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Week 5: Big Red lights up the scoreboard

Big Red celebrated the 40th anniversary of Harding Stadium’s computer and graphics message board by lighting it up early and often in Friday’s 55-20 victory over Pittsburgh USO.

The board, the first of its kind in high school football, debuted during the Cincinnati St. Xavier game, a Week 5 7-6 loss for Steubenville.

Dave Hindman Sr., who held various elected offices in the area — including a stint as mayor — and also operated an electronics business, maintained the scoreboard, lighting and all the electronics at Harding Stadium up until his death in 1995. His son took over for many years and how his grandson is at the controls.

Hindman Sr. was responsible for assembling a group of Big Red supporters, known as the Hustlin’ 8, which controlled the fire-breathing horse, the computer board and oversaw the public address system.

A video salute to the Hustlin’ 8 was played on the new message board, which was unveiled several years ago, during Friday’s game with the Wildcats.

In moving to 5-0 for the third consecutive season, Big Red compiled 464 rushing yards and scored all of its touchdowns on the ground. Jacob Bernard did most of the damage for Steubenville, running for 225 and four scores.

Big Red, Ohio’s top-ranked Division IV squad, hits the road this week, traveling to Dover to face the 3-2 Tornadoes. Dover was involved in a back-and-forth affair with Tallmadge on Friday, falling 28-21.

Weir High honor:

Weir High honored one of its oldest alums Saturday before its game with Petersburg at Jimmy Carey Stadium.

Dominic Shell, 96, is believed to be the only surviving member of the undefeated 1937 Red Rider football team and the 1938 state championship team. A 1939 Weir graduate, Shell also lettered in basketball and baseball. All three sports were coached by the legendary Carl R. Hamill.

After graduation, Shell enlisted in the Army and served during World War II. He was wounded while saving the life of a fellow soldier on the island of New Guinea and received a Purple Heart. The man whom Shell saved was a cousin of the great heavyweight boxing champion, Rocky Marciano.

After his discharge, Shell continued his education and graduated from the Medical College of Virginia and later became one of the first physical therapists in the Ohio Valley.

He was escorted at the ceremony by his great grandchildren, who all currently attend Weir. They are freshman Gage Reitter, sophomore Gabriella Soplinski, junior Reed Reitter and senior Dominic Soplinski.

Joe says:

One half of the Ohio high school football season is in the books and Big Red remains atop the Division IV, Region 13 computer standings, according to Joe Eitel.

Steubenville has 12.1 points compared to 11.1 for second place Perry. The other top six teams in the region, at the moment, are Canton South, Poland, Girard, Cortland Lakeview, Struthers and Ravenna Southeast.

Toronto, winners of four straight, remains in the top eight of Division VII, Region 25. The Red Knights are currently seventh. Dalton leads the region with Cuyahoga Heights second. Lisbon, which visits Toronto on Oct. 6, is fourth.

Thanks to its upset of Warren John F. Kennedy, Catholic Central has jumped back into the race for a playoff spot in Division VI, Region 23. The 3-2 Crusaders currently are ninth, just a little behind Howard East Knox. Nelsonville-York is leading the region with Fort Frye, Central’s Week 10 foe, seventh.

Same old,

same old:

Weir set a school scoring record Saturday in its 75-7 victory over Petersburg. The 75 points topped the 74 scored against Magnolia in 2004.

Chad Custer scored a career high five touchdowns, four coming on the ground. He moved into a second place tie with five former Red Riders who also scored five times in a game. Custer gained 175 rushing yards on just nine carries.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Spencer, making his first career start at quarterback, completed 7 of 11 passes for 203 yards and two scores.

Tony Filberto and his 4-1 Red Riders will travel to Belmont County Friday for a date with unbeaten Union Local.

“This is the same situation as last year,” said Filberto. “They were 5-0 and we were 4-1. I hope the outcome is the same as last year. Of course, this is two different teams.”

Stat leaders:

The 2017 season is at its halfway points and several area players continue to put up some huge numbers.

Madonna’s Donavan Kirby is closing in on 1,000 rushing yards after just four games. The junior workhorse has 959 yards on 129 trips and has scored 12 touchdowns. All three numbers are the best in the area.

The Blue Dons moved to 4-0 with their 28-7 win over Pendleton County and will host Vienna Matthews this week.

Tyler West from Harrison Central has the second best rushing total in the area, according to the unofficial statistics maintained by The Herald Star/Daily Times sports staff. Through five games, West has 709 on 91 trips. Catholic Central junior quarterback Justin Hartzell is third at 535.

Hartzell sprinted for two long touchdowns in the win over JFK. The Crusaders finished with 398 rushing yards, Craig Smith getting 126 and Levi Thompson 96.

Indian Creek junior Brennon Norris put up more impressive numbers in the loss to St. Clairsville, throwing for 345 and two scores. That performance put Norris over the 1,000 yard mark. He now has 1,001 and five scores.

