YOUNGSTOWN - John Simon isn't afraid to use the word "sir."

It's part of his Catholic upbringing - all the way from St. Christine's School in Youngstown to Cardinal Mooney.

However, the massive 6-foot-3, 280-pound senior tight end and defensive lineman isn't as kind to his opponents. Simon gave a verbal commitment to Ohio State University earlier this year and will sign in February.

"Obviously he has a big impact and demands a lot of respect from his opposition and those kind of things. Of course, he's going to have some impact," said Cardinal Mooney coach P.J. Fecko, whose fourth-seeded Cardinals (9-2) will play top-seeded Steubenville (11-0) at Canton's Fawcett Stadium today. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.

Simon suffered a high ankle injury against Division II's Columbus Bishop Watterson in Week 10. He played sparingly against Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy in round one of the playoffs.

"It was a tweak. They were just keeping me out to be safe. I'm good to go," Simon said.

"He's had a great week," Fecko said. "He's good to go. He was ready to go last week and was bugging us pretty bad on the sidelines, but we kept him out."

Simon said he just wanted to do what's best for the team.

"It was tough," he said. "But as long as we get the win, that's all that matters. I tried my best to root the guys on and they did a nice job."

Mooney aptly filled in for the impact player.

"With John not playing a lot in that spot, our guys approached it the same," Fecko said. "Everybody takes care of their responsibility. I had the confidence everybody was going to take care of their responsibility. It's very difficult to switch things around.

"John's a tremendous player, but it's the nature of the game people are going to get injured and people are going to miss games. You need people to step up and thankfully we have that."

Not only does Simon play defense, he's able an exception pass and run blocker as well as a capable pass catcher from his tight end position.

"He's done both. He's had some good receptions for us and he's done a really good job of blocking for us," Fecko said.

"He's been an impact in both of those phases. John is the type of player who just loves to play. He doesn't care if he's catching balls or blocking or whatever he's doing. He just loves to compete."