They play at colleges 500 miles apart, but when Pat and Brian Shannon proudly thrust their index fingers into the air, race onto the field in their blue jerseys and boast, "We're No. 1," they're not kidding.
There may be bigger, better, stronger or more publicized football-playing brothers than the Shannons of New Wilmington, Pa., but none win more games.Some players can't win for losing, but the Shannons can't seem to lose for winning.
Brian is a sophomore lineman for top-ranked Notre Dame, whose 23-game winning streak is the longest in Division I-A football - even if it isn't the longest in the Shannon family.
That's because Pat, a senior outside linebacker, has played in 24 consecutive victories for Westminster (10-0), the defending NAIA Division II champion whose streak is the longest in any college division.
Two brothers, 47 consecutive victories. You might call them the nation's No. 1 football family.
"My brother's been kind of kidding me that if Notre Dame beats Miami (on Saturday), they'll be tied with us," Pat Shannon said Tuesday in a telephone interview. "When you think about it, it's really amazing.
"We try not to talk about it too much, because we want to avoid any kind of jinx, but it's in the back of our minds. And, when you think about it, it's really amazing."
Westminster players get upset when TV announcers refer to Notre Dame's streak as the nation's longest, but many Fighting Irish players know all about tiny Westminster.
"I've met a lot of the players when I've visited Notre Dame - Tony Rice, Rocket (Ismail) - and they said, `Oh, you're the one from Westminster,' " Shannon said. "They know about us."
And, at least in western Pennsylvania, they know all about a Westminster winning tradition that dates back to the 1950s.
Westminster coach Joe Fusco reminds many of Penn State coach Joe Paterno because of their conservative coaching styles and their teams' plain vanilla uniforms. And, just like Paterno, Fusco is very reluctant to lose.
Fusco has a 140-32-3 record, an .813 winning percentage at Westminster (10-0), which won its third NAIA Division II national title a year ago. The Titans are top-ranked again entering their Dec. 2 quarterfinal-round playoff game at Tarleton State of Texas.
"It's a coincidence both of our teams wear blue and white, so I guess people have compared us because we're both Italian, we both coach in Pennsylvania and we're both very frugal.
. . . we both spend money on good equipment and very little on exterior uniforms," Fusco said. "We're very much alike philosophically."
Westminster, located 70 miles north of Pittsburgh and 20 miles west of Youngstown, Ohio, has a perfect location for recruiting - hence the Titans' perfect record.
The paths of Fusco, Paterno and Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz cross occasionally as they sift through the fertile recruiting grounds of western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and southern New York for quality players with quick hands and quick minds.
But, unlike his major-college contemporaries, Fusco can take a player who's a step too slow or an inch too short, such as aptly named 5-foot-9 defensive end Dan Shorts.
"Most kids want to play at the big-time level, but we try to recruit some of them and we'll get one or two a year," Fusco said. "Most of the time we're not successful, but some kids go to bigger schools and come back to us."
His quarterback, Joe Micchia, didn't play much at Division I-AA Youngstown State, but has played in 27 consecutive winning games since transferring to Westminster. He sat out Westminster's 1987 playoff defeat to rival Geneva College with an injury.
Brad Tokar, who has rushed for more than 2,500 yards the past two seasons, was recruited by several Division I-A schools, but wanted to play at a smaller college.
There is pressure to win at Westminster, just as at Notre Dame and Penn State, but, Fusco said, "The pressure we have we put on ourselves, to live up to our past traditions . . . and that's healthy pressure."
"I see a lot of similarities between Coach Holtz and Coach Fusco," Pat Shannon said. "They're both very intense, great disciplinarians, role models . . . and they're both legends. Coach Holtz is a great coach, but we've got a great coach, too."