Local Sports

Crusaders pull away, head to playoff on winning streak

STEUBENVILLE – A fast start and a good finish resulted in the Catholic Central football team collecting its sixth-straight victory.

Catholic Central built a double-digit advantage against Wellsville in the first quarter, and the Crusaders ended up pulling away from the Tigers en route to a 39-25 Senior Night victory on Reno Saccoccia Field Saturday night inside historic Harding Stadium.

“We got the ball to our athletes in space,” first-year Catholic Central (7-3) head coach Greg Bahen said about what enabled his team to build an early 12-point advantage. “We started off with an easy throw. Daveon can make big plays. Rahim can make big plays.

“After that, we got pretty sloppy. We made mistakes. We lost our momentum on offense. Our defense buckled down in the second half. Our defense shut them out in the second half. They scored a late touchdown against our JVs.

“Offensively, we hurt ourselves. We had some penalties. We had some pre-snap penalties. We had some personal fouls. We have some things we have to clean up. You would learn from a win than learn from a loss. Now, it is on to the postseason.”

Catholic Central entered the game having wrapped up its fifth-straight playoff birth as the chips fell the right way for the Crusaders Friday night enabling the team to clinch a spot in the Ohio Division VII, Region 27 playoffs early Saturday morning.

The Crusaders earned the No. 9 seed, and Catholic Central will take on No. 8 seed Lancaster Fisher Catholic at 7 p.m. Friday night on the road.

“This is my first year,” Bahen said. “Where I am from, we are used to winning. At DeSales, we went on long runs.

“We have made the playoffs last four years. Now, let’s go win a game. I think we matchup great with Fisher Catholic. They are a good football team. We are going to have a chance to exchange film with them. I think it is going to be a good game. We want to keep this run going.”

With the loss, the Tigers end the season with a record of 1-9. The boys from Columbiana County lost their seven games of the season.

“They pretty much did what we expected,” Bahen said. “They get in the I, and they want to run the ball down your throat. They played really physical in the first half. We challenged our defense in the second half, and they stepped up. We were able to stop them in the second half. They want to get into the I, and they want to try run the ball down your throat.”

The Tigers got the ball first to open the game, and the Crusaders forced them to punt at their own 18. Following a 28-yard punt, Catholic Central took over at the Wellsville 46, and it took just one play for the boys in blue to find the endzone.

On first down, quarterback Matty Jones hooked up with Daveon Thorn on a short completion, and Thorn did the rest as he weaved his way through the Wellsville defense en route to a 46-yard touchdown with 9:36 left to play in the first quarter. Unfortunately, the extra point was no good keeping the hosts up by 6.

The Blue-and-Gold made their second big play of the night on the ensuing kickoff as the boys from Jefferson County forced a Wellsville fumble on the return, and the home team took over possession of the ball at the Tigers’ 35. A 14-yard pass from Jones to Luke Bryan moved the ball down to the 9. Catholic Central was able to advert disaster on the next play as they were able to recover a fumble, however, the Crusaders lost 8 yards on the play.

It didn’t matter.

On the next play, Jones hooked up with Michael Fabbro for a 17-yard touchdown to give the home team a 12-0 lead. Catholic Central opted to go for 2, however, the visitors were able to come up with a stop keeping their deficit at 12 with 6:58 still to play in the first.

The Orange-and-Black battle back and got back into the game on their next offensive possession. The Tigers got the ball at their own 44, and Wellsville marched 56 yards for their first touchdown of the night as Zavien Williams was able to get outside on his way to a 9-yard touchdown to pull his team to within 12-6. The boys in white tried for the extra point, however, it was not successful keeping their deficit at six points eight seconds into the second quarter.

It was a big response for Wellsville, however, it did not have the momentum for long.

Catholic Central took over at its own 24, and two plays later Rahim Mitchell broke free for a 70-yard touchdown, and Joseph Vranish kicked the extra point to put the winners up 19-6 with 10:42 remaining to be played in the first half.

The Catholic Central defense came up with as top on Wellsville’s next drive keeping the momentum on the side of the Crusaders. Following a punt, Catholic Central took over at its own 47. They Crusaders attempted to take advantage of their good field position once again. This time, they were able to move the ball into Tiger territory, however, Wellsville was able to force a fumble and it was able to recover the ball at its own 34.

The Catholic Central drive was the first of five-straight drives in which the Crusaders had the ball on the Tigers’ side of the field, however, they were not able to produce points on any of the drives.

