STEUBENVILLE -- Five Steubenville High School athletes - four football players and one cheerleader - signed their letters of intent to continue their academic and athletic careers Wednesday morning inside the school on National Signing Day.
Signing from the Big Red football team are Niko Kausky (University of Charleston), Randy Mitchell III (Independence Community College), Noah Howarth (Fairmont State University) and Brayden Pearce (Frostburg State University).
"It's just amazing and a pleasure to see kids come in as seventh graders in lift club and leave as seniors, just the change in kids and watching them succeed and grow, and then finally get to go start a new life and continue their athletic careers and academic career," Steubenville head football coach Reno Saccoccia said. "Just to watch them grow is something special. Probably the best part about coaching is watching kids come in as young kids and leave as young men."
Kausky singed to play fullback for the Golden Eagles, who compete in the Division II Mountain East Conference. He caught five passes for 44 yards and two touchdowns this past season. He was a first-team All-Eastern District and Herald-Star/Daily Times All-Area team selection on defense with 65 tackles, six sacks, three forced fumbles and two recoveries.
Mitchell will play quarterback for the Pirates, located in Kansas. As Big Red's quarterback, he threw for 1,092 yards, going 91 of 146 (62.3 percent) for 12 touchdowns and seven picks. He also ran for 315 yards on 50 carries and three more scores. He was a first-team All-Eastern District and All-Area selection on defense as a DB with 29 tackles, 23 defended passes, two forced fumbles and one recovery.
Independence also is the same school Big Red standout running back, Eastern District Division III Co-Player of the Year and All-Area Offensive Player of the Year Tayveon Crawford announced last week on his Twitter account he was committing to. He is expected to sign next week.
Independence was featured in the third and fourth seasons of the Netflix docuseries "Last Chance U."
"Where they are going is a very competitive football school," Saccoccia said.
Howarth will play safety for the Falcons, also of the MEC.
Pearce signed as a long snapper with the Bobcats, located in Frostburg, Md. The Bobcats also compete in the MEC. Pearce is a member of U.S. Army Reserves.
"I felt this senior class and our 2019 team played as competitively and as hard as they could," Saccoccia said. "They played for four quarters every week. We never had a breather. We had a different battle every week, and they came ready to play. Of the 10 games we played, nine of them came down to the last drive.
"Hopefully, we all learn from it, we all will be better and the guys that are leaving will be better (from learning from the experience)."
Also on signing day, Mia Pierro singed her letter of intent for STUNT and football cheering at Ashland University.
(Grimm can be reached at agrimm@heraldstaronline.com)