1989

Division II State Semi Finalist

1st in Division II Region 7

4th ranked AP Poll

 

 

BR	1989 Saccoccia	OPP
7	Youngstown East	12
7	@ Youngstown Boardman	6
17	Youngstown Rayen	7
49	Cleveland John Hay	20
21	@ Warren G. Harding	0
28	Erie Cathedral Prep Pa.	10
21	Weirton Wva.	12
7	East Liverpool	0
15	Youngstown Chaney	13
14	Steubenville Catholic Central	7
35	Minerva	17
37	N North Canton Hoover (2OT)	31
0	N Cleveland St. Joseph	19
258	11-2-0	154

Regional Semifinal, Friday November 5th, 1989, Big Red (9-1) vs. Minerva Lions (10-0) at Death Valley.

Never mind the statistics or the final score. Friday night's Ohio Division II football playoff contest between Steubenville Big Red and Minerva at Harding Stadium was no contest.

Big Red built a 35-3 lead into the 4th quarter before pulling its starting players. Ryan Terry rushed for 117 yards and Chuck Hython scored 3 touchdowns as the hosts defeated previously undefeated Minerva 35-17. The victory was Steubenville's 10th straight this year and 100th victory of the 1980s. The triumph also handed Big Red 10 victories for the 8th straight season. No team had scored more than 22 on Minerva all year and only once did the Lions score less than 25 themselves before this game. "This is the first time we've been able to play relaxed all year," Big Red coach Reno Saccoccia pointed out. "Since losing that first game (12-7 to Youngstown East), our backs have been to the wall 9 straight weeks. It sounds funny because it's a playoff game, but we actually felt at ease in this game. Our goal was to make the playoffs...once you get to the playoffs, anybody from Podunk to New York City can win it." Big Red trailed in this game early as Jamie Ford returned a Steubenville punt 44 yards to the hosts' 7-yard line late in the first quarter. The defense stiffened, however, Sam Mitchell stoppin fullback Ben Stump short on 3rd down from the 1-yard line. The Lions looked for the touchdown on 4th down, but took too long to get the play off. The delay of game penalty forced them back 5 yards, coach Lynn Molen opting for the field goal as a result. Ray Mann line-drived the 23-yard kick through the uprights with 2:51 left in the period. The lead would not be enjoyed for long. On Big Red's next possession, Maurice Pearson's 12-yard run moved the ball to the Steubenville 48. From there, quarterback Aric White dropped back and lofted a bomb down the right sideline in Hython's direction. The senior receiver beat defenders Ford and Walker, took the pass in stride at the 4-yard line and waltzed into the endzone with 12 seconds left in the 1st quarter. The turning point of the game occured shortly thereafter. Walker took a wide receiver screen pass and raced 38 yards to the Big Red 31-yard line. Stump plowed throught the middle for 14 stripes later in the drive, moving the ball inside the 10. On 1st down from there, Ford scooted around end and dove into the endzone, a motion penalty nullifying the score. Again, Minerva attempted a wide receiver screen to Walker. This time, Hython stepped in front, juggled the ball, pulled it back in, and raced 87 yards the other way for a touchdown with 8:51 left in the half. "Yes, that was a turning point," Molen moaned. "The kid made a good play on the ball. Up until that play, I thought we were dominating the game. But that was a big one." Saccoccia conceded, "If there was a key play, that would have to be it. But I thought the key to the game was the fact that they had 2 big plays and only got 3 points out of them. We had 2 big plays and got 14 out of them. That was the difference." Saccoccia refered to a 40-yard kickoff return by Walker, taking the ball to midfield late in the 2nd quarter, as Minerva's second big play. The Lions wound up turning the ball over on downs at the Big Red 35. The first big play, of course, was Ford's 44-yard punt return. Cody Pyle's 11-yard punt return set up Steubenville at the Minerva 33 midway through the 2nd period. An 8 play drive, consisting of all runs fewer than 10 yards each, concluded with Pearson's 1-yard plunge with 3:01 left in the half. Big Red took a 21-3 lead into intermission. "We were still in the game," Molen noted. "Our kids play hard for 4 quarters. We didn't feel we were beaten."