His favorite target in the St. Clairsville game was Matt Mamula–six catches for 169 and a score.

Toronto’s Nata Karaffa, who had another big game in the win over Leetonia, is second with 800 passing yards and nine scores. Big Red’s Javon Davis has thrown for 791 and an area best 11 touchdowns.

Devin Eakle, Norris’ favorite target, is the area’s top receiver with 24 catches for 359 yards. Brooke’s Ethan Secrist has 17 receptions for 376 yards, the best yardage total in the area. Josh Dulesky of Buckeye Local and Toronto’s Jake Keenan, who missed the Leetonia game with an injury, have 15 catches apiece.

Big nights:

Secrist moved up in the receiver ratings following a huge night in Brooke’s 34-20 victory over Pittsburgh Perry.

He finished with six receptions for 168 yards and three touchdowns.

Brooke QB Gage Yost also had a big game. Finishing with 225 passing yards, he was 10-of-18 for four scores.

“It’s real nice to get that monkey off our back and get that first win,” Brooke coach Mac McLean said. “And, we want to keep it running but we know we have a real tall order with coach (Andrew) Connor and Indian Creek.

“Ethan and Gage both had outstanding games and really got us going, and hopefully that will be something we can build on.”

The Bruins will travel to Wintersville Friday.

Hometown proud:

In his “Coaches Corner” feature, which is part of the Big Red football program, Reno Saccoccia wrote last week about “just how fortunate we have been to have a few really good football players return to teach and coach” in their hometowns.

Former Big Red players now serving on Saccoccia’s varsity staff are JoJo Saccoccia, Danny Filtz, Told Filtz and Brian Pruitt. Justin Banks is the head freshman coach and Bubba Constantini is leading the Harding team. Anthony Saccoccia is on the Harding staff along with Thad Crozier, Harvey Sanders and Matt Davis.

“It is my honor to have coached every one of these educators and we are thrilled to have them return to their roots.”

QB pressure:

Weir’s Tony Filberto heaped praise on his defensive line that sacked Petersburg quarterback Jacob Hartman for losses on 10 of his 12 drop backs or run attempts. He has particular praise for the reserves that played most of the second half.

One of the stalwarts was a freshman, Jordan Brueck, who stands 6-1 and weighs 265. He was in on many of the tackles.

“Yes, Brueck is about 260 and plays tacklet,” Filberto said. “He’s going to be a good one. These young kids in the second half did a marvelous job. We’re real proud of them.”

Working hard:

Things continue to be difficult for Buckeye Local but the Panthers are still working hard.

In last week’s loss to Bellaire, John Marelli had a strong showing on both sides of the football. He had 10 carries for 93 yards and sprinted 70 yards for a touchdown. He also compiled 15 receiving yards.

Defensively, Marelli recorded 11 tackles. Charlie Smith added 70 rushing yards for Buckeye while Dulesky had four catches.

A tough one:

Harrison Central and Martins Ferry waged an offensive slugfest last week, the Purple Riders prevailing 42-39.

DeJuan Caldwell, making his second start at quarterback, did everything he could to keep the Huskies in the game. Caldwell finished with 322 yards of offense, running for 216 and passing for another 106.

“There were no losers this evening,” Harrison Central coach Justin Kropka said. “There was a team that scored more points than the other but there wasn’t a loser out on the field.”

Top stats:

Running wild

¯254, Donavan Kirby, Madonna, 3 touchdowns

¯ 225, Jacob Bernard, Big Red, 4 touchdowns

¯ 216, DeJuan Caldwell, Harrison Central, 3 touchdowns

¯ 175, Chad Custer, Weir, 4 touchdowns

¯ 171, Justin Hartzell, Catholic Central, 2 touchdowns

¯ 126, Craig Smith, Catholic Central, touchdown

¯ 110, Tyler West, Harrison Central, 2 touchdowns

¯ 106, Logan Walters, Weir 2 touchdowns

¯ 96, Levi Thompson, Catholic Central, 2 touchdowns

¯ 93, John Marelli, Buckeye Local, touchdown

Gunslingers

¯345, Brennon Norris, Indian Creek, 21 of 37, 2 scores

¯ 231, Nate Karaffa, Toronto, 14 of 20, 2 scores

¯ 225, Gage Yost, Brooke, 10 of 18, 4 scores

¯ 203, Sebastian Spencer, Weir High, 7 of 11, 2 scores

¯ 146, Nick Chaney, Oak Glen, 8 of 21, 2 scores

¯ 122, Justin Hartzell, Catholic Central, 10 of 13, score

¯ 106, DeJuan Caldwell, Harrison Central, 5 of 16, score

Hands team

¯ 6, Matt Mamula, Indian Creek, 169, touchdown

¯ 6, Ethan Secrist, Brooke, 168, 3 touchdowns

¯ 6, Nick Sninchak, Toronto, 75, touchdown

(Sports correspondent Ralph Cox contributed to this story.)

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