2004

BR	2004 Saccoccia	OPP
34	Cleveland John F. Kennedy	0
24	@ Youngstown Ursuline	8
36	Wheeling Park Wva.	0
51	Niles McKinley	7
28	@ Brooke Wva.	3
15	Buffalo St. Joseph Collegiate Ny.	7
35	Zanesville	7
53	N East Liverpool	0
26	Canton Central Catholic	0
18	Youngstown Rayen	8
19	Beliot West Branch	13
18	N Thornville Sheridan	22
357	11-1-0	75

Regional Quarter-final, Saturday November 6th, 2004, Big Red (10-0) vs. West Branch Warriors (6-3-1) at Death Valley.

Steubenville Big Red scored 19 points in the first quarter and a half then held on for a hard-fought 19-13 win over West Branch Saturday night in the opening round of the Ohio Division III playoffs at Harding Stadium.

Big Red, rated first in Region 11 by virtue of its perfect 10-0 regular season and voted the best team by the Associated Press in Division III, rolled down the field in awesome fashion the first two times it had the football in the first quarter, but lost starting quarterback Antonio Magnone to an ankle injury on the second drive. Big Red finished that drive with a touchdown, but the offense sputtered the remainder of the game.
"It was all about timing after Antonio got hurt," said veteran Big Red head coach, Reno Saccoccia. "We alternated Zach Collaros and Sam Busic, but they don't get the reps in practice so our timing was off."

Saccoccia said he rotated the sophomore Collaros and junior Busic because both play defensive back and he tried to give each a rest on the alternate series.
Even though it appeared the offense sputtered, Big Red accumulated 351 total yards to just 182 for the Warriors (6-4-1). The Big Red offense was running so smoothly through the first two possessions that it seemed out of sync the rest of the way. Actually, it was two blocked punts by West Branch that led to one score and forced the Big Red defense into a successful goal-line stand. The Warriors also recovered two of four Big Red fumbles to stay in the game.
However, it was Collaros that scored the game-winning touchdown on a 64-yard run on a quarterback draw play.

West Branch won the toss and deferred, so Big Red received the opening kickoff and put the ball in play at its own 32. It took the offense just six plays to score as Magnone rolled right, stopped and threw the ball back to the left side where senior wide receiver, Chad Bauman, stood all alone for the scoring reception. Dave Fatula's kick split the uprights giving Big Red a 7-0 lead with the game just 3:31 old.
The Warriors went three-and-out on their first possession and Jimmy King punted to the Big Red 25.

Once again, Big Red methodically marched down the field. This time it took 11 plays with Magnone running on two of them. His first carry went 18 yards and he scampered 13 yards on the second, but injured his ankle when he was tackled at the Warrior 9-yard line.
Jeremy Presley, who gained 74 yards on 11 carries in the game, blasted to the West Branch 1 from where senior fullback Sam Vein bulled into the end zone for the touchdown. A pass for the two-point conversion fell incomplete, but Big Red was in command 13-0 with 1:20 left in the opening stanza.

West Branch put Big Red's back to the wall when a King punt rolled dead at the 1-yard line. They could get it out only to the 6 and Keith Carter dropped back into his end zone to punt.
J. R. Gibson broke through the protection to block it, but the ball had enough momentum to reach the 2-yard line where Blaine Crawford fell on it.
Junior running back Eric Balputnis smashed over right guard from there for the West Branch touchdown that narrowed the score to 13-7.
However, Big Red came right back in just three plays on the next series with Collaros getting loose for the 64-yard touchdown. Once again a two-point conversion pass failed.
From there, it was time for the staunch Big Red defense to take over
"Our defense rose to the occasion," said Saccoccia.
The defense was forced to make a stand in the third quarter when another Carter punt was blocked.
Eric Morrow of the Warriors broke through to block this kick and then recovered the ball at the Big Red 9-yard line.

Balputnis got loose for 8 yards to the 1, but the defense rose up and nailed West Branch runners in the backfield. On fourth down, Big Red junior Demeatrus Benjamin, sacked quarterback Bobby Swallow for a 3-yard loss back to the 8-yard line where Big Red took over.
West Branch got back in the game, though, in the fourth quarter when Steve Bryte recovered a Big Red fumble near midfield.

The Big Red defense begrudgingly yielded yardage, but on the ninth play of the drive Balputnis found paydirt on a 7-yard draw play up the middle with 4:15 left in the game.
That's when the Big Red offense responded with the long drive from their own 31 to the West Branch 9 to run out the clock.

 

Regional Semi-finals, Saturday, November 13th, 2004, Big Red (11-0) vs. Thornville Sheridan Generals (10-1), at Dover's Crater Stadium.

It wasn't the ending most of the Big Red faithful were hoping for but it was the end nevertheless, as undefeated Steubenville fell to 10-1 Sheridan, 22-18, in the Ohio Division III, Region 11 semifinals Saturday at Dover.

"Sheridan did a great job and it was a great game, but if our kids learn one thing tonight they learned to respect their opponents," Big Red coach Reno Saccoccia said. "If we didn't learn anything else tonight, our kids learned that."

