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Big Red clinches playoff spot

DEFENSIVELY SPEAKING — Steubenville’s, from left, Erik Lulla, Kwadre Williams and Jojo Brown celebrate a defensive touchdown against Cardinal O’Hara on Friday. (Photo by Michael D. McElwain)

STEUBENVILLE — Big Red has earned an 18th consecutive trip to the Ohio football playoffs.

On Friday inside Harding Stadium, Steubenville, the state’s fourth ranked Division IV club, overcame a slow start and rolled to a 54-18 victory over Cardinal O’Hara.

With the win, Reno Saccoccia’s squad improved to 8-1 and have clinched, according to Joe Eitel, a home game for the Region 13 playoffs. As of Saturday afternoon, Eitel had Big Red ranked third in the region behind Perry and Hubbard. The Hawks, who hail from Tonawanda, N.Y., fall to 4-4.

Jaziah Blackwell had a huge night on both sides of the football for Big Red. The senior tailback/defensive end ran for four touchdowns and forced a fumble that resulted in six points.

“We started a little slow, and I really wanted to have a good performance for the football teams of 1967 and 1982 (the SHS classes of 1968 and 1983 had reunions at the stadium Friday),” Saccoccia said. “Those were two super teams — the 1967 team went 9-1, and the 1982 team went 10-0. We did a better job in the second half of representing them. We really played ’67 and ’82 football in that first half.

“I’m happy, a win is a win. Sometimes you have to win without your best pitch. Tonight, we won without our two best pitches.”

After getting a turnover on downs early in the opening period, O’Hara stunned Big Red by going 40 yards for the first score. It came on a 26-yard pass from C.J. Masters to talented senior wide receiver Jermaine Haynes.

Big Red then moved from its own 34 to the O’Hara 20 where it came up a yard short on fourth-and-two. A holding penalty put the Hawks back to their own 10. On third-and-long, Blackwell put a monster hit on Masters, knocking the ball loose. Kwadre Williams fell on the loose pigskin for Steubenville’s first touchdown. The extra point was blocked, and the first quarter ended in a 6-6 deadlock.

Steubenville reeled off 14 unanswered points to start the second on two short runs by Blackwell. Ian Phillips, who missed a couple of games with an injury, nailed his conversion kicks.

Blackwell’s first score came after a strong 47-yard run by Tayveon Crawford.

The Hawks made it 20-12 when Masters found Haynes for a 16-yard touchdown. Blackwell completed his second quarter touchdown hat trick on a 22-yard scamper, and Big Red led 27-12 at the half.

O’Hara got a quick score to open the third, Brandon Broadnax going over from 2 yards out. After that, it was all Big Red.

Blackwell sprinted 23 yards for his fourth score. Clayton Criss found Ryan Rauch running free in the O’Hara secondary for a 30-yard touchdown. Isaiah McCartney bulled his way in from 4 yards out on the opening play of the final quarter. Phillips’ sixth extra point kicked in the OHSAA mercy rule.

Dylan Bozica accounted for Steubenville’s final six-pointer on an 11-yard sprint.

“I wish we would have started a little better, but we picked it up as the game went forward,” Saccoccia said. “Hopefully, we learned something from this game.

“You have to learn something from big wins, learn something when you lose and learn something from games like this. Like I told the kids, I love them. I’m just disappointed with the way we started out.”

Steubenville finished with 463 yards of offense, 384 coming on the ground. Blackwell had 116 yards on just 12 carries. Joe Brown added 102, and Crawford finished with 93. Criss completed four passes, three going to Rauch, for 79 yards.

“We started fast but, unfortunately, we couldn’t maintain our intensity for four quarters,” O’Hara coach Shaq Dudley said. “A lack of depth hurt us, as did a little lack of maturity when it comes to being in a hostile environment. We knew what to expect, and we were able to hang around for a while.”

Masters, who had thrown for 1,153 yards in O’Hara’s first seven games, completed 12 passes for 159. He and Haynes connected six times for 127 yards.

“O’Hara had some good players,” Saccoccia said. “We always respect our opponents. If you don’t respect your opponent, then you are not an athlete. You’re not a team. I think we are a good team, and we definitely respect our opponents.”

Big Red will close its regular season Friday when University School visits Harding Stadium. O’Hara will visit Buffalo Canisius on Saturday.

“The good thing for us is we realize we still have room to grow,” Dudley said. “Obviously, there are things we need to improve on, and those things got exposed against Big Red.

“We’re leaving here with a benchmark of where we need to improve to compete for a championship.”

The Hawks clinched the top seed for the Monsignor Martin Class B playoffs two weeks ago.

Steubenville 54, Cardinal O’Hara 18

O’Hara 6 6 6 0 — 18

Big Red 6 21 14 13 — 54

O’HARA: Haynes 26 pass from Masters (run failed)

BIG RED: Williams fumble recovery in end zone (kick blocked)

BIG RED: Blackwell 2 run (Phillips kick)

BIG RED: Blackwell 3 run (Phillips kick)

O’HARA: Haynes 16 pass from Masters (pass failed)

BIG RED: Blackwell 22 run (Phillips kick)

O’HARA: Broadnax 2 run (pass failed)

BIG RED: Blackwell 23 run (Phillips kick)

BIG RED: Rauch 23 pass from Criss (Phillips kick)

BIG RED: McCartney 2 run (Phillips kick)

BIG RED: Bozica 11 run (run failed)

RUSHING: O’Hara 23-48-1 (Broadnax 12-38-1; Lewis 6-(-1); Masters 1-(-5); Dixon 3-5; Suttles 1-7); Big Red 52-384-6 (Crawford 11-93; Blackwell 12-116-4; Brown 15-102; Smith 3-28; Wickham 2-7; Tuttle 3-7; Kausky 1-1; McCartney 4-19-1; Bozica 1-11-1).

PASSING: O’Hara 12-18-159-2 (all by Masters); Big Red 4-7-79-1 (all by Criss).

RECEIVING: O’Hara 12-159-2 (Haynes 6-127-2; Hemphill 2-21; Moss 1-2; Broadnax 3-10); Big Red 4-79-1 (Rauch 3-64-1; Kausky 1-15).

FIRST DOWNS: O’Hara 9; Big Red 24.

PENALTIES-YARDS: O’Hara 8-82; Big Red 4-30.

PUNTS: O’Hara 5-32; Big Red 0-0.

FUMBLES-LOST: O’Hara 1-1; Big Red 0-0.

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