McKendree 17 vs. Ohio Dominican 14: Rite of Autumn Arrives at ODU

September 26, 2004

Mark Znidar,
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Saturday afternoons in the fall on the Ohio Dominican campus used to be an ideal time for students to catch up on their laundry and the maintenance department to scrub, dig, clean and paint.

Everything changed yesterday. The school, which was founded in 1911, played its first home football game before a standing-room crowd of more than 1,800. That didn't include 100 or so railbirds outside the fences.

"I just want us to score a touchdown," Ohio Dominican president Jack Calareso said before kickoff. He got that and a lot more from a team that starts 11 freshmen and nine sophomores.

The Panthers pushed McKendree College, the 10th-ranked team in NAIA, to the brink before losing 17-14 on a 30-yard field goal as time ran out.

"There's a lot to get you fired up to play when you're at home," ODU coach Dale Carlson said. "I know I was pumped up."

After losing 55-0 to Walsh and 41-3 to St. Francis (Ind.), Ohio Dominican was a different team.

Calvin Weaver, a freshman running back from Brookhaven who scored the Panthers' first-ever touchdown, said the crowd made a difference. "Even when we were down 14-0, everyone kept cheering," he said. "That was great to hear."

It was amazing to see, too. There were hospitality tents, cheerleaders passing out team posters and schedules and, of course, tailgates.

Jeffrey and Denise Bowlby of Indianapolis, whose son Zack is a freshman receiver, arrived in Columbus with eyes red for lack of sleep but wide smiles on their faces. At 11 a.m. they were whipping up omelets and home fries on an elaborate outdoor grill behind their SUV.

"I got off work at 6:30 this morning and we drove straight through," Jeffrey Bowlby said. "My wife asked me when I was going to fall down. I told her that wouldn't happen until after the game. We're really excited about this. We know football at ODU is going to take baby steps. Being here for the start of all this is an experience."

That's what Calareso had in mind when he was hired in June 2001. Football, he said, would help increase enrollment from the present 3,000 students to as many as 5,000 and bring faculty, students, alumni and friends together.

"We're ready for this," Calareso said. "This has been two years in coming. We did this to create excitement. I see faculty and families and students. I saw one Ohio Dominican graduate from the '50s here."

Accounting professor Pete Margaritis said he wasn't about to miss the inaugural home game. "There was a buzz on campus this week, especially on Friday," he said. "Four football players are in one of my classes and I knew they were ready. This is really good for the university."

There was even a mosh pit of sorts called "The Panther Krazies," students sitting in bleachers bolted on a flatbed truck in one end zone. Freshmen Christina Munoz, Kristen Crawford and Nikki Ellis, each from Seaman, sat wearing Panther claw foam fingers and holding megaphones.

They couldn't wait for good reason.

"We didn't have a football team in high school, so this is pretty exciting for us," Ellis said.

Munoz said the three high-school friends gladly accepted an offer from the student government to create a little noise.

"We're here to distract the other team a little bit," Crawford said.

As kickoff got nearer, there was one problem.

The stadium might not be big enough. "We're already pricing an additional section of bleachers," Calareso said. "That's the best problem we can have."

Reprinted with permission. The Columbus Dispatch, 2004.