The Generals shocked Steubenville early when they drove the ball to the Big Red 16 and settled for a 33-yard field goal at 4:51.
Sheridan was all run on the drive. In fact Sheridan was all run all night. The Generals threw the ball just one time in four quarters and was able to consistently move the ball on the ground.
Sheridan's Jake Green led all rushers with 134 yards on 25 carries. Fullback Kevin Culver recorded 59 on 17 carries. The Generals finished with 191 yards rushing.
Big Red's running game, which had frustrated opponents all season, left Steubenville frustrated on Saturday. Senior tailback Gary Stubbs, who rushed for more than 1,200 yards in 2004, could only notch 39 against Sheridan. Quarterback Antonio Magnone followed with 35. Big Red had just 101 on the ground as a team.

"Sheridan did what they've been doing all year. They have a good running game and a great defense," Saccoccia said. "Their linemen beat our linemen most of the time."
Aside from controlling the line of scrimmage, Sheridan also came up with big interceptions, picking off Big Red four times.

The first interception came on Big Red's first drive of the game, when backup quarterback Zach Collaros was picked off by Josh Coleman on the Big Red 19. Four plays later, The Generals' QB Josh Barrera kept the ball and scored from 5 yards out. Walser split the uprights and the Generals led 10-0 with 52 seconds left in the first quarter.
Big Red cut into the lead at 6:53 of the second with a 4-yard run from Collaros. The extra-point attempt was wide.

The touchdown was set up when a bad snap was recovered by Kyle Solomon on the Sheridan 43. Fatula put Big Red in scoring position with a 44-yard reception from Magnone.
The touchdown reduced Sheridan's lead to 10-6 at the half.

When the two teams returned to the field in the third, Big Red turned the tide. Going to the air, Big Red put together two scoring drives. Sam Vein capped both off with a 2-yard run. The first one came early in the third. A 23-yard pass from Magnone to Dave Fatula moved the ball deep into the Generals territory. Vein then punched it in at 8:21. The kick failed.
The second Big Red scoring drive of the second half featured a 47-yard strike from Magnone to Kyle Filtz. Vein finished it off at 2:44. The run for the conversion was stopped, but Big Red led 18-10.

"I was happy with the way our kids responded after the first quarter," Saccoccia said. "After the first quarter to the end of the third quarter, we played solid defense."
But in the fourth quarter, the Generals took the upper hand. The Generals got their running game moving again, drove 75 yards down field and scored with seven minutes left in the game. However, the conversion attempt to tie the game failed and Big Red clung to a 18-16 lead.
Unfortunately for Steubenville, the narrow lead wouldn't be enough. On the fourth play of the possession following Sheridan's score, Magnone threw his second interception of the game. Sheridan returned the pick to the Big Red 49.

The Generals converted the turnover when Culver powered down the middle for a 13-yard TD run with just 1:36 left on the clock.
Big Red's attempt to beat the clock and score again was squashed with a fumble on the Steubenville 20.
Steubenville gave itself one last shot by holding Sheridan at the 20 and getting the ball back with 55 seconds left in the game, but another interception gave Sheridan the game.
Big Red closed the year 11-1.
"Things don't always end up the way you want them to no matter how hard you work and no matter how bad you want it," Saccoccia said. "It's just a shame that through the course of the season we had 12 games and 11 wins, but this is the game our seniors are going to remember."

 

2004~
Mukaria Gathoga db/wr
Zach Collaros db/wr/qb
Kyle Solomon lb/wr
Darnell Longmire db/rb
Andrew Smith db/qb
Chris Rose lb/qb
Chad Bauman db/wr
Antonio Magnone db/qb
Nick Potenzini db/wr
Sam Busic db/qb
Mike DiCarlontonio db/wr
Maurice Bougard db/rb
Tamawi McGhee lb/rb
John Wise db/rb
Gary Stubbs db/tb
Sam Vein mlb/fb
Brandon Canestraro lb/wr
Jeremy Presley lb/tb
Mike Conn lb/rb
Dave Fatula lb/wr
Darrell Longmire lb/wr
Kyle Filtz db/te
T.J. Brown db/rb
James Beach de/te
Mike Fahey lb/te
Nick Vogagis db/wr
Demeatrus Benjamin mlb/fb
Ezane Moxley lb/rb
Diontai Culbreath lb/rb
Anthony Iachini lb/rb
Sean McKitrick lb/te
David Gotschall k
Chad Murphy dl/ol
Sam Pavlik lb/ol
Eric Gilmore dl/c
Sean Campbell dl/ol
Keith Carter de/g/p
Angelo Magnone dt/g
Mike Nehrbas dl/ol
Trey Icuss dl/ol
Rick Brancazio dl/ol
Cody Kirkpatrick dl/ol
Terry Snyder de/g
Garrett Dalton dl/ol
Donovan Fletcher dl/ol
Anthony Patterson de/te
John Smogonovich de/c
Tyler Ellyson dt/t
Quentin Nelson ng/t
Tyree Dunn dt/t
Herb Dunn dt/t
Ralph Petrella dt/g
Justin Gardner dl/ol
John Irwin de/g
Anthony Mayo dt/t
Myron Harton dl/ol
Derrick Brown dl/ol
Mike Snyder db/wr
Randy Ralston db/wr
Terry Mason db/wr
Dan Vogel db/wr
Dreylon Pree db/wr
Lance Parrish lb/fb
Frank Littlejohn db/wr