Kiwanuka going home to Indy

INDIANAPOLIS -- Winning a championship in your hometown is a Hollywood ending for most athletes.

Giants linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka, who grew up in Indianapolis, has an opportunity to write a sequel more than a decade after winning two state football titles at Cathedral High School.

"It's hard to find all the right words to describe it," Kiwanuka said. "Getting to [a Super Bowl] is a big enough deal, but getting to one that's in your hometown, I don't know how many times that's going to happen."

It's something Kiwanuka has been thinking about for a few years now.

"I tried to put it out of my mind, tried to take every game as they come, but from the time it was announced, I was like, 'Oh, that would be awesome if I could get there,' " he said. "I've been looking at it for a long time."

Cathedral High School is a private Catholic school on the northeast side of Indianapolis about 11 miles from Lucas Oil Stadium, where Kiwanuka and the Giants will play the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5. Kiwanuka already has one Super Bowl ring, but he was injured during the Giants' 2007 playoff run and missed the big game. While at Cathedral, he won titles in his sophomore and junior years.

Kiwanuka compared winning a Super Bowl ring after the 2007 season to being on that first state championship team as a sophomore.

"I was on the field and I contributed, I did a decent amount, but I wasn't a starter," he said. "The one from my junior year, I was starting on both sides of the ball and it was my friends who were all involved. I kind of feel like this one will be more like that one. If we go out there and we get a win, I still appreciate the opportunity, I know I was a big part of that last team that won one, but this is the one that I'll remember more."

As a junior, Kiwanuka made a pivotal play in the championship game at the now-demolished RCA Dome in Indianapolis. Coaches moved the svelte pass-rusher into the secondary with Cathedral trying to preserve a 24-21 lead, and Kiwanuka fully extended his 6-5 frame to intercept a last-minute pass.

Kiwanuka helped lead Cathedral to a 36-5 record in his final three seasons, but he wasn't even the hottest college prospect on his own team. Former teammate Otis Shannon, who played two seasons at Harper Junior College, is the leading rusher in Indiana high school history, and Jeremy Trueblood has started 83 regular-season games at right tackle for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"There were some characters in his class," Cathedral coach Rick Streiff said. "He would fly under the radar. He would be kind of in the middle of it, but he wasn't the ringleader."

Trueblood lined up at defensive tackle alongside Kiwanuka at Cathedral. Although Kiwanuka received scholarship offers from Indiana and Ball State, he followed Trueblood to Boston College.

"You could see how long his arms are. He could reach from 4 feet away and tackle someone," Trueblood said by telephone earlier this week. "I thought I was pretty good at D-line, but every time I thought I would make a tackle, he would get there a split-second before I did."

Kiwanuka did not blossom as a football player until he reached Boston College, where he holds the school record with 371/2 sacks.

Still, Streiff says it's easy to recognize Kiwanuka on television. Streiff looks for the defensive player chasing down an opponent with those familiar elongated strides. Kiwanuka's reserved demeanor hasn't changed much, either.

"When he makes a play, he's excited about it," said Streiff, who has coached 17 years in two stints at Cathedral and has won seven Indiana state championships. "But he's not like some of these other guys who have some kind of salute that they have to do every time they sack a guy or make a tackle. He just goes about his business."

Kiwanuka's businesslike approach helped him make the transition from defensive end to linebacker for the Giants this season. He had 62 tackles and 31/2 sacks behind a stockpile of pass-rushers, including Jason Pierre-Paul, Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck.

Before Cathedral, Kiwanuka attended St. Simon the Apostle in Indianapolis. Diane Eltzroth, who taught Kiwanuka for three years, was impressed by his maturity at a young age.

"I taught so many boys who thought they were going to be professional athletes, and I think he never gave that any thought," Eltzroth said.

Does Kiwanuka think about making a big play to clinch another championship in his hometown?

"I'm just focused on the win," he said. "An individual play here or there, that's something that you'll look back on at the end. But I'm focused on just getting this win because that ring is the most important thing."

With Tom Rock