The fourth-seeded Greenmen rode an outstanding performance by sophomore quarterback Alex Moore and a couple of key fourth-quarter defensive stops to a 27-21 victory inside Veterans Stadium.

Aurora, 11-0 for the first time in Mihalik’s 19 years at the helm, advances to face top-seeded New Philadelphia in the regional semifinals. The Quakers held off Kenston, the defending Division III champion, 31-28. Chardon and Streetsboro will square off in the other semifinal.

Big Red, the region’s fifth seed, finishes at 6-4. The trip to the playoffs was the 19th in a row for coach Reno Saccoccia’s program.

“It was just a great high school football game, and everyone here (Friday) got their money’s worth — that’s for sure,” Mihalik said. “To beat a program with the tradition that Steubenville has — one of the most storied programs in Ohio — is a major accomplishment.

“I’m proud of our kids and our coaching staff. We beat a great program with a great coaching staff.”

“I want to congratulate Aurora on the victory,”Saccoccia said. “There were a lot of things we could have done better (Friday). We did some things well but, overall, we were inconsistent.”

The defenses dominated play during the first quarter. Big Red did take the opening kick from its own 38 to the Aurora 31, but that drive ended when Randy Mitchell was tackled on a fourth-down run.

Aurora’s offense started clicking late in the quarter. The Greenmen, thanks to a 35-yard Moore to Evan McVay completion, had a first-and-10 at Steubenville’s 38. Big Red linebacker JoJo Brown threw Moore for a 10-yard loss on the final play of the opening stanza.

The drive eventually stalled at Big Red’s 12. Alex Bibza drilled a 38-yard field goal to make it 3-0 Aurora.

Saccoccia’s crew responded immediately, moving 80 yards on nine plays for the game’s first touchdown. It came on a 5-yard run by Mitchell. Tayveon Crawford had runs of 25 and 22 on the march. Jared Roberts’ conversion kick made it 7-3.

The hosts then put together a touchdown march of their own, traveling 68 yards. Moore, who threw for 59 of the yards, bulled his way over from a yard out. Bibza’s boot put the score at 10-7 with 2:21 remaining before the half.

Big Red came right back, relying on the arm and legs of Mitchell. He connected with Crawford for 20 yards and Luke Zorne for 9 more. He also ran for 16. The score came on a 6-yard Mitchell to Stone Biacco pass. Steubenville took a 14-10 lead after Roberts’ kick with 47 seconds remaining.

Unfortunately for the visitors, Aurora’s answer only took 31 seconds. Moore found Ben Rogge for gains of 35 and 10. He then hit A.J. Barner for a 10-yard touchdown. Bibza’s extra point gave the Greenmen a 17-14 advantage at the half.

Big Red got a huge break on the second-half kickoff, recovering an Aurora fumble at its own 48. Thanks to runs by Crawford and Mitchell, Steubenville moved to the Greenmen 31. A bad snap on third down resulted in a loss of 7 yards. Mitchell’s fourth-down pass attempt fell incomplete, resulting in a turnover on downs.

“We didn’t take advantage of our opportunities on both sides of the ball this season,” Saccoccia said. “The same thing is true for our special teams. We just didn’t make enough plays to win.

“I think most teams play physical and tough, and that certainly was the case tonight. I tell our players before every game I know they are going to be physical, and I know they will try to carry out their assignments every time. So, physicality is not something I am always concerned with.”

After its defense recorded the stop, Aurora’s offense marched 62 yards in 10 plays. Moore scored again on a 1-yard plunge, and the Greenmen led, 24-14.

Big Red’s next drive started at its own 33. Mitchell handed off to Crawford, who somehow slipped through a crowd at the line of scrimmage and sprinted 67 yards to the end zone. Roberts connected again and it was 24-21 with 4:03 left in the third.

Neither offense could get anything going for most of the fourth quarter. Aurora’s final points came on a 28-yard Bibza field goal with 3:35 remaining to play.

Big Red, which suffered its first opening-round loss since 2010, moved the ball down field