Molen's team was beaten, however, after Big Red's first drive of the 3rd period. Terry got loose for 23 yards on the first play from scrimmage and later broke free for a 32-yard gain on a 2nd and 17 draw play. Hython completed the 8 play, 70-yard march by hauling in a 9-yard alley-oop pass from White. He out-leaped the physically outsized Ford for the ball in 1-on-1 coverage. Terry finished the game with 13 carries for 117 yards, his second straight 100-yard effort after missing 3 weeks with an ankle injury. Leading 28-3, Steubenville had the game well in hand. When Don "Butch" Brown recovered a Ford fumble at midfield late in the 3rd period, however, Big Red was in line to score again. Terry ripped off a 13-yard gain, Russell Gory carried 3 times for 17 yards and Darius Alexander twice for 17. Alexander's second carry was a 3-yard run for the TD with 9:38 left in the game. Mike Jones connected on his 5th PAT of the night-and 69th consecutive over 2 seasons-and the lead was 35-3. Saccoccia sustituted freely at that point, but Molen kept his 1st string offense in the game. His team pieced together drives of 77 and 74 yards for touchdowns in the 4th period, Ford scoring on a 3-yard run and Walker on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Keen. "These are the best of times for us, not the worst of times," Molen noted. "Our kids have played too hard this year to come all the way down here and not have some good memories. We were going to go full tilt for 4 quarters, regardless of the score, and that's what we did." Ford, who entered the game with 1,597 yards rushing, finished the contest with 20 carries for 97 yards. He had 32 yards on 12 carries against the first string defense however. Walker had 5 receptions for 94 yards. Big Red had 210 yards rushing in 41 attempts, attempting but 5 passes on the evening. Hython had 2 receptions, both for touchdowns, and intercepted 2 passes. Paul Kokos, Gory, Mitchell, and George Vudrogovic were among the members of the defense unit enjoying solid performances. Big Red will face North Canton Hoover next weekend, Hoover defeating Columbus Franklin Heights 36-8 Friday evening. Steubenville edged Hoover 17-14 in a 1st round playoff game here last year. "I'm sure it will be another game like last year," Saccoccia noted. "I'm guessing we'll be on the road for that one, probably Massillon or Fawcett Stadium, but I don't know for sure."

 

Regional Final, Friday November 12th, 1989, Big Red (10-1) vs. North Canton Hoover Vikings (10-1) at Canton's Fawcett Stadium.

Steubenville Big Red does not subscribe to the theory that tradition dies hard. Steubenville Big Red subscribes to the theory that tradition does not die, period. Trailing 31-7, with 6:29 remaining in the 3rd quarter, Big Red completed perhaps the most incredible comeback in the history of the Ohio high school football playoffs when Ryan Terry plunged across the goal line from 1 yard away in the 2nd overtime to hand his team a 37-31 triumph over North Canton Hoover in the Region 7 championship game Friday night.

