Dave Marciano learned the importance of teamwork when he played football at St. Xavier.

The Mount Greenwood resident said learning those teamwork principles came in handy last summer on the job.

Marciano prepped at St. Rita and spent a year at Eastern Illinois before coming home to St. Xavier. He was one of 30 members of the Cougars’ 2011 NAIA national championship team honored Saturday before a 38-0 victory over nationally ranked St. Francis of Indiana at Deaton Field.

The former linebacker has been a Chicago police officer the past seven years. He found himself in the trenches dealing with protesters downtown last year after the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota at the hands of a police officer.

Marciano said his fellow cops tried to keep the peace as they were pelted with garbage and bottles, some containing urine.

Unlike a football team, which practices together and goes out and plays a game, Chicago’s riot teams were quickly assembled. Marciano ended up with teammates he knew — and some he didn’t.

“It was a mixture,” he said. “You would go out there with your team. Sometimes things would get separated because some people would go one way and they send a group another way, but for the most part, our leadership from top to bottom for the department was pretty much good.

“We kept everyone together. You wouldn’t wander off by yourself.”

There were several similarities to his football days.

“You have to look out for the guy next to you,” Marciano said. “Sadly, the city didn’t look good. The city was pretty much up for grabs, which was terrible. The police department held its own and I think did the city proud.”

He said he never left his house thinking he was going to get injured.

“If you have that mentality, you are going to lose your mind,” he said. “You would pull all your hair out. And that’s not good for your family. You can’t have that pressure.”

Even though law enforcement has been heavily criticized in recent years, Marciano still finds the profession rewarding.

“It sounds cliché but a lot of us do want to make a difference,” he said.

Marciano was a sophomore when St. Xavier won the national title. He played in all 14 games and had 43 solo tackles and 30 assists. He had 8 1/2 tackles for loss and an interception.

Brother Rice head coach Brian Badke, an assistant who worked with defensive backs for St. Xavier’s championship team, called Marciano and Jeremy Rhodes “boomerangs” because Marciano returned home after a year with Eastern Illinois while Rhodes, a Brother Rice graduate, returned after a year at Drake.

“They both came back and were two keys to our defense,” Badke said. “They were a part of a special group. They kept chipping away and chipping away every year, and in 2011, we broke through. When you have guys like that, they make you look like great coaches.”

When the 2021 and 2011 teams locked arms and did their traditional sway before Saturday’s game, Marciano said, “Oh, man, after that, I was ready to go out there and play.”

The Cougars (2-1) dismantled St. Francis, which came into the game ranked No. 13 in the nation according to the NAIA coaches poll. St. Francis, which has had football since 1998, had never been shut out in the regular season until Saturday’s Mid-States Football Association crossover.

St. Xavier coach Mike Feminis said he had a tear in his eye at the end of the game after watching his current team put on a show in front of the champs.

“I’m proud they made the old guys proud,” Feminis said.