It is good to see Father Ryan in competition again with Mater Dei. 20 years ago, this month, Mater Dei and Father Ryan has a serious falling out!
In 1998, Mater Dei lost its first dual or tournament, for the first time in nearly four years, finishing second at the 32-team Father Ryan Holiday Classic. Mater Dei’s previous loss was to Central in the 1994 Southern Indiana Athletic Conference Tournament.
"I don't want it to sound like I'm making any alibis; Father Ryan wrestled well," said Mike Goebel, "But the luck of the draw didn't help us at all. We had ten first-round byes, while Father Ryan got a bunch of pins in the first round. That right there might've made the difference because when we wrestled them, we did real well." Goebel had a point. In ten head-to-head match-ups with Father Ryan, Mater Dei won eight. The Wildcats had six champions while Father Ryan counted two. Injuries were costly. Brandon Boots defaulted the championship match at 145 pounds and Tom Jankowski defaulted in the semifinal match of the consolation bracket at 189, settling for sixth. Mater Dei's champions included Curtis VanNess with a pin in the final, Greg Schaefer, Dan Jankowski, with a 10-8 overtime win, B.J. Hauke with an 11-1 major decision, Mike Bishop and Mike Schroeder. Greg Schaefer was named the tournament's outstanding wrestler.
"It was a weird tourney," said Goebel. "Things just didn't go our way in the team race, but it's not like we didn't wrestle well. I was pleased; the effort was there. We just didn't win this one."
Evansville Courier sports writer, Steve Ford, was less diplomatic than Goebel, calling the loss “An abomination”. Ford claimed that Father Ryan “Appeared to have stacked the deck” in its favor in order to win its own tournament. The flap did not end there. Father Ryan’s athletic director, Stephen Williams, fired off a letter to Ford, criticizing him for his choice of words. Williams demanded an apology from Ford for accusing his school of “Cheating.” Ford answered the charges stating that he never used the word “Cheat”. For his part, in the spirit of ending the controversy, Ford apologized for using the words “Appeared to stack the deck”.