The game was played at Canton McKinley's Fawcett Stadium, on the hallowed grounds of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That was only fitting in the eyes of Steubenville Coach Reno Saccoccia. "This was the greatest comeback in the history of football," Saccoccia bellowed during the bedlam on the field afterward. "I don't mean just high school football....I mean all of football." A bit over-dramatic? Maybe. But try to find a game that beats this one. When Hoover's Fred Schmidt pulled in a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Scott Rennecker with 6:29 left in the 3rd quarter and Mike Orndorf ran across the conversion, the Vikings had built up a 31-7 lead on Steubenville. The point production the highest against a Big Red team in 87 games, dating back to Cardinal Mooney's victory over Big Red in the 1981 playoffs. The game marked Big Red's first-ever playoff appearance. It appeared Friday night would be Big Red's final playoff game of the 1980's. What followed, however, showed how much this football program has grown in a decade. When Big Red got the football back, Terry immediately galloped 32 yards on a counter play. A personal foul penalty after the run pushed the ball to the Hoover 25-yard line. A few plays later, quarterback Aric White completed the 7 play, 72 yard drive with a 1-yard plunge. Terry ran for 2 points and Big Red trailed 31-15 with 3:52 left in the quarter. On Hoover's next series, Orndorf had trouble with a pitch out, Calvin Platt taking the bobbled ball out of the air and galloping 36 yards to the Viking 7-yard line. 2 plays later, Maurice Pearson bucked in from the 1, a conversion pass failed and Big Red trailed 31-21 after 3 quarters. Valiantly, Big Red fought to get closer in the 4th quarter. On an 18-yard completion to Cody Pyle early in the period, White was shaken up and left the game. Junior Anthony Reda took over at quarterback and promptly found Terry for a 39-yard completion. White returned 2 plays later, helping Big Red push to the Hoover 1-yard line for a 4th down. Confused at the line, Big Red took a delay of game penalty, Mike Jones then trotted out for a 23 yard field goal attempt. The call was a fake, holder Reda rolled right, threw left for Jones circling out of the backfield. The pass eluded the Big Red kicker, though, with 6:19 remaining. The game appeared lost. But Big Red's defense forced an immediate punt, Steubenville taking possesion at the Hoover 40 with 4:16 left to go. 2 plays later, White lobbed a 32-yard pass to the endzone for Chuck Hython. With Schmidt defending him, Hython leaped over his outstretched hands and pulled the ball down with 3:28 on the clock. Jones' PAT, his 70th consecutive, cut the gap to 31-28. The Vikings desperatly tried to kill the clock. Dave Radich-who had 110 yards on 19 carries-got loose for 12. Rennecker ran for 5 more, a facemask penalty giving Hoover another 1st down. Finally, on 3rd down and 5 at the Big Red 44, Platt dragged Rennecker down for no gain and Hoover had to punt with 1:15 left to play. The snap was dropped, the picked up, but the punt never took to the air. Quent Thornton blocked it, then recovered the ball at the Viking 39. Maynard Reed caught a 20-yard pass to the 19, but the drive stalled from there. On 4th and 13 at the 22, Jones trotted out for a 39-yard field goal attempt. The snap, hold and kick were true...and Big Red had gotten even with 27 seconds to spare. "Yeah, I was nervous," Jones said of the kick. "But Anthony (Reda) got the ball down, Kelly (Keenan) made a good snap and I was fortunate enough to get the ball through the uprights." The thrills in this game were still not over. Big Red took possession first in overtime, but White slipped as he threw for the end zone on 3rd down at the 18. Matt Evanich intercepted for Hoover. The Vikings did not have the ball long. Rennecker tried running around the left end on 1st down, but Thornton grabbed him from behind. The ball popped loose and Terry recovered it for Big Red. Hoover took possession in the 2nd overtime...again for 1 play. Ti Scheetz tried throwing a halfback option pass in the endzone, but Terrence Christian intercepted. Big Red smelled victory, then found it. Terry ran for 9 yards to the 11. Russell Gory picked up 6 more for a 1st down to the 5. An offsides penalty put the ball at the 3. Pearson carried twice to the 1. Terry took the ball across. Game, set, match-Steubenville.

Terry fashioned hid 3rd successive 100-yard game, carrying 17 times for 121 stripes. White completed 9 of 23 passes for 199 yards and 2 touchdowns. Schmidt caught 5 passes for 113 yards for Hoover. The game began positivly enough for Big Red. After deferring on the coin toss, Steubenville kicked off and shut down Hoover's first 3 offensive plays. Pearson and Paul Kokos contained a pair of runs before George Vudrogovic sacked Rennecker for a 7-yard loss. Big Red assumed possession at its own 39 and found the endzone 4 plays later. Maynard Reed accepted a pass from White on an out pattern, juked defensive backs Matt Evanrich and Jim Cribbett inside, then scampered down the right sideline to complete a 41-yard scoring play with 8:09 left in the first quarter. From that point, the half belonged to Hoover. The Vikings marched 91-yards on 13 plays on the next possession. 2 plays highlighted the march-Radich churning 14 yards on a 3rd and 10 draw play and Schmidt beating Christian 1-on-1 deep for a 46-yard pick-up. Rennecker scored the touchdown on a 2-yard option on 4th and 1. He lobbed a conversion pass to Schmidt and Hoover had an 8-7 lead with 1:40 left in the opening frame. Things worsened for Big Red when White tried forcing a pass while scrambling toward the right sideline. He drilled the ball right into defender Chris Lepkowski's hands at the 44. Four plays later Rennecker scrambled through the middle, eluding the diving Big Red tacklers. Hython lunged for him and tripped Rennecker up at the 4-yard line, but the fleet quarterback kept his balance and stumbles into the endzone to complete a 31-yard scoring run with 11:35 left in the half. Schmidt added the PAT from placement. Chewing up nearly 7 minutes on the clock, Big Red tried to answer. Steubenville kept the ball for 15 plays, Hython's 14-yard reception on the drive's first play being the biggest gain. Big Red achieved a 1st down at the Hoover 19, but Terry was stopped on 2 short runs and White tried the middle for a yard on 3rd down. Refusing the fieldgoal attempt from the 14, Saccoccia went for the score. White's lob pass in the endzone for Hython, who was double-covered, carried too deep, deflecting off the big receiver's hands. With 4:50 left before intermission, the Vikings embarked on another lenghty drive. It covered 86 yards on 12 plays. Evanich took a pass over the middle for 28 yards to move the ball into Big Red territory. On 4th and 7 from the Steubenville 26, Rennecker lobbed a pass for Schmidt into the endzone. Battling double-coverage, Schmidt split Christian and Reda to make the catch with 40 seconds on the clock. When Rennecker rolled into the endzone for the conversion, the Vikings had a 23-7 advantage, setting up Big Red's unbelievable comeback.

