Big Red fends off DeSales
Hard-fought victory in the rain clinches a playoff spot
Andrew Grimm BREAKING TACKLES — Big Red's Colton Henderson pushes off a DeSales defender for extra yards on Friday night. He rushed for 164 yards on 29 carries in a hard-fought 20-14 win.
Andrew Grimm ROOM TO RUN — Big Red's Santino Haney finds room on a scramble for a first down.
Andrew Grimm YARDS AFTER CATCH — Big Red's Stephen McShan fights through a tackle after making a catch.
Andrew Grimm TOUCHDOWN — Landon Crosier congratulates Santino Haney after his touchdown run.
Andrew Grimm BREAKING TACKLES — Big Red's Colton Henderson pushes off a DeSales defender for extra yards on Friday night. He rushed for 164 yards on 29 carries in a hard-fought 20-14 win.
Andrew Grimm ROOM TO RUN — Big Red's Santino Haney finds room on a scramble for a first down.
Andrew Grimm YARDS AFTER CATCH — Big Red's Stephen McShan fights through a tackle after making a catch.
Andrew Grimm TOUCHDOWN — Landon Crosier congratulates Santino Haney after his touchdown run.
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STEUBENVILLE -- With a steady rain falling and a loyal crowd behind them, the Big Red football team battled to its biggest win of the season Friday night.
Steubenville used a strong ground game to open a lead and then held on, making enough plays down the stretch to fend off visiting Columbus DeSales for a hard-earned 20-14 victory inside Harding Stadium.
The win moves Big Red to 7-2 on the season and unofficially clinched a 26th-straight playoff appearance.
"It was a great win," Big Red head coach Reno Saccoccia said. "It was what we needed, we needed a win like that. We needed to beat a team like DeSales with the type of coaches they have and the athletes they have. It was just a great effort.
"I want to thank the fans that sat through that weather and supported us all night. We appreciate that more than they know. They showed up and stayed behind us despite the weather. It was great night."
Big Red led 20-0 after three quarters before the Stallions, a Division II power, came battling back in the fourth quarter. The Steubenville defense, however, got a big fourth down stop with 2:40 to go in the game and the offense powered to a game-sealing first down with just over a minute left to seal the victory.
With the rain starting just prior to kick off, the run game was leaned on and Colton Henderson carried the bulk of the load, racking up 164 yards on 29 carries, his six-yard run on the last drive to move the sticks being perhaps the biggest of the 29. James Turner turned his five carries into two touchdowns, and senior quarterback Santino Haney had a key scramble for a first down on the first Steubenville scoring drive and converted a QB sneak for a score.
All told, the Big Red ground game accounted for 212 of the team's 252 yards of offense.
Big Red got the ball first and went 15 plays on the opening drive, taking more than five minutes off the clock before Haney pushed across the goal line and Chase Beall booted the ball through for a 7-0 lead.
After the defense got a stop and DeSales missed a 40-yard field goal, Big Red went on another nice drive, this time Turner going 18 yards breaking tackles to make it 13-0. A 2-point conversion pass was incomplete.
Henderson, while he did not score in the game, got going on that drive accounting for 60 yards on the march, including runs of 23 and 21 yards on back-to-back plays.
After Big Red led 13-0 at the break, the defense, which held the Stallions (6-3) to 67 yards in the first half, got a stop on the opening DeSales drive of the second half and the offense went on a 13-play, 98-yard drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock. Turner capped that drive, which was all runs, with his second score, a 1-yard plunge across the goal line, Beall making it 20-0 with 29 seconds left in the third quarter.
DeSales, however, was not going to go away quietly. Senior QB RJ Day, the son of Ohio State coach Ryan Day and a Northwestern commit, capped a long Stallions drive with a 10-yard passing score to Joey Petrozzi to get the visitors on the board.
Looking to put a drive together to put things away, Big Red appeared to convert a fourth down for a key first down, but a fumble at the end of the play gave the ball back to the Stallions anyway, and four plays later Day narrowly eluded a sack and found Kaleb Johnson in the flat, and he broke it for a 62-yard score, making it a six-point game with 5:10 to play.
The DeSales defense then got a three-and-out, giving the Stallions a chance to drive for the lead. The Big Red defense, however, came through with a fourth down stop, then the offense this time was able to get the big first down to be able to run out the clock and seal the victory.
Day finished with 187 passing yards in going 10 of 20, 123 of those yards coming in the fourth quarter. Big Red held DeSales to just 67 rushing yards on the night. The Stallions also had 14 penalties for 150 yards and lost a fumble.
DEFENSIVE PLAYMAKERS
Turner made a mark on defense, too, racking up a sack and a TFL to go with his two offensive scores. Stephen McShan had a TFL, Cleveland King a sack, Landon Crosier a fumble recovery and Haney broke up a pass in the secondary.
PLAYOFF RACE
Joe Eitel's unofficial rankings Friday night had Big Red not only locking up a playoff spot, but maintaining their lead in the Region 11 standings and clinching a top-four seed, which clinches a first round bye and home playoff game in the second round.
UP NEXT
Big Red closes the regular season with a home game against Digital Pioneers Academy out of the Washington, D.C. area next Friday night on senior night.