Big Red’s quest begins
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STEUBENVILLE -- Big Red's quest for a fifth state championship starts Friday with a Division III, Region 9 opening-round home playoff game against Youngstown East.
Steubenville, which is in the Ohio playoffs for a 20th consecutive year, earned the seventh seed in the region, while East is seeded 26th. The winner advances to play either No. 10 Dover or 23rd-seeded Tallmadge in the second round.
Big Red and East have played 15 times in the past, the last match-up taking place in 1993. Big Red holds a 13-2 series lead. Friday's kick is set for 7 p.m. inside Harding Stadium.
Twenty-seven teams are competing for the Region 9 championship. The top five seeds (Chardon, Streetsboro, Canfield, New Philadelphia and Aurora) were awarded first-round byes. Chardon was the state's top-ranked Division III club in the final AP poll, while Canfield was fourth, Streetsboro fifth, New Philadelphia 10th and Aurora 11th.
East, which competes in the always-tough Steel Valley Conference, is winless to date in six tries. The Golden Bears have fallen to East Cleveland Shaw, Boardman, Youngstown Cardinal Mooney, Youngstown Ursuline, Warren Howland and Youngstown Chaney. Big Red opened its season with a 40-13 whipping of Mooney.
"Speed," Big Red coach Reno Saccoccia quickly said when asked to describe the East squad. "They have real good speed with really good speed on defense. They also have a lot of good athletes. East has just played a very tough schedule.
"Offensively, they are a lot like us. They run a multiple I formation with a little bit of spread mixed in. Defensively, they like to keep seven guys in the box and play a lot of man to man in the secondary."
Freshman quarterback Andrew Blackmon took control of East's offense in last week's 22-2 loss to Chaney. He completed 10 of his 19 passes for 146 yards. LeBron Donlow also sees time at the QB spot, as does D'jawon Robinson when the Golden Bears utilize the wildcat formation.
Frank Harris Jr. and Cameron Atwood are East's leading rushers. Receiving threats are Qwamar Morris, Mike Barnette and Cornell Kennedy. Robinson also sees time as a receiver when not in the backfield.
East has allowed 161 points in its six losses while scoring 51.
Big Red enters the playoffs with a 3-2 mark and is looking to rebound from last week's heartbreaking 42-41 overtime loss to Austintown Fitch. After its touchdown in the extra session, Steubenville opted to go for 2 and the victory, but its running play was stopped short.
Sophomore Spencer Ostovich ran for 131 yards and four touchdowns against Fitch. He also caught a scoring pass from senior quarterback Cade Kernahan. Senior tailback Nate McShan added 119 rushing yards.
"We played a good game against a very strong football team," Saccoccia said. "Our kids, however, said it before I did -- we played a good game but we got beat.
"The best thing we can do is learn from it and not let what happened last week impact how we perform this week. It's important for us to just get over it and move on."
Through six games, Big Red is averaging 28.8 points per game, 229 rushing yards and 117 yards through the air. The defense surrenders 22.8 points an outing, 128 yards on the ground and 121 through the air.
Ostovich has carried the rock 87 times for 472 yards and seven touchdowns. McShan has collected 264 yards and a couple of scores. Kernahan's 52 completions have resulted in 566 yards and six touchdowns.
Senior Jared Roberts has 12 receptions for 136 yards, while senior Aaron Ferguson has 10 for 117.
"It is great to have a home playoff game," Saccoccia said. "But, honestly, it is just great to be playing. The teams that want to be in the playoffs were able to do that this year and right now, everyone has a 0-0 record."
As far as Region 9 goes, Saccoccia realizes the competition will be strong.
"I might have an opinion that could be considered a little biased, but I believe there are seven or eight teams in our region that could win the championship," he said. "There are a couple of teams that are considered favorites, and there are some better than others, but there also are teams that could rise the occasion.
"In the playoffs, you only have to beat someone once. It is not like baseball or basketball where you to have win the best of three, or five or seven. It is one game for 48 minutes. The winners advance and the losers go home. I really believe that is the best thing about the playoffs -- you have one chance to do something special."