STEUBENVILLE — It is almost time for the Big Red football team to make the awaited first walk up the ramp to Harding Stadium.

When they do so this year, they’ll be walking into a packed house for perhaps one of the biggest opening week games anywhere in the state of Ohio.

That match up is between Big Red and Youngstown area powerhouse Ursuline in a Division III clash Friday night.

The opening kick is set for 7 p.m.

“It’ll be extra exciting because of who we’re playing,” Big Red head coach Reno Saccoccia said.

This is the first meeting between the perennial powers since 2023 when Ursuline held on for a victory at Youngstown State University in a Thursday night game.

Overall, Big Red holds an 11-5 edge in 16 all-time meetings.

Both teams went on a deep playoff run last seaon. Big Red is coming off an undefeated regular season and run to the Region 11 championship game, where it fell to eventual Division III state champ Columbus Bishop Watterson, while Ursuline went 13-2 a year ago, winning 13 games in a row before falling to Toledo Central Catholic in a nailbiter in the state semifinals.

Each team graduated a lot of key players and have a lot of different faces this year, setting up a big early season clash for both storied programs looking for some early momentum.

“We’re playing one of the best teams in the state of Ohio,” Saccoccia said. “It’ll take every ounce of energy and every bit of our talent and heart and soul to compete at a level that’s going to take to win the game.”

After a long summer of anticipation, which Big Red has come out of healthy and ready to go, the players are ready to take the field for the showdown.

“We’ve had a great off-season,” Saccoccia said. “We had a great summer. We had really, really good two-a-days and we’ve come out healthy. That’s the first part, we’ve come out healthy and we’re ready to go.”

Saccoccia, who’s been leading Big Red up the ramp for more than four decades, knows the Youngstown teams are a challenge in their own unique way.

“They’re all tough,” the veteran coach said of the Youngstown teams. “Youngstown is Youngstown. They just know how to play the game of football up there.”

According to him, the biggest key to the game is playing a full, 48-minutes without letting up.

“Number one, you’ve got to be ready to play four quarters no matter what,” Saccoccia said. “You’ve got to be able to play 48 minutes no matter how far ahead you are or how far behind you are. Just look at the last time we played them, we dropped down by over 20 points and fought our way back and had an opportunity.

“In return, we have been ahead of them and they fought back and had an opportunity. It’s going to be a 48-minute game.”