On Friday night, St. Xavier (Cincinnati) face off against St. Ignatius (Cleveland) for the Ohio Division I high school football state title.

The highly anticipated showdown will also be a clash of former U.S. National Team head coaches: St. Xavier’s Steve Specht and Chuck Kyle of St. Ignatius.

Kyle was the head coach of the U.S. National Team for the 2009 IFAF Under-19 World Championship.

Specht served as his defensive coordinator that year before taking the reins as the head coach of the 2012 Under-19 U.S. National Team.

They are just two examples of U.S. National Teams coaches past and present who have enjoyed tremendous success in the high school football ranks this fall.

Here are some others:

• Kenny Sanchez is slated to coach the U.S. Under-19 National Team in the North American Championship in January. Sanchez has led Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) to a 14-0 season with one game remaining. A victory over Liberty on Saturday would mean another state — and possibly national — title for Sanchez’s Gorman squad.
• St. Joseph’s Prep (Philadelphia) is playing for its third state title in four years with U.S. Under-17 National Team head coach Gabe Infante at the helm. Infante is no stranger to the National Team program, serving as the defensive coordinator on the 2010 National Team. St. Joseph’s Prep is currently in the semifinals of the Class AAAAA playoffs, the largest classification in Pennsylvania.
• Arizona is home to two National Teams coaches with newly minted state titles to their name. Jason Mohns, who will coach Under-16 National Team at International Bowl VIII, guided Saguaro (Scottsdale, Ariz.) to a Class 4A state title while Shawn Aguano, who led the Under-19 National Team to a victory in last year’s International Bowl, helped Chandler (Ariz.) capture a Class 6A crown.
• Joining Mohns on the Under-16 staff will be Brandon Matich, who led East (Salt Lake City) to a state title in Utah’s Class 4A. On the season, East outscored opponents by a whopping 694-240.