2002

BR	2002 Saccoccia	OPP
55	Ashtabula Lakeside (forfeit)	6
40	Cleveland South	6
42	Wheeling Park Wva.	0
34	@ Niles McKinley	14
22	Washington Dunbar DC	8
20	@ Brooke Wva.	3
21	@ Zanesville	7
28	Buffalo St. Joseph Collegiate Ny.	0
34	Baltimore Mount St. Joseph Md.	21
0	@ East Liverpool	6
20	Hubbard	7
17	N Cleveland Benedictine (3 OT)	20
333	9-3-0	98

Regional Semi-Final, Friday, November 1st, 2002, Big Red (9-1) vs. Hubbard (9-1) at Death Valley.

The first round of the Ohio Division III Region 9 playoffs may have turned out a little differently if Hubbard was the address and not the last name of Big Red's star running back.
But as fate would have it was one Hubbard that sent another packing, as Big Red junior tailback Nate Hubbard racked up 208 yards and three touchdowns in Steubenville's 20-7 win over the Hubbard Blue Eagles at Harding Stadium on Friday.

"He has good balance. I don't like to talk about one kid, but he has balance," Big Red coach Reno Saccoccia said of Hubbard. "And the kids know if they block for him he's going to get something."
But Nate Hubbard wasn't the only star running back that proved he could do big things with even the littlest hole. The Eagles' tailback (also a junior) Shaun Lane saw his rushing yards go from just over 40 to 120 with one play. Lane, son of Ohio State All-American defensive back and former Kansas City Chief Garcia Lane, tore up 74 yards for the Eagles' only touchdown of the game. The score came at 5:10 of the third quarter.

"That tailback (Lane) was good. We gave him an inch and he took a mile," Saccoccia said. "We have some speed in the secondary, but he comes from good blood. We learned a lesson tonight and that doesn't happen too often when you win, but one relax tonight and he got 74 yards."
Despite the big play from Lane, there was no debating which junior running back was running the show.

Nate Hubbard found the end zone for the first time on a 1-yard run at 11:28. Two passes and an 11-yard set up the short scoring run. The drive itself started at Big Red's 16. Brian Pruitt, who finished 4-of-6 for 99 yards, gained 22 yards on the first play of the drive with a pass to Dave Fatula. Hubbard carried it 11 yards and Michael Abbott caught a 51-yard pass from Pruitt to put the pigskin on the Eagles 1. Abbott had a straight shot to the end zone with the catch, but fumbled the football and recovered it just shy of the goal line. The kick following the touchdown was wide.
Big Red made it a 14-0 game, when a nine-play, 54-yard drive was capped off by another 1-yard touchdown run from Hubbard. Hubbard carried the ball seven times for 46 of the 54 yards. Pruitt threw to Sean Liggett for the two-point conversion.

The Eagles pushed back, but a personal foul and a clipping call pretty much took away any chance of a first-half score and the Eagles went to the locker room down by 14.
The third-quarter touchdown from Lane put the Eagles back in the game. After the score the Eagles went on to hold Big Red and then drove down to Steubenville's 27. Hubbard went for the score, but Eagles quarterback Gabe McKee was picked off in the end zone by Big Red's Jacob Seminara.

"That interception was big. That was a huge key in the game," Saccoccia said. "Our kids step up when they need to and he did."
Big Red then drove all the way down to the Eagles' 3, but Nate Hubbard was held and the ball was returned on downs.

"We thought about kicking the field goal, but that's not our game." Saccoccia said. "We have a kicker, but went for the touchdown any way. Maybe we're just greedy."
Big Red may have walked away from the 3-yard attempt empty handed, but wasted no time fulfilling its need for a touchdown, when Hubbard score on the next drive.
Hubbard punched in the touchdown from five yards out to make it 20-7 with just 1:48 left in the ball game."

"This was a team effort," Saccoccia said. "My kids played hard and they played smart and we're happy. We're just really happy right now. It's a step."

 

Regional Semi-Final, Saturday, November 9th, 2002, Big Red (9-2) vs. Cleveland Benedictine (9-2) at Canton Central Catholic.

