Big Red looks to bounce back
STEUBENVILLE -- Suffice it to say Linsly's Cadets will be jumping from the frying pan into the fire when they march into Harding Stadium Friday for a date with Big Red.
The 3-1 Cadets are coming off a 35-14 loss to St. Clairsville. Due to COVID-related issues, that contest was arranged 34 hours before kickoff. Originally, Linsly was scheduled to visit Princeton while the Red Devils were to test Indian Creek.
Coach B.J. Depew's club owns victories over Martins Ferry (27-14), Fairmont Senior (31-22) and Youngstown Cardinal Mooney (35-21). Fairmont is the defending West Virginia Class AA champion.
Friday's game will be the ninth all-time between the two schools, Steubenville holding a 7-0-1 series lead. Big Red will be celebrating homecoming and the opening kick is set for 7 p.m.
"I have been pleased with the progress our team is making week by week playing a challenging schedule," Depew said. "Steubenville poses the toughest challenge to date in terms of its talent, scheme and the tradition of their program.
"We faced a tough team last week in St. Clairsville and came up short of our own expectations. We cannot dwell on that game for very long -- we have to learn and move on."
Like Linsly, Big Red also tasted defeat for the first time last week, dropping a 24-7 verdict at Dover. Reno Saccoccia's 4-1 squad is ranked eighth in this week's Ohio AP Division III poll and is sixth in the Division III, Region 9 computer rankings. Kenston leads the region followed by Chardon. Those two teams square off Friday.
Chardon remains No. 1 in the AP poll, which includes six teams from Region 9. The others are Kenston, Aurora, Dover and Streetsboro.
"Linsly has plenty of size and two really good athletes," Saccoccia said. "They also have three or four more quality players. The two really good ones have escapability and were able to get some experience from last year.
"It's not a big school (Linsly is considered a Division VI team by OHSAA standards) but they play good football and they have very good coaches. There are players from a lot of different areas. As the year goes on, Linsly gets better and better because the kids start to understand each other. The later you play them during the season, the better they get."
One of the biggest challenges Depew faced entering the season was finding a replacement for quarterback Hunter Kelley, a two-year starter. The veteran coach turned the signal-calling responsibilities over to electric junior Luca DiLorenzo (5-7, 150).
"The quarterback situation is totally different from last year," Saccoccia said. "Linsly's quarterback last year was a very good thrower and also was a threat to run.
"Their guy this season is very good with his feet and throws the ball OK. It's just the opposite from last year. Offensively, they roll the quarterback out a lot and also rely on the play action pass."
DiLorenzo is joined the backfield by sophomore Alex Taylor and bruising senior fullback Ada Dolata.
The receiving corps includes senior Felix Reitter, junior Nathan Coleman, junior Jy'Leik Johnson and sophomore Malte Feil.
Senior Liam Lyck, who stands 6-foot-5, lines up at tight end.
Against St. Clairsville, Linsly compiled 324 yards of offense, 205 coming on the ground. The Cadets were hurt by a pair of turnovers and 15 penalties.
Hayden Bozich, a senior, anchors the offensive line. He stands 6-foot-6 and goes 280 pounds. He's joined along the front by senior Amir Hodzic and junior Debu Yi.
"We're preparing for a major challenge from a good team in Linsly," Saccoccia said. "They play a very good schedule. Last week, they went against St. Clairsville, a very solid football team and they already have faced Mooney."
Linsly will be traveling to Dover later in the season.
When discussing his team's game with Dover, Saccoccia noted "all losses are tough and that loss certainly was a tough one."
"We had our chances," he said. "Their first drive of the second half led to a touchdown and put them up 17-7. That kind of clinched things. We need to come back this week and have a great week of practice.
"That game is over. We can't let one game define us as a team or as individuals. That's the message I am stressing to our players. With the way things are now, it's a long season -- it's not a 10-game season. We have to get our heads back on quickly. We need to regroup and focus on getting a couple of other kids ready to play."
Through the first half of the season, Big Red's offense is averaging 231 yards rushing per game and 167 through the air. Steubenville is averaging 29.8 points per game.
The defense is allowing 90 rushing yards an outing, 118 via the pass and 11 points.
Junior quarterback Phaeton Hill has thrown for 837 yards and seven touchdowns. He is completing 60 percent of his passes. Senior Inky Jones leads the team in receptions with 10 for 282 yards and five scores.
Sophomore Savier Faulks paced Big Red's ground attack in the Dover game, collecting 83 yards on 16 trips. He and junior Spencer Ostovich have stepped to replace injured senior Rodney James Sr.
Faulks has 290 total rushing yards on 40 carries while Ostovich has 222 on 37 attempts.
"Playing Steubenville for our third year now, we have the benefit of knowing what it feels like to be in that game," Depew said. "We also know what it feels like to have success against Big Red in small doses. The key will be executing more consistently on offense and tackling better on defense.
"We made far too many mistakes to have a chance to beat a good St. Clairsville team. We know that to compete and win at the level we are playing at -- we cannot beat ourselves. Our opponents are strong and they don't need any help from us."
When it comes to Big Red, Saccoccia stressed his club is focused on a single goal.
"As a football team, you have attainable goals then you have goals that you really need to work for," Saccoccia said. "Our goal right now is to get better every week. Last week, we didn't get better. Some of that could have been Dover and some of it could have been us.
"If we are a good football team, we need to erase last week from our minds, get back to ground level and start again. Hopefully, the guys we have in the lineup are Big Red tough and ready to go."
GAME NOTE
If all goes according to plan, Big Red will be wearing camouflage jerseys Friday made available through the Ohio Army National Guard. The original plan was to wear the jerseys against Pittsburgh University Prep on Sept. 10 to pay respect to first responders and members of the military to help commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
The jerseys, Saccoccia said, were set to arrive on Wednesday.