Ron Dolciato has quickly turned around the St. Vincent program. Photo courtesy St. Vincent Athletics

Regis Scafe and Dr. Ron Dolciato have experienced a lot in their 50-plus years of coaching football.

What they'll go through Saturday will be a first, though.

The two will find themselves staring at each other from different sidelines as opposing head coaches. Longtime friends and colleagues, they'll be "enemies"for one afternoon.

"It's going to be very weird," Scafe said. "We'll go after each other for a couple hours, but we'll always be friends."

Their ties go back to the late 1980's when both were at John Carroll University. Dolciato, now Saint Vincent's head coach, was a defensive tackle and Scafe, now Thomas More's head coach, was the Blue Streaks' defensive coordinator.

After Dolciato's graduation, the two coached together for two seasons before Scafe made the short jaunt to Case Western Reserve to take over as head coach from 1994-98. He returned to John Carroll as head coach from 1998-2012. Dolciato was there, still, when Scafe returned and the two coached together for 15 seasons. Dolciato served as Scafe's offensive coordinator for their last 12campaigns together.

Through all those years, long hours and battles won and lost, the two men became close – and lifelong – friends.

"Beside my father, there is no one I admire and look up to more. As good a coach as he is, he is a better human being. He is a phenomenal person," Dolciato said. "Without him, I wouldn't be the head coach at Saint Vincent, no doubt about it. He gave me the chance to be the offensive coordinator at John Carroll. I never would have had the opportunities I have in coaching without him. You could say I owe a whole lot to Coach Scafe. He had the faith in me to do some things when other people didn't.

"It is not a surprise Thomas More is playing at the level they are. I heard through the grapevine that his players love playing for him. I believe it is because he is a players' coach."

Scafe was thrilled to see Dolciato take over the Saint Vincent program in 2014.

"Ron is a great guy and a good coach. He wanted to be a head coach. He had some opportunities before, but this was the right one for him," he said. "I am happy for him. I know his whole family – his wife and his parents. I consider him a good friend and I really respect what he does."

In addition, four of Dolciato's assistant coaches – Andy Hoffman, Phil Bokovitz, Alex Kline andMike Buchert – all coached and/or played under Scafe at John Carroll.

"I know those guys real well and they know me. It should be interesting," Scafe said with a laugh. "I think Ron and I know how each other thinks and how we game plan. We did so muchplanning together before. He is like an offensive guru. He thinks up all these different things eachweek. We'll have our hands full. He'll scheme it up against us. He will try to take advantage of anything."

Dolciato claims there won't be many surprises when his Bearcats (3-2) meet the No. 11 Saints (6-0), who continue to roll past their opponents.

"Being his offensive coordinator for so long, he'll probably give his staff some information that will be helpful. When we were together at John Carroll, we did whatever we could to try to be successful," he said. "I know Coach Scafe and the way he wants to conduct a football team. With him, it starts on the defensive side of the ball. When we get down to the actual game, we'll be a decided underdog. Yeah, with an off week, we had two weeks to prepare. That's great, but thebottom line is they do not have any weaknesses on that football team. For us, we have to play our best game and eliminate some things to be successful. We have to be solid on all three phases to have a chance."

Regis Scafe has the Saints ranked No. 12 heading into his first showdown against his protege. Photo by Joe Humphries

Scafe, who was out of coaching, nearly joined his longtime friend on the Saint Vincent staff once Dolciato took over the Bearcats. Little did either know they'd wind up coaching against each other one year later.

"We talked about it. It wasn't a long conversation. But he wanted to take a year off. I did call him, though," Dolciato said. "I could not be happier for Coach Scafe. I think he is in a great place with agreat support system. It's really, really strange how the dominoes fall sometimes. Coach Scafe came to a few of our games last year. I brought him out of thestands and onto the sidelines. Now, we will be on opposite sidelines."

If you think two former John Carroll staffers winding up as head coaches in the Presidents' Athletic Conference at the same time is rare, it gets better.Case Western head coach Greg Debeljak was an assistant (1988-2000) with Scafe and Dolciato at John Carroll. Dolciato succeeded him as the Blue Streaks' offensive coordinator.

"(Scafe) has texted me before almost all our games and I do the same with him," Dolciato said. "After Saturday, I want to see Coach Scafe and his teamcontinue their good fortune and win. After that, I'll be rooting for him and Case as well."

Game of the week

DePauw scored three touchdowns to pull away from Wittenberg and held on for a 35-30 win in an NCAC showdown. DePauw's Hunt brothers had career days for the Tigers. Matt, a junior quarterback, completed 18 of 27 passes for a personal-best 336 yards. Andy, a freshman receiver, hauled in nine passes for 207 yards, the seventh-highest single-game total in program history. The victory knocked Wittenberg (3-2) out of the Top 25 and brought DePauw (5-0) onthe verge of joining the list.

Lighting up the scoreboard

Dominic Bona continued his strong play at quarterback for Albion as the Britons blitzed Kalamazoo, 72-40. Bona passed for 325 yards and a program-tying six touchdowns in the triumph. He pushed his career TD pass total to 66, which ranks first in program history. Albion (5-0) racked up 665 yards of total offense on the afternoon. Nine different Britons caught a pass and the team had two players in Colin Parks (129 yards) and Mike Czarnecki (114) surpass 100 yards rushing. Meanwhile, only 101 of Kalamazoo's 544 total yards came on the ground. Alex White passed for 358 yards and two scores.

Lighting up the scoreboard 2

Senior running back John Pyles had a career day to lead Otterbein to a 49-34 win over Capital in the teams' annual rivalry game. Pyles, whom I profiled in Week 2, rushed for 193 yards and three touchdowns. He went 99 yards to the house on one play to set a program record.

"I was just trying to protect the ball and get it away from the goal line," Pyles said in the Otterbein game recap. "The guys up front did a great job blocking and I don't think I even got touched. I ran as fast as I could because I knew that my track and field teammates would never let me live it down if I got caught."

Capital's Brent Walton tied his program's all-time leading rushing mark in the defeat. He had 23 yards to equal the record (2,287 yards) before he left the game with an injury in the second quarter.

Close call

Ohio Wesleyan's Tim Shadoan gave the Battling Bishops a 23-20 double-overtime win over Kenyon in NCAC action with a 43-yard field goal. Shadoan was going to attempt a 35-yard field goal in the first overtime, but the snap was high. A junior wide receiver/kicker, Shadoan had four punt returns, three catches and three kickoff returns in the win as well.

In the polls

No. 1 Mount Union (5-0) returned to No. 1 for the first time since November 2013 with a 51-7 win over Ohio Northern, coupled with UW-Whitewater's 10-7 loss to UW-Oshkosh. The Purple Raiders visit Heidelberg on Saturday.

No. 10 Wabash (5-0) bumped down two spots after the poll was shuffled even though the Little Giants beat Oberlin, 55-18. They battle Kenyon this week.

No. 12 Thomas More (6-0) slipped a spot, too. The Saints beat Geneva, 44-14, and return to action at Saint Vincent (see above).

No. 16 Washington and Jefferson (4-1) moved up three spots after its 55-7 win over Grove City. The Presidents welcome Bethany on Saturday.