Five starters for the Bishop Chatard High School football team will culminate 10 years of playing together when they compete for the Class 3A state championship against South Bend St. Joseph at noon today in the RCA Dome.

Each of these young men has a key role in the success of the team: quarterback Rob Doyle, linebacker/tight end John Dury, wide receiver/outside linebacker/punter Kyle Dietrick, linebacker/tight end Mike Dum and wide receiver/defensive back Steve Valdiserri.

The five began their football history as third-graders at St. Pius X Elementary, playing CYO games together. Dury's and Doyle's fathers coached them to three city championships in the group's six years together. Today marks the players' third trip to the Dome for the state championship.

The Bishop Chatard football tradition runs deep in their families. Three of the five have parents who both attended Chatard: John and Nancy (Akin) Dury, class of '76; Steve and Nannette (Eckert) Dum, class of '75; and Chris and Julie (Connor) Dietrick, class of '77. Doyle's mother, Libby (Akin) Doyle, was in the class of '78 and dads John Dury and Steve Dum played football at Chatard.

These parents live within five miles of where they grew up. Thirty years later, their sons continue the tradition of academic and athletic success.

Additionally, Doyle's father is the freshman football coach at Chatard and was quarterback at DePauw University. Doyle and Dury are cousins. And, coincidentally, Valdiserri's father, Rick, graduated from South Bend St. Joseph. His mother, Nancy Valdiserri, is a fifth-grade teacher at St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the feeder schools into Bishop Chatard.

Doyle, Dietrick, Dum, Dury and Valdiserri have lived and breathed football together, and today they will have the opportunity to receive the ultimate trophy, topping off 10 years of dedication, hard work and tradition with the state football championship.