 

State Semifinal, Friday November 19th, 1989, Big Red (11-1) vs. Cleveland St. Joseph Vikings (9-2) at Akron Rubber Bowl.

The jinx is over. So is a memorable decade. Quarterback Tony Miller scored all 3 touchdowns as Cleveland St. Joseph defeated Steubenville Big Red 19-0 in an Ohio Division II high school football semifinal Friday evening before 4,916 at the Akron Rubber Bowl. The triumph lifted the Vikings to 10-2 and marked the first time in 4 trips to the semifinals they were able to come away with the victory. The loss ended Big Red's campaign at 11-2 and closed out a decade that saw Steubenville reach the playoffs a state record 9 consecutive years.

"We wanted to break this jinx," St Joseph veteran coach Bill Gutrod said of his team's victory. "That has been one of our goals before our school closes. We're consolidating and we wanted to make our mark before we changed things." Big Red coach Reno Saccoccia said, "The man has been coaching for 40 years. I'd say he got what he deserved." Big Red battled poor field position all evening. After failing to capitalize on an early fumble at the St. Joseph 39-Steubenville had to punt after a quarterback sack-Big Red would not cross the Viking 50 until fewer than 10 minutes remained in the game. The Vikings used a turnover, in fact, to put the game away. Facing a 3rd and 2 at his own 42, Big Red quarterback Aric White could not handle the snap. St. Joseph's Scott Peche fell on the ball at the 39 on the first play of the final quarter. Miller connected with receiver Bruce Leide for a 29-yard gain. Two plays later, Miller kept the ball on the option and scored on a 4-yard run with 10:54 remaining. The conversion run failed. Miller scored on runs of 1 and 3 yards in the first half as St. Joseph took a 13-0 lead into the intermission. Following the 3rd St. Joseph touchdown, Big Red finally forged into Viking territory. Anthony Reda turned the trick on a 13-yard scramble to the Viking 49. Two plays later, however, White was sacked for a 9-yard loss, a play indicative of the kind of night it was for Steubenville. Other than the early turnover that gave Big Red the ball at the St. Joseph 39, Steubenville never got closer than the Viking 44.

"They controlled the line of scrimmage," Saccoccia allowed. "But line play is mental. We really didn't have our kids prepared and ready to play. I have to take responsibility for that. But they (the Vikings) are a good team." Gutrod said of Big Red, "They have a good football team. But we've played a good schedule, so nothing they did surprised us. They had some poor field position in this game and that set them back a bit. We figured we would have a shot this year. Both our back returned, as did our quarterback. But our defense has been doing a job and that's what wins playoff games. If you expect to get anywhere in the playoffs, you better have a good defense." Big Red was held to 36 yards net rushing on 27 attempts, a few quarterback sacks mixed in there. Maurice Pearson led the Steubenville ground game with 18 yards on 6 carries. White completed 9 of 25 passes for 101 yards. The game marked the first time Big Red had been shut out since the 13-0 playoff defeat to Youngstown Ursuline in 1983, a span of 66 games. St. Joseph will face Fostoria, a 17-14 winner over Sidney, a week from tomorrow at Ohio Stadium in Columbus for the Division II state crown.