Sometimes the greatest tragedy of sports is that one team has to lose. Such was the case on Saturday night at Canton's Klinefelter Field. Steubenville Big Red fell in three overtimes to Cleveland Benedictine 20-17.

Many believed going into the game that the contest could turn into a track meet on Canton Central Catholic's artificial playing surface. Benedictine's attack features high-octane junior running back Raymond Williams. Entering the contest he had carried 325 times for 2,618 yards and 34 touchdowns.

Big Red, too, exhibited the ability to light up the scoreboard. On the season, Steubenville had scored 20 or more points in 9 of10 games, not counting an opening night forfeit.
Yet, at the half, the score stood at 0-0. Bendictine's Williams was held to only 39 yards on 13 carries. The anticipated offensive show had turned into a classic defensive struggle. It was game of field position determined by punts that pinned Benedictine deep in its own end. It was game of passes tipped, jarring hits in the backfield and of both defenses dominating the line.
Steubenville's offense gave the several thousand Big Red faithful something to cheer about at the beginning of the second half as Nate Hubbard got the running game going. The promising drive following the opening kickoff ended, however, deep in Benedictine territory with a fumble that the Bengals recovered on their own 9-yard line.

Following another defensive stand by Big Red, the Steubenville offense drove deep into Benedictine territory. This time Sean Ligget culminated the 10-play 60-yard drive by catching a 5-yard pass in the front right corner of the end zone with 2:10 left in the third quarter.
For a while it seemed that 7 would be all that was needed to win the game for Steubenville.
With the ground game gaining little, the Bengals turned to the air on the third play of the next series with the pass intercepted at the Big Red 41 by Steve Repella. At the end of the third quarter, Steubenville stood just 12 minutes from advancing to the next round of the playoffs.
Williams then led his team 61 yards on 10 plays, scoring on a 7-yard run at 5:12 in the fourth quarter. The extra point destined the game for overtime.

Big Red started the first overtime with the ball. Liggett brought the ball into the end zone after four Nate Hubbard runs for a touchdown. The extra point was good.
On the first play of Benedictine's possession Williams brought the ball 20 yards for a touchdown. The extra point brought the game to its second overtime, where both teams kicked field goals
The Steubenville offense fell short in the third overtime. Big Red's defense kept the Bengals out of the end zone but could not stop the leg of143-pound kicker Sam Koyle.
His kick was the measure of victory and the end of Big Red's season.

 

2002~
Nate Hubbard db/tb
Jon-Michael Rea db/rec
Josh Schoonover lb/fb
Mike Abbott lb/rec
Joe Pease db/rec
Zach White db/rec
Brian "Do It" Pruitt db/qb
Steve Repella db/qb
Chad Bauman db/qb
Justin Gerber lb/te
Gary Stubbs db/tb
Sam Woods db/tb
Tim Sears db/rec
Da'ton Feaster db/tb
A.J. Smith db/tb
Sam Vein lb/fb
Thad Crosier db/rec
James Lyons de/fb
Mike Conn lb/fb
Dave Fatula db/te
Sean Liggett lb/fb
Kyle Filtz lb/qb
Floyd King de/fb
Justin Worrels db/tb
Chris Ferroni db/k
Dom Tisdale db/tb
Nick Potenzini db/rec
Kent Holmes lb/fb
Shayne Mowder db/rec
Maurice Watkins de/fb
Jacob Seminara db/fb
Mukuria Gathoga db/rec
John Jeter db/rec
Pat Thurman db/rb
Russell Cain dt/t
Keith Carter de/g
Byron Hazel dt/g
Steve Criss de/g
Dave DiCicco dt/g
Dan Smith dt/t
Terry Wedlake dt/g
Terry Snyder de/c
David Ross de/c
Robert Antinone dt/t
James Beach de/g
John Smogonvich de/c
Joe Pasquarella dt/c
Quentin Nelson dt/t
Ryan Witkowski dt/t
Scott Kennedy dt/t
John Irwin de/t
Aaron Patterson de/t
Mike VanVoltenburg dt/g
Randy Ralston db/rec
Eric Clark lb/rec
Kyle Soloman db/rec
Adam Carroll de/te
Ed Littlejohn lb/te
Eric Dobson de/te
Rich Crossley db/rec