The Utica-Notre Dame football team were already on the practice field this afternoon when news came down that the Skaneateles Central School District will appeal a season-ending suspension for its football team. Notre Dame has already been told by Section III that they will be playing Herkimer this Saturday at the Dome for the Class C Title, despite already losing to Skaneateles in last weekend's semifinal. Skaneateles Head Coach and former SU star Tim Green has since stepped down from his position, but had indicated he'd do anything in the law to allow his team to keep playing. That position doesn't seem to worry the Notre Dame Football team.
"To my knowledge there's no uncertainty," says Notre Dame's Head Coach and former SU player Byron Abraham, "yes they have some remedies to take care of in the court, nothing to do with us. I mean we have our passes, we're going on Saturday."
Earlier this week a judge upheld the punishment handed down by Section III after a report alleging improper recruiting practices. While the district is now appealing through the New York State Appellate Division, the Notre Dame football team are planning on playing at the Carrier Dome this weekend, and their Head Coach has been inspired by another well known Syracuse Orange legend.
"When I played in college for Coach Mac," says Abraham, "Coach Mac had a saying. Men - disregard all extranious stimuli. That was Coach Mac's big thing. I say the same thing to our guys. We were talking about it at practice. Disregard all extraneous stimuli. Control the things we can control. Let these outside forces stay outside of us and just do what we need to do."
