A sign in the Oregon Cardinal Stritch High School locker room proclaims, "The greatest asset in learning and education is admitting that you made a mistake and that you will do everything in your power to correct it."

For a team that through last weekend had posted just one victory since the end of the 1988 football season, those have evolved into words to live by.

Coach Ralph Orsini, in his eighth year at the Oregon school, says "The point we emphasize here at Stritch is playing LIKE winners ... we've been down foe a few years, so the emphasis is on trying to get the kids to play as well as they can and to be competitive so we can get to that next level."

It's a level Orsini has experienced first-hand, as a member of a state championship team at Steubenville Catholic Central, and later at Youngstown State University. But when he says "down in that part of the state, football is a way of life," he also recognizes that at a school like Cardinal Stritch, the numbers game can play against him.

"Last year we were playing what was essentially a JV squad against a varsity schedule, and our kids performed remarkably well under those circumstances," says Orsini of the 0-11 Cardinals of 1990.

"We have a great group of seniors this year -- they work as hard as any group I've been associated with. You might think that you get off to an 0-3 start, and everyone would be ready to pack it in, but I believe that [the 14-12 loss to Waite two weeks ago] is the first time I've seen the intensity and competitiveness in all of our players that a team needs to have," Orsini says.

"It was a game where you win everywhere but on the scoreboard. The players weren't real happy with that, and they had that look in their eyes saying 'It's not going to happen again.'"

Stritch tailback Tucker Frederickson, who led the Cardinals with 120 yards on 18 carries in the Waite game, agrees.

"A game like Waite boosted our confidence -- it was just a matter of making the scoreboard show it," he said.

Show it like this: Cardinal Stritch 17, Sylvania Northview 6. Tucker Frederickson, 22 carries for 127 yards.

Assistant coach Dave Walkosky, also a product of Steubenville Catholic Central, and more recently of the University of Toledo football program, says that the attitudes of players like Frederickson make the job worthwhile -- win or lose.

"The kids at Stritch have good hearts -- the will to win and the will to prepare to win, which makes them enjoyable to coach," says Walkosky. "Honestly, I'd rather go 0-10 with a group of kids who work and hustle and enjoy themselves than be 10-0 with great athletes who don't care."

A prime example of this, according to Walkosky, is Stritch quarterback Brian Volmar, who began the year as the Cardinals' third-string signal-caller, but was thrust into the starting role after a series of injuries that pared the team's healthy roster to just 33.

"Brian's a good athlete and can be a good quarterback," says Walkosky. "It's just a matter of getting some more snaps and some game experience."

Although Volmar's primary responsibility is handing the ball to Frederickson, in only his second start of the season, he completed five of his six pass attempts, including a 16-yard scoring toss to Scott Siccardi, and ran 16 yards for a score that clinched the rare Cardinal victory.

Co-captain Jeff Stuller, who Orsini calls "pound-for-pound as tough as anyone in the state of Ohio," keeps the win in perspective.

"I hate to lose," says the senior offensive lineman. "Here we may lose a lot, sure, but at Stritch you can really learn a lot because of the athlete-to-coach ratio which is so much better than at the bigger public schools."

So the numbers game can actually be an advantage for the Stritch gridder? Frederickson, who along with Stuller is one of four Cardinal co-captains, thinks so.

"Since there's not as many people on the team, you get to know everyone better, become a closer team," he says. "So in that way, the smaller numbers can be a plus."

Cornerback Mike Gocsik, another co-captain, agrees. "I'd rather be playing here at Stritch because you get a better quality of staff and players in general."

That quality may be reflected most accurately in the coaching philosophy espoused by Orsini and his staff.

"We as coaches believe that if you place too much emphasis on winning, then if they don't do something well, they get down right away," says Orsini. "We have to make them believe that if they get out and play their best game, the end result is that they're never going to lose."

"Vince Lombardi said there's no room for second place, but if you read that statement like he meant it, it means if an individual goes out and plays as hard as he can, he'll never walk off the field a loser even though the scoreboard might indicate otherwise."

Wingback Ty Tracy, the fourth of the co-captains, has learned from this approach to winning: "You have to have a lot of faith in your coaches and your teammates ... winning is important to me, but when I do lose, I just try to shake it offand use it to look toward the future."

A future that's bright, believe both star tailback and coach of the now 1-3 Cardinals.

Frederickson, ever the optimist, says, "We have a good team, we just have to put it together. We want to go out and prove people wrong."

Orsini agrees. "It's like the quote you see in the Bible -- there are people who will doubt this and doubt that, but we're believers, and we're going to get our share of wins this year."

"It's going to take a little while before we get to be consistent year in and year out, but down the road, I think that's going to happen for Cardinal Stritch."