[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 23075]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




A TRIBUTE TO THE HILLIARD DAVIDSON WILDCATS, THE 2006 OHIO HIGH SCHOOL 
                        STATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DEBORAH PRYCE

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 6, 2006

  Ms. PRYCE of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to extend my 
congratulations and adulations to the 2006 Hilliard Davidson Wildcats 
football team, which on Saturday, December 2, earned the title of State 
Champions in the Division I Ohio State Football Playoffs, and finished 
its storybook season a perfect 15-0.
  No superlative or tired sports cliche can effectively capture the 
magic of the Wildcats' season. Consistently overlooked and routinely 
outsized by its opponent, week after week, Davidson utilized its 
underdog role, its unglamorous but methodical offense, and its 
blistering defense to knock off yet another favored adversary. Davidson 
won with discipline, with heart, and perhaps most importantly, with 
class and dignity.
  Quietly, Davidson has amassed a 73-25 record under the leadership of 
Coach Brian White, and has firmly asserted itself as a premier, 
dynastic program in central Ohio. However, each year, Davidson and 
other central Ohio high school football programs are largely ignored by 
the football experts and pundits, and relegated to the shadows of 
storied, goliath programs in the northeast and southwest parts of the 
state.
  This year, however, one by one, the Goliaths fell to David--or in 
this case, Davidson. In its heart-stopping, double overtime victory on 
Saturday, Davidson fully entrenched itself in the hearts and minds of 
central Ohio football fans, and served notice to high school football 
aficionados across the State and Nation that Hilliard Davidson is 
second to no one.
  Throughout its historic championship run, Hilliard Davidson 
represented the ideal virtues of amateur athletic programs--teamwork, 
tenacity, competitiveness, and dignity--and its storybook season will 
be recounted for generations to come in central Ohio.
  I could not be more proud than to represent Hilliard Davidson High 
School in Congress, and I congratulate the players, coaches, fans and 
parents who made 2006 such a memorable one.

                          ____________________