Football Xtra

Big Red headed to Dover

DOVER -- With the Ohio high school football season reaching the midway point this weekend, more and more focus will be on computer points and standings.

A bunch of points will be on the line Friday when Steubenville squares off against Dover Friday inside Crater Stadium, also known as "The Brick House." The opening kick for the 28th all-time meeting between the tradition-rich programs is set for 7 p.m. Big Red holds a 20-6-1 series and collected a 29-13 victory in 2022.

After dropping its opener to still unbeaten Youngstown Ursuline, Steubenville has reeled off three consecutive victories, including a 43-20 homecoming win over Pittsburgh USO last week. Reno Saccoccia's crew currently are ranked second in Division IV, Region 15. Unbeaten Thornville Sheridan leads the region.

The Crimson Tornadoes started their season by losing to 3-1 Green 14-6 and undefeated Canton South 50-40. Dover has rebounded with victories over Indian Valley 27-14 and Pittsburgh Allderdice, a future Big Red opponent, 47-14. The loss to Dover is the lone blemish on the Indian Valley record.

Coach Dan Ifft's club is 18th in this week's Division III, Region 9 standings.

"Dover is a very well coached team," Saccoccia said. "They have a bunch of good football players. In fact, all their athletic programs are good.

"A real good rivalry has developed between Dover and Steubenville, not only in football but in all sports."

In offering his assessment of the Big Red during an interview with the Dover Times Reporter, Ifft said:

"Very well coached, first of all. They play extremely hard and they probably are the best opponent we have played to date. They are the whole package -- Steubenville's got offense, defense, special teams and temperament.

"Steubenville gives up yards grudgingly and they look for the big play on defense and on offense," he continued. "What he (Reno Saccoccia) does is just grind you with the running game. They can throw but if you can't deal with the run against Steubenville, it's going to be a long night."

Since going back to its five-wide offense in Week 2, Dover has scored 124 points in last three games.

"Our young quarterback (sophomore Jack Judkins) is getting better with every rep," Ifft said. "And we do have skilled kids on the perimeter than can do things with the football. We're trying to get the football wider and spread the field a little bit--it's 54 yards by 100 yards and let's see if we can make people defend space a little bit."

To have success against Dover, Saccoccia said his defense has to be able to "stop the run and defend the pass."

"They've gone back to the five-wide," he said. "They have their offensive coordinator back and they've gone back to the Dover of yesteryear.

"Their offense spreads out a defense but they also run the ball out of it also. That's what presents the most problems. Their quarterback is a good runner and they have a solid running back in J.J. Barton, who also is a good receiver. No. 8 (Daylon Clark) is a very good slot receiver. The offensive line does a good job of pass protecting and they are big football team."

Standouts upfront for the Crimson Tornadoes are seniors Simon Lorentz (6-3, 280) and Thomas Pevato (6-6, 300).

"Basically, the game of football is about the football," Saccoccia said when asked about the keys for success on Friday. "Offensively, you have to protect the football and defensively, you have to tackle the football. Also, we must try to limit our number of penalties."

Ifft feels the game will be decided by the play in the trenches.

"We've got to play well up front," he said. "We've got to give ourselves a chance. That's the way it is always. If we play well up front, then our skill can maybe get the ball in space. If you can't play well up front, you don't know if your skill can do anything because you can't get them there.

"Football is important in all our towns but football down there (Steubenville) is really big. It's more important than it is in any other town we play. In that community, it's really important to them and really important to their kids.

"I think our whole team is growing rather rapidly, but we've got to grow in a hurry, to be sure."

After a wild start that saw a combined 34 points scored in the opening 7:23 of the game, Big Red was able to adjust and pull away for the 43-20 win over Pittsburgh USO. After trailing 8-7 early and being deadlocked 14-14 after that, Steubenville outscored the Panthers 29-6 from there, including scoring the final 15 points and pitching a second half shutout.

"I thought our coaches and players did a real good job of just resetting the defense," Saccoccia said of the Week 3 win. "The offense did a good job of keeping the ball and scoring."

Senior quarterback Aydan Manning threw for 124 yards and two touchdowns in the contest. For the season, he has passed for 543 yards and three scores.

Junior Jalen Minniefield rushed for a team-high 82 yards while sophomore Ca'Juan Bryant added 55 and a six-pointer. Senior Isaac Hill caught four Manning passes for 33 yards and a six-pointer.

In four games, Hill has 21 receptions for 313 yards. Senior tailback Savier Faulks remains the team's top rusher with 299 yards on 44 attempts. He has missed the last two games.

As the season reaches the halfway point, Saccoccia feels his players "are improving."

"I think we are improving, maybe not at the rate I thought we would but we are improving," he said. "I think the attitude is the most important thing and our attitude has been good and our practices have been good. So we are taking it one play at a time, one day at a time and one week at a time and we will get better."