Michael D. McElwain NO ROOM TO RUN — Catholic Central’s Brody Mihalyo is tackled by Toronto’s Max Tice while Red Knights teammate Danny Zdinak looks on, during Friday’s 18-7 win by Toronto at Clarke Hinkle Stadium.

TORONTO — For the third consecutive season, the Toronto football team earned a victory over Jefferson County rival Steubenville Catholic Central. Now, the focus turns to a challenge which has evaded the Red Knights for the past two campaigns.

They hope a third time is the charm against small school power Shadyside.

“It’s a great win, but we’ve got to get better,” Toronto head coach Eric Meek said after his team dispatched the Crusaders, 18-7. “We’re 4-0 and we still have a ways to go to get where we want to be. It’s kind of crept up on everyone, but we’ve won 21 of 23 regular season games. That’s an accomplishment, but those losses are against Shadyside. That’s a program I tremendously respect. Mark Holenka and his staff always come ready to play and they’ve built a great, consistent team.

“In my mind, Shadyside will always be the top Division VII program in the OVAC until we can prove otherwise. We were real close last year, but we couldn’t get it done. I have all the respect in the world for them. But we need to do what we have to do to beat them next week.”

The Tigers wound up defeating the Red Knights, 14-9, in 2015. The past three years against Catholic Central, Toronto has held an 88-14 advantage in the scoring column.

“We were very impressed scouting their defense,” Meek said. “We were worried about (Brody) Mihalyo and (Justin) Hartzell running the ball because of their speed and quickness. They are big up front and that looked like a challenge, as well. We kind of went to throwing the ball early. We were moving the ball, but we had penalties. We were jumping early, lining up offsides and holding, which hurt us. Our defense dug deep and kept us in the game.

“Then, we got the running game going in a full house backfield, which helped keep the clock moving.”

After a scoreless first quarter, Toronto (4-0) opened the scoring on its first play of its first drive of the second quarter. Catholic Central (1-3) started with the ball, but Dan Braniff recovered a fumble on the Red Knights’ 8-yard line. On the next snap, Danny Zdinak surged 92 yards for a touchdown, breaking three tackles around midfield in the process.

“I’ve been a fan of Danny Zdinak since I watched him in middle school,” Meek said. “The same goes for Max Tice and Thomas Fordham. They all had nice, consistent runs. Those guys ran the ball forward, in particular, late in the game to get some yards and eat the clock. Nate (Karaffa) did a nice job running out from the quarterback position.”

Toronto outgained the Crusaders, 268-214, on the ground. Zdinak finished with 142 yards, Tice added 41, Fordham had 32 and Karaffa held on for 29. Catholic Central was led by Mihalyo, who had 114 rushing yards, while Hayden Daley added 47. At quarterback, Hartzell ran for 42 yards.

“We’re moving the ball,” said Crusaders head coach Steve Daley. “I thought our line played great because we were effective running the ball.  We missed some opportunities. It’s just little things and we keep shooting ourselves in the foot. We stopped drives on our own and you can’t do that, especially against a good team like Toronto.”

Catholic Central was 2 for 5 on converting fourth down attempts and was forced to punt three times, despite only being forced three-and-out twice. Hartzell was 0 for 4 passing in the first half, but finished 8 of 19 through the air for 119 yards. He had a long pass of 28 yards to Vinny DiCarlantonio and hooked up with Mihalyo for a 16-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“Justin settled in there during the second half and had some nice throws,” Daley said. “There were a few dropped balls that didn’t help, but we were prepared for those situations. It’s just how it played out. They were starting to focus on stopping our run, so that opened some things up for us. When you have an effective ground game, that’s what is going to happen. It took some pressure off of him.”

At quarterback for Toronto, Karaffa was 8 of 13 through the air for 118 yards with a touchdown pass to Jake Keenan which put the Red Knights up, 12-0, at the 5:38 mark of the second quarter.

Toronto capped the scoring at the 5:22 mark of the fourth quarter, answering the Crusaders’ only touchdown. Tice ran four yards into the end zone to finish a 12-play, 60-yard drive.

Catholic Central was penalized five times for 47 yards, as its only infraction of the second half was a offsides call that aided the Red Knights’ final scoring drive. Toronto was penalized six times for 51 yards. The biggest penalty against the Red Knights was on a Ty West touchdown catch in the third quarter. The potential 48-yard score was negated by a block in the back.

“I think we should have scored some more points,” Meek said. “The block in the back on Ty’s touchdown was a shame and it eventually set us back an extra 25 yards. That’s something we just can’t do. We could have gone up, 19-0, but it’s all part of the game. Central played very well. They played us tough. It was a physical game.”

That’s what the Red Knights expect next week, too. They remain at Clarke Hinkle Field to host the 4-0 Tigers, who beat Meadowbrook, 48-41, on Friday.

The Crusaders are on the road, again, travelling up Rt. 11 to play unbeaten Warren John F. Kennedy. The Eagles just blanked Columbiana Crestview, 34-0.

“Our kids have shown, through the first four weeks, that they’re going to play tough no matter who it is,” Daley said. “We’re just going to keep working and hopefully we can get some more wins as the season goes on.”

Toronto 18, Catholic Central 7

Central     0    0  0  7  —   7

Toronto     0  12  0  6  — 18

T: Zdinak 92 run (kick missed)

T: Keenan 6 pass from Karaffa (kick missed)

C: Mihalyo 16 pass from Hartzell (DiMichele kick)

T: Tice 4 run (kick missed)

RUSHING: Central 47-214 (Mihalyo 22-114, Daley 12-47, Hartzell 10-42, LeFever 3-11). Toronto 34-268 (Zdinak 8-143, Tice 9-41, Fordham 3-32, Karaffa 8-29, West 1-14, Braniff 1-7, O’Brien 1-2, Keenan 1-0).

PASSING: Central 8-19-105-1-0 (all by Hartzell). Toronto 8-13-118-1-0 (all by Karaffa).

RECEIVING: Central 8-105 (DiCarlantonio 4-68, Bell 2-17, Mihalyo 1-16, Daley 1-10). Toronto 8-118 (Keenan 3-30-1, Zdinak 2-38, West 2-27, Tice 1-23).

FIRST DOWNS: Central 17, Toronto 13.

PENALTIES-YARDS: Central 5-47, Toronto 6-51.

PUNTS-YARDS: Central 3-36, Toronto 1-34.

FUMBLES-LOST: Central 4-1, Toronto 0-0.