year ago.
Even that steady improvement, though, gave little hint as to what would come this fall.
Niagara Falls opened the season by knocking off two of Western New York's large-school dynasties, Orchard Park and Jamestown. The two upsets, in which the Wolverines allowed but a single touchdown to the Quakers and Red Raiders, served notice that Niagara Falls -- the class of Western New York in basketball -- had arrived as a football force, as well.
With the defense playing Shifflet's trademark smothering style and quarterback James Starks' playmaking keying the offense, the Wolverines are 4-2 and have a shot to reach the playoffs that count -- the ones that wind up at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
Niagara Falls' first loss came against unbeaten North Tonawanda, which scored on a pair of late fumble returns to avert an upset at the Lumberjacks' home field.
West Seneca West upset the Wolverines last Friday, scoring 22 unanswered points in the second and third quarters to win 30-15 at Sal Maglie Stadium.
Niagara Falls may have been guilty of looking ahead to this Saturday, when they head east to take on the school most consider this year's best in Section VI, Lockport.
Running back Jhamal Fluellen has grabbed most of the headlines during Lockport's 6-0 start, overshadowing a Lions defense that has registered five shutouts and allowed just six points.
Not that Fluellen -- who ran for 158 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries during Lockport's 28-0 win over Frontier on Friday -- doesn't deserve the accolades. With two weeks to go in the regular season, Fluellen has all but wrapped up the Connally Cup, given to Section VI's top player, with a series of spectacular performances.
With Lockport, NT and Niagara Falls in the running for the Class AA title, Grand Island, Lew-Port and Niagara-Wheatfield are all contenders in Class A.
Running backs Mike Blocho and Joe Cerminara have paced the Vikings and Lancers, respectively, with each scoring four touchdowns in blowout wins last Friday.
Beating Monte Barrett on Dec. 6 won't guarantee Joe Mesi a title shot, or even show that the unbeaten Tonawanda heavyweight has progressed significantly since his 97-second wipeout of DaVarryl Williamson last month.
But that's not really the point.
HBO, the world's premier outlet for televised boxing, is rushing Mesi onto another Saturday-night card to see if the early power that emerged in his last two fights is for real, as well as if his drawing power extends outside the Buffalo area.
Mesi's demolitions of Williamson and Robert Davis lasted a total of 177 seconds -- three seconds short of a full round.
Barrett recently dropped the nickname he used early in his career -- "Two Gunz" -- not out of embarrassment over the cheesy hip-hop misuse of "z," but because it didn't fit. While he's 29-2, just 16 of the wins have come by way of knockout. Mesi, meanwhile, has dispatched 25 of his 27 victims inside the scheduled distance, including the last 18.
Barrett has displayed a solid chin, though. His only stoppage lost came against his biggest-name opponent to date, a seventh-round TKO against Wladimir Klitschko in July 2000. He's won six straight since, with four coming via decision. On Oct. 3, Barrett took a pounding from once-beaten Erick Strickland for nine rounds before landing a counter-right early in the 10th.
Barrett battered the badly hurt Strickland for two minutes, until the referee stopped it with 25 seconds to go before the final bell.
The Mesi-Barrett bout is on the undercard of a main event matching Kirk Johnson, who was supposed to challenge Lennox Lewis in June, with Vitali Klitschko, who filled in when Johnson pulled out due to injury and nearly upset the consensus heavyweight champion.
The winner of the main event figures to get a shot at Lewis if he keeps fighting, or at the vacant title if he retires.
For Mesi, fighting at Madison Square Garden -- once the sport's premier venue -- and on HBO guarantees further exposure and a shot at even bigger money fights.
If he wins.
And he should.
HBO brass didn't choose Barrett as Mesi's next opponent because they're looking for a great battle, but because they want to showcase one of boxing's hottest commodities at a time when there aren't too many of those. They also want to see how Mesi performs against a quality opponent without 15,000 screaming fans urging him on in his hometown.
Barrett's record indicates that he'll last longer than two minutes on Dec. 6.
Then again, neither Davis nor Williamson had ever been knocked out in the first round until they met Mesi, either.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | October 14 2003 |