Football Xtra

Big Red returns home

STEUBENVILLE -- Reno Saccoccia has a pretty simple message for his Big Red football players as they prepare for Friday's home opener against New Philadelphia.

"Everybody trips-you have to get back up, it's as simple as that," Saccoccia said earlier this week. "If you trip and fall, you just can't lay there. You have to get back up."

Steubenville tripped in its season opener, dropping a 36-28 decision to Youngstown Ursuline. The Quakers, on the other hand, doubled up Louisville 42-21 to start their 2023 campaign.

Friday's kick is set for 7 p.m. inside Harding Stadium. The meeting will be the 16th all-time between the schools and the series is all square at 7-7-1.

"When you breakdown the Ursuline film, we had some very, very, very good plays and some very, very, very good parts of the game," Saccoccia said. "And we had a couple parts of the game where we didn't play well. Ursuline is a good team and I felt like we played them toe to toe. We just had more mistakes than they had, and we had some crucial mistakes."

The Fighting Irish led 29-12 at the half and got a huge break to start the third quarter when Big Red fumbled away the opening kick. That was one of four turnovers by Saccoccia's crew.

Ursuline quickly turned that miscue into seven points. Big Red did score the final 16 points of the game. Senior Elijah Mullins accounted for both second half scores, one coming on a 65-yard pick six and the other via a 1-yard plunge.

"In the last 23 minutes, Ursuline had four first downs," Saccoccia pointed out. "We played well, we just didn't play well enough. Hopefully, we learned something from it. If you lose a game and you don't learn something, that's not very good. If you lose and learn something that will help you down the road."

Big Red finished with 380 yards of offense in the contest, which endured a weather delay of more than an hour. Ursuline compiled 345 yards.

Senior quarterback Aydan Manning, making his first varsity start, threw for 210 yards while senior tailback Savier Faulks racked up 125 yards on the ground and scored on a 9-yard burst.

New Philadelphia trailed Louisville 14-7 early in the second quarter before its balanced offensive attack took over. The Quakers ran 58 offensive plays resulting in 451 yards, an average of 7.8 yards per snap.

Junior quarterback Keaton Fausel threw for 222 yards and three scores. He completed 14 of his 18 passes. He added 23 rushing yards and found the end zone. His 7-yard scamper capped a 99-yard third quarter scoring drive. Owen Schoelles, New Philadelphia's 6-7 tight end, was Fausel's top target, hauling in three aerials for 100 yards and a touchdown. Junior wide receiver Pete DiDonato had five catches for 77 yards.

Senior running back Etnie Richardson had an impressive outing--running for 173 yards on 26 carries and a touchdown. He also caught three passes for 29 yards and two more scores.

"We're excited to be heading into this game 1-0 and have a chance to compete against an always good, physical football team," New Philadelphia coach Mike Johnson said during an interview with the Dover Times Reporter. "We've seen Steubenville year in and year out and the consistency that they have is amazing.

"The fact that we were able to play physical against Louisville, we're hoping to do that again this week. You have to match Steubenville to have a chance because you know they're going to bring it."

Saccoccia described the 2023 Quakers as a "typical New Philadelphia team."

"They play good defense and they run and pass pretty efficient," he said. "The one difference is they maybe lack experience in some positions. That's the same thing we have. We lack experience in some positions.

"We just have to be ready to play football. The game is going to be played on the field--not anywhere else but on the field. We have to be ready to play for 48 minutes."

Johnson feels the key for his Quakers will be winning up front.

"Their defensive line has two returning starters, and our offensive line has two returning starters," he said. "We'll see where our offensive line is at. It will be a big gauge because if you can keep them off the quarterback or if you can get a hat on a hat, you can run the ball. You want to be able to do both of those but it's not easy because Steubenville's defense is intense. It's physical and it's fast.

"You just know that anytime you go down to Death Valley, you've got to be prepared. You've got to maintain the focus and the discipline. You have to match their physicality. Those are things that are not negotiable."

Saccoccia noted his Big Red must "be ready every Friday."

"We have a really good schedule, beginning with our scrimmages through the entire season," he said. "We just have to get our mindset to the point where we have to be ready every Friday. If we don't practice well, it will be hard to play well on Fridays.

"We need to take things one day at a time. It's important for us to get a good practice in, get a good rest and keep it up for the rest of the week until Friday. The best thing we can do right now is rest and hydrate."