"We played hard. There are no excuses," Saccoccia said. "It's a shame for us to have this kind of effort from the players and me not pitch in and help. We were disorganized at times out there and that is my fault. This was a good chapter of Big Red football. Our kids had their backs to the wall all year and they responded. Whenever we're down at halftime in the future, I'll tell the guys about this group of seniors and what they accomplished." For the second week in a row, Big Red struggled in the 1st half. Steubenville managed just 10 yards in the first period and 71 yards on 22 plays by halftime. By comparison, St. Joseph garnered 180 yards-including 150 on the ground-on 36 plays in the first two quarters. The Vikings missed a scoring chance in the first period, keeping the ball for 14 plays and marching 63 yards, aided by a pair of facemask penalties. On 3rd and 17 from the Big Red 22, however, St. Joseph was stopped as Cody Pyle dragged down Bruce Leide for a 2-yard loss on a screen pass. A holding penalty had moved the Vikings back before that. Andy Penkaukas came on to attempt a 39-yard fieldgoal, but was far short with 4:06 left in the opening period. Big Red missed an early chance as well. Don Brown recovered a Sam Woodfolk fumble at the Viking 39 on the first offensive play of the game. Two plays netted nothing, though, and Aric White was sacked by Dan Regovich for a 9-yard loss on 3rd down, forcing a punt. Big Red would not gain good field position for the remainder of the half, starting its remaining possessions from its own 20, 7, 15, and 25-yard lines. When punter Anthony Reda faced heavy pressure on a 2nd quarter boot, the ball traveling just 14 yards, giving St. Joseph possession at the Steubenville 29 with just 8:11 remaining in the half. Seven running plays-Steve Clark's 9-yard run being the longest-resulted in the first score of the night. Miller kept on the option and rolled into the endzone from 3 yard out with 5:25 left. Penkaukas added the PAT. Big Red's offense began to move on the following possession. White found Reda for a 17-yard completion and Maynard Reed for 14 more. The drive stalled near midfield, however, and Reda's punt put the Vikings at their own 22 with 2:38 left on the clock. What followed was an impressive 9-play, 78-yard drive by St. Joseph. Robert Gardner broke off runs of 27 and 21 yards and Miller completed a 13-yard pass to Leide who hustled the ball downfield. On 1st and goal from the 1-yard line, Miller scored on a keeper and the Vikings had a 13-0 lead with 44 tics left on the 2nd quarter clock. Hython penetrated around left end to block Penkaukas' PAT attempt. Big Red surrendered 13 1st downs in the first 24 minutes. The victory was the first for St. Joseph in 5 games in the Rubber Bowl; Big Red lost for the 3rd time in 4 games.

 

 

1989~
Maynard Reed wr
Jonathan Collier db
Dwight Alfred wr
Anthony Reda qb
Mike Jones k
Aric White qb
Wade Manns rb
Jeff Grill qb
Darius Alexander rb
Ricky Blanchard fb
Russell Gory lb
Andre McGhee rb
Ryan Terry tb
Matt Shepherd wr
Doug Knight wr
Tremont Christian wr
Mark Palmer lb
Quent Thorton fb
Chuck Hython wr
Aaron Pease fb
Ron Sacripanti wr
Terrance Christian db
Cody Pyle wr
Robert Fayak lb
Calvin Platt lb
Maurice Pearson lb
Matt Valerio wr
Anthony Smallwood te
Mike "Buster" Tillman wr
David Whitehouse g
Jamal Bryant de
Damarius Dokes g
Iko Culbreath g
Courtney Brown c
Todd Anderson c
Joe Atkins t
Ed Stroud t
Ken Talamine g
Kelly Keenan c
Mark Lamatrice g
Ron Lucas g
Todd Blackburn c
Corey Tomasso g
Sanford Fletcher t
Don Gilliam g
Sam Mitchell t
Dorian Livingston g
Paul Kokos t
Don Brown g
George Manson te
Jason Yoder t
Dave Rowe t
Tony Smith te
Bill Ellis te
Shawn Kerr wr
Jerry Crawford de
Nate Burress de
Matt Boomhower t
Jason Drakes te