Frank Workman on Sports: The team with most heart

The program lists Shorewood's Anxhelos Pere as being 5' 7" tall, 165 pounds.  

If the T-Birds' running-back/defensive back is within two inches or 20 pounds of that, then I'm a jet pilot.

But one thing is certain about the scrappy, dignified, senior leader of the team .... he's all heart.

There may be no player on either side of the field in Friday night's Rotary Cup Game who wants to be on the winning side more than Pere.

His T-Birds have lost all three Rotary Cup Games since his freshman year.  In fact, they've lost the last nine in the series.

Last year, Shorewood led 17-7 before eventually falling to their crosstown rivals, the Shorecrest Scots, 23-17.

This time a much younger Shorewood team, with freshman Andrew Blair and his brother, sophomore Justus Blair, manning one side of the offensive line, hopes to open holes big enough for Pere to blast through, as they try to put a stop to the nine-game skid in Rotary Cup Games.

Shorecrest will counter with lightning-quick quarterback Nik Hendricks performing tricks of razzle-dazzle to keep the T-Birds defense off-guard. He hopes to have a healthy Aaron Kelly to throw to (who has been hampered by a barking hamstring), along with steady and sure-handed Jake Oliver.

Soph QB Aaron Okamura spearheads the T-Birds attack as he'll hand the ball off to another sophomore, Harrison Jacobs, or the aforementioned Pere. He'll also target lanky Zane Hopen, a 6' 4" basketball player making his football debut this season, as well as Isaac Whitaker, another sophomore. Yet another sophomore, Mo Holley, is rounding back into shape following an injury that has lingered since last season.

It won't be easy to miss the Scots' Matt Brennan on defense. He is a heat-seeking missile that hits anything and everything that moves.

The opposing coaches, Rob Petschl (SW) and Brandon Christensen (SC), will have their close friendship tested for about three hours Friday night.

The last time SW won in this series was 2003, by an extra point, in overtime.

It says here that this year's game will be just as close.

And if it is, expect the team with the most heart to finish on top.