Following the fumble recovery, the Tigers were able to move the ball from their 34 all the way down to the Crusaders 9, however, Catholic Central got a stop as Wellsville turned the ball over on downs.

The Crusaders took over at their own 9, and they marched all the way down to the Tigers’ 9 late in the first half, however, back-to-back incomplete passes resulted in Catholic Central turning the ball over on downs. Wellsville then took a knee to run out the clock bringing the game to halftime.

“Offensively, we moved the ball, but we hurt ourselves,” Bahen said. “We should have scored at the end of the first half.”

The Crusaders received the ball to start the second half, and they drove into Tiger territory, however, they Wellsville defense stiffened and Catholic Central was forced to punt the ball for the first time in the game.

It got the ball back after its defense forced Wellsville to punt as they Crusaders took over at the Tigers’ 24, however, the locals were not able to take advantage of the great field position as they ended up losing 12 yards on the drive as a pair of 5-yard penalties and a trio of incompletions brought the drive to a disappointing end.

Catholic Central then forced and recovered a Wellsville fumble enabling the Crusaders to take possession of the ball at the Tiger 45. Once again, the Crusaders were able to move the ball onto the other side of the field, however, they once again shot themselves in the foot as a 17-yard penalty moved the ball back into Central territory, and the drive ended in another punt.

Though the Central offense was struggling, the Crusaders’ defense was on top of their game as they were able to keep the Tigers off the scoreboard until the offense started clicking again.

After forcing another Wellsville punt, Catholic Central took over at the Tigers’ 21. This time, the Crusaders were finally able to punch the ball in as Mitchell found paydirt for the second time on the night as he scored on an 8-yard run, and Vranish split the uprights on his extra point giving his team a 26-6 lead with 10:13 left to play in the game.

The Crusaders were able to force and recover a fumble on the ensuing Tigers’ drive as Catholic Central took over at its own 47. A 26-yard run by freshman Chris McCarthy moved the ball down to the Wellsville 9, and the freshman capped off the drive with a 4-yard run to extend Catholic Central’s advantage out to 32-6. The Crusaders missed the extra point keeping their lead at 26 points with 4:15 left to play.

Wellsville answered back on their next drive as Jeron Jackson got loose down the far sideline on his way to a 61-yard touchdown. Eric Dowling ran it in for the 2-point conversion cutting the Tigers’ deficit down to 32-14 with 2:20 remaining in the game.

Wellsville got the ball back as the Tigers were able to recover the onside kick. The Tigers drove into Crusader territory, however, Catholic Central came up with another stop as its forced Wellsville to turn the ball over on downs.

On the ensuing play, McCarthy rumbled through the Tigers’ defense en route to a 51-yard touchdown to increase Catholic Central’s advantage out to 38-14. This time, Vranish booted the PAT making the score, 39-14, with 25.8 seconds still showing on the scoreboard clock.

Following the kickoff, the Tigers opted to take a knee and run out the clock bringing the game and their season to an end.

Offensively, Catholic Central outgained Wellsville, 409-219. The Crusaders ended up averaging more than 10 yards a play as they ran 40 plays in the game. The Tigers ran 58.

Wellsville ran the ball 53 times for 206 yards and two touchdowns, while Catholic Central netted 239 yards and four scores on the ground on 23 carries. The biggest difference came through the air as the Crusaders completed eight passes for 170 yards and two more touchdowns, while the Tigers completed just 3-of-5 passes for 13 yards.

In the game, the two teams were penalized a total of 18 times for 153 yards. Catholic Central committed 12 penalties for 97 yards, while Wellsville was penalized six times for 56 yards.

Individually, Mitchell led the way on the ground for the Crusaders as he tallied 94 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries, McCarthy collected 81 yards and two touchdowns on just three carries, while Jones ended up with 41 yards on five carries.

Jones also threw for 170 yards and two touchdowns on the night. Thorn hauled in four receptions for 99 yards and a touchdown, Bryan snagged two receptions for 32 yards and Fabbro finished the night with one catch for 17 yards and a touchdown.

For Wellsville, Williams led the way on the ground as the sophomore produced 75 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, and Jackson ended the night with 71 yards and a touchdown on six carries.

Wellsville starting quarterback Zachary Banks completed both of his passes for nine yards before having to leave the game.

Toronto also qualified for the postseason in Region 27. The Red Knights are the No. 3 seed, and the boys from the Gem City have a bye in the first round.