Big Red heads to New Philly
Steubenville prepping to battle the Quakers and the heat
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NEW PHILADELPHIA -- The way Hall of Fame coach Reno Saccoccia sees it, his team will have two tough opponents on Friday night when his Big Red football team makes its first road trip of the season.
The first of those is New Philadelphia, whom the Big Red are traveling to Woody Hayes Quaker Stadium to do battle with. The opening kick is set for 7 p.m.
The second opponent both teams will contend with is the heat, as the temperature is predicted to hit the mid 90s on Friday and still be in the mid-80s by kickoff time in New Philly.
"I want to thank our fans for showing up on Friday night," Saccoccia said looking back on the opener. "They came out at 100 percent and we appreciate that. The players appreciate it. It was a great crowd and it kept our players really into the game. It was a great game all-around, both teams played well. Now we have to get on to the next one.
"The first challenge this week is New Philadelphia because they're a good football program. The second challenge is going to be the heat," Saccoccia said. "It's going to come down to who can handle the heat.
"We got a lot of kids into the game last week, not as many as we wanted, but that I think helped us in the fourth quarter. Hopefully this week we can get even more kids into the game."
A regular opponent on Big Red's schedule with a nearly evenly split all-time series with Steubenville taking a slight edge at 8-7-1 with last year's 29-14 victory at Harding Stadium, Saccoccia knows the Quakers are going to be a challenge.
"They're a different challenge because they have as many experienced players back as McNicholas, and their strength is their line and their quarterback," Saccoccia said. "Their quarterback is the heart and soul of their team. If you let him out of (the tackle box), he can really hurt you. They have a really good tailback who's not playing right now, but the kid they have playing now is really good, too. Their offense is diverse enough to give you problems."
Both teams are coming off of victories. Big Red battled to a hard-fought 18-16 victory over Cincinnati McNicholas in Week 1, and the Quakers edged Louisville, 12-7, on the road to open its season last week.
"They beat a really good Louisville team," Saccoccia said. "Both teams are coming off a win and there is a tendency to have a let down after a win. We're hoping not to have that let down and play a strong four quarters of football."
Keaton Fausel, the Quakers' senior QB Saccoccia alluded to, rushed for over 100 yards and both scores in the win, while New Philly's defense limited Louisville to less than 100 yards of total offense and just three first downs.
Big Red got a 223 yard performance by Aiden Davis in his debut as the team's signal caller last week, while Tre'Von Wiggins had 124 receiving yards and Jalen Minniefield racked up 105 rushing yards and a score.
"We want to get better every week at everything we do," Saccoccia said of the improvements he wants to see from Week 1 to Week 2. "The way our kids played together was something that was a big positive. That can help you get stronger and get better."