Doran Grant and Tim Tyrrell recently revealed they met for an offseason lunch at Rockne's on Merriman Road and discussed restoring the high school football rivalry game known as "the Akron Holy War."
Grant will enter his first season as the head coach of St. Vincent-St. Mary in August. Tyrrell is preparing for his 12th season at the helm of Archbishop Hoban.
The two coaches told the Beacon Journal they left the May 30 lunch in Akron united by a shared desire for the STVM and Hoban football teams to revive their regular-season series .
"We both agree that it's the best thing for the city of Akron," Tyrrell said July 3.
Grant said he and STVM officials discussed the dormant rivalry series when he interviewed last year to take control of his alma mater's football program. On Dec. 14, STVM announced it hired Grant, a former Fighting Irish star who went on to captain Ohio State's 2014 national championship team and be chosen as a cornerback by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL draft.
"To bring back the game, to bring back St. V's. dominance and to beat Hoban — that's why I'm here," Grant said Tuesday afternoon.
Because of other scheduling commitments, Grant and Tyrrell cautioned it will be difficult to restart the regular-season rivalry game before 2026.
In an exchange of text messages Tuesday night, Tyrrell pointed out STVM is expected to have just Weeks 1-3 open on its schedule beginning in 2026 because the Fighting Irish joined the Ohio Catholic Athletic Conference , a development announced Tuesday morning.
Yet, Tyrrell texted he still wants to play STVM after the Ohio Catholic Athletic Conference news surfaced. Hoban football remains an independent.
Grant said he does not consider STVM's future inclusion in a conference an obstacle too great to overcome in his quest to renew the rivalry game with Hoban.
"They have three weeks to schedule us moving forward and vice versa," Grant said. "And for us, those [first three weeks of the season] will be open after next year."
STVM and Hoban are in Division II, Region 5 , so they could still meet in the Ohio High School Athletic Association playoffs as early as the upcoming season. Last year, they didn't encounter each other in the postseason, with STVM falling 35-0 to Warren Harding in the first round and Hoban advancing to the state final, where it lost 7-2 to Massillon .
In other words, STVM and Hoban did not play each other in football last year for the first time since 1995.
In February 2023, St. Vincent-St. Mary finalized its decision to not renew its contract to play Hoban. In a letter sent to STVM alumni, then-school president Leo Hyland cited "unsportsmanlike behavior" as a reason for discontinuing the series. Later, in an interview with the Beacon Journal, Hoban president Chris DiMauro said STVM had accused "a member of the Hoban coaching staff" of directing improper language toward the Irish.
The decision was met with intense public backlash .
"I was a bit embarrassed because if we were winning or we were a little bit more competitive, the game would've never stopped regardless of what they say happened, and that's what I didn't like," Grant said, referencing STVM losing to Hoban in the past 11 clashes, including three in the playoffs.
"Regardless of what was said and the reasoning for it, if we were more competitive, the game would've never ended. Nobody would call for the game to end. I'm a straight-up person. I like to go right at what we're talking about. We weren't competitive enough, and some people, I guess, didn't like that."
Hoban's dominance began in 2015, Tyrrell's third season with the Knights. Hoban has since been to eight state championship games, winning five of them.
But streaks have been a common theme in the STVM-Hoban saga.
STVM owned an eight-game winning streak (2007-14) in the series and won two state titles (2012-13) in the same stretch. Hoban won nine in a row (1998-2006) after splitting with STVM in 1996 and 1997. The teams did not meet from 1978-1995. After St. Vincent and St. Mary merged in 1972, STVM went 5-1 against Hoban. Prior to the merger, St. Vincent went 7-6 against Hoban from 1959-71, and Hoban defeated St. Mary in 1958 and 1959.
A Youngstown native, Tyrrell was introduced to "the Akron Holy War" in 2013, when former STVM coach Dan Boarman guided the Irish to a 41-6 win over the Knights.
"I respected Dan Boarman for it," Tyrrell said. "That's how he should have baptized me. He did. It was an ass whooping. This is what it's about.
"Doran, the way he talked and the way he carries himself ... that's what it's about. It's about the tradition of St. V's, and that's what he cares about. Part of living the tradition of St. V's is playing Hoban. It's the same thing on our end."
As a STVM player, Grant went 4-0 against Hoban from 2007-2010. He said he sees similarities between the STVM-Hoban and Ohio-State Michigan rivalries. He reminisced about relatives tailgating before STVM's showdowns with Hoban at the Rubber Bowl and InfoCision Stadium. He faced Hoban twice at each venue.
"You play it for the fans. You play it for the community. That's why you play the game," Grant said. "I mean, you don't have a whole documentary about it to not play the game."
In Tyrrell's office at Hoban, he has "The Akron Holy War" documentary poster displayed on the wall behind his desk. He explained he misses the game, but he said he's optimistic because he and Grant have established a direct line of communication. Tyrrell said he never talked to Grant's predecessor, former STVM coach Terry Cistone, about the state of the rivalry game.
"[Grant] and I just started at the grassroots side of things, like, 'Hey, let's me and you get to know each other,'" Tyrrell said. "And we did, and we both have the same ideals. He wants St. V's to be a state champion, I want Hoban to be a state champion and we think we both can be great in the city of Akron. It'd be great for Akron. The rivalry is great for Akron."
Grant and Tyrrell stressed they want to determine the fate of the STVM-Hoban series instead of leaving it to others in powerful positions at their respective schools.
"We are responsible for every snap, every player that's out there," Grant said. "So we should be the ones making the decisions.
"Everybody has a job to do. Everybody has a role. But when it comes to playing a football game, I think us two as head coaches and leaders have the resumes to sort that out."
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Tyrrell and Hoban's leadership have maintained all along they want to play STVM. Grant said he's hopeful he'll receive similar support from STVM's administration, which has undergone several changes in the past couple of years.
"You go here to play, you know you're going to play Hoban," Grant said. "You go to Hoban, you know you've got to deal with St. V. It's a thing.
"Imagine when it does come back. Watch how the city is going to explode because everybody's going to be waiting."
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Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: STVM, Hoban football coaches want to renew 'Akron Holy War'
