Andrew Grimm HITTING THE HOLE — Big Red tailback Ca’Juan Bryant finds room to run against Cardinal Mooney Friday night at Harding Stadium. Bryant went on to score the winning touchdown in overtime to lift Big Red to a 27-24 victory.

STEUBENVILLE — The 2025 edition of the Big Red football team showed it has a lot of heart.

Trailing by two scores at halftime and seeking to avoid a third loss to start the season, it was gut-check time for Steubenville. They answered the bell in a big way.

Big Red scored 21 third-quarter points to rally and take the lead, then outlasted visiting Cardinal Mooney in overtime for a 27-24 victory at Harding Stadium that was as hard-fought as they come.

“When we came in at halftime, we were as down as any team I’ve ever seen. By the end of halftime, the players were fired up and ready to go and they stepped up in the second half,” Big Red head coach Reno Saccoccia said. “We went out in the second half and played Big Red football.

“I said before it was going to take four quarters. It took more than four quarters, but our players kept fighting, fighting and fighting. I appreciate the effort of our players, coaches, our parents and fans.”

After Mooney (2-2) kicked a field goal on its turn with the ball in overtime, Big Red opted to go for it on a fourth-and-1 rather than kick for the tie.

Quarterback Santino Haney plunged forward to move the sticks, and on the next play, Ca’Juan Bryant found a hole and went 9 yards to score, powering across the goal line to lift Big Red to its first victory and send a packed crowd into a frenzy.

“Every person in the stadium tonight could have quit on us, and they didn’t,” Saccoccia said. “They stuck with us, Big Red fans and Big Red parents don’t quit on us, and our players didn’t quit. Our fans stuck with us when it was tough, and we really appreciate that.”

Bryant had 158 total yards on the night, also catching and touchdown to go with his winning scoring run. Haney, the first-year starter, had a breakout night passing, going 14 of 22 for 203 yards and a pair of scores.

Big Red had 18 first downs in the game and 340 yards of offense, 248 of which came after halftime.

“Every team needs something positive to build on and we didn’t have a lot of positive (the first two games), we created our own positive in the second half,” Saccoccia said. “Our defense rose to the occasion, our offense took advantage of it. Our defense kept fighting, our offense came together and together we had a great second half against a very good football team.”

After trailing 14-0 at the break, Big Red scored on the opening drive of the second half when Haney found tight end Nolan Blackburn wide open over the middle for a 24-yard score to cap a long scoring drive.

The Cardinals fumbled the ball on their next drive, and Big Red took advantage in a hurry as Ziare Scurry scampered in from 8 yards away to knot the score.

The defense, which stepped up in a big way in the second half, forced a stop, and Haney hit Bryant on a screen pass which he proceeded to take 51 yards to the house and give Big Red the lead, 21-14, after three quarters.

Mooney responded in the fourth quarter with a 20-yard Vince Gentile to Miguel Reyes scoring connection, knotting things up at 21-21.

Big Red had a good drive looking to answer, but a field goal try to take the lead with just over three minutes left just missed wide.

The defense, though, got a big stop, Landon Crosier getting a sack to set up overtime.

Mooney got both of its first half scores from Ike Lake on runs of 8 and 94 yards. He finished with 219 on the ground, 169 of which came in the first half as Big Red did a better job of containing him after halftime.

UP NEXT

Cardinal Mooney: Returns home to host Chardon next Friday night.

Big Red: Takes its first road trip of the season, heading south to battle Linsly in a game to be played at West Liberty University next Friday night.

Big Red 27, Cardinal Mooney 23 (OT)

CM 7-7-0-7-3 – 24

BR 0-0-21-0-6 – 27

SCORING PLAYS

First Quarter

CM: Lake 8 run (Gugliotta kick) 4:24

Second Quarter

CM: Lake 94 run (Gugliotta kick) 7:05

Third Quarter

BR: Blackburn 24 pass from Haney (Bowers kick) 8:14

BR: Scurry 8 run (Bowers kick) 5:03

BR: Bryant 51 pass from Haney (Bowers kick) :50

Fourth Quarter

CM: Reyes 20 pass from Gentile (Gugliotta kick) 7:29

Ovetime

CM: Gugliotta 33 field goal

BR: Bryant 9 run

RUSHING: Cardinal Mooney 38-262-2TD (Lake 24-219-2TD; Dawson 7-37; Baddie 4-9; Gentile 3-(-3); Big Red 41-137-2TD (Crosier 12-34; Bryant 22-77-TD; Scurry 2-7-TD; Haney 5-19)

PASSING: Cardinal Mooney 5-9-49 (all by Gentile); Big Red 14-22-203-2TD (all by Haney)

RECEIVING: Cardinal Mooney 5-49 (Schiraldi 2-9; Reyes 2-21-TD; Dawson 1-19); Big Red 14-203-2TD (Bryant 4-81-TD; Scurry 3-34; Crosier 1-0; Hinton 2-21; Blackburn 1-24-TD; Fabbro 1-24; Simon 2-19)

FIRST DOWNS: Cardinal Mooney 6; Big Red 18

PENALTIES-YARDS: Cardinal Mooney 10-95; Big Red 10-78

FUMBLES-LOST: Cardinal Mooney 1-1; Big Red 3-0

PUNTS-AVG: Cardinal Mooney 6-37.7; Big Red 5-41