Brother vs. brother when Ilion, Notre Dame play Sa

Brother vs. brother when Ilion, Notre Dame play Saturday
Ilion’s Steve and Lori [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] have two sons playing high school football.
They’re in first place, too.
The trouble is, they’re not on the same team, and Saturday, Ilion High School senior Zach [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] and Notre Dame High School sophomore Zane [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] will be playing against each other.
Talk about a sibling rivalry.
“Yeah, it’s really eating us up,” [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] said. “We’re calling it our Civil War here because it’s pitting brother vs. brother. Now, I know how Archie Manning feels when Peyton and Eli play against each other.”
Zach [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] is a starting offensive and defensive tackle for an Ilion team that is 5-0 overall and ranked 14th in the state. Zane [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] is a starting receiver for a Notre Dame/Rome Catholic team that has a 3-2 record and a three-game winning streak.
And both teams have a 3-0 Class C East record with two regular-season games remaining, including Saturday afternoon’s 1:30 p.m. showdown at Notre Dame.
“I think it’s great, but we haven’t really talked about it much,” Zach [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] said of the first head-to-head matchup with his younger brother. “We’ve both just taken it one game at a time. But now, this is the biggest game of the year. The whole season is riding on this.
“I’m happy for (Zane). I’m glad he’s playing on a winning team, but he’s going to lose this week.”
Of course, his brother and roommate has a much different take on Saturday’s game.
“I’ve been telling him all week, ‘We’re going to beat you,’” Zane [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] said. “I’m really looking forward to it, just because he’s my brother and it’s my hometown.”
Zane [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] is a 6-foot-3, 190-pound receiver who enrolled at Notre Dame as a freshman after playing travel league baseball and basketball and developing friendships with several Notre Dame athletes. Another Notre Dame sophomore, starting center Tyler Raux, also is from Ilion.
Zane [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] played Pop Warner and modified football at Ilion before enrolling at Notre Dame, where he played varsity soccer and junior varsity basketball and baseball for the Jugglers last year.
Zach [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] is a 6-foot, 243-pound lineman who was a two-way starter as a sophomore, but missed all of last season after undergoing reconstructive knee surgery. He’s also a member of Ilion’s wrestling and track and field teams.
Younger sister Zoey [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] is a freshman cheerleader at Ilion, so she’ll be rooting for Zach’s Golden Bombers.
And what about mom and dad?
“I don’t think they know who to cheer for,” Zane [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] said.
[link widoczny dla zalogowanych] has been the public address announcer at home games for both Ilion and Notre Dame this season, but Saturday he will be doing radio play-by-play for WNRS (1420 AM).
“It’s going to be tough,” said [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], a 1983 Ilion graduate who played football. “Everybody has been asking us, ‘What are you going to do when they play each other?’ I think my wife is pulling for Ilion, for Zach’s sake, because we’ve been following him in football for so many years and now he’s a senior.
“We really can’t lose. Somebody’s going to win, and be in the driver’s seat,” he said. “I just want my kids to remember this game forever. It will never happen again.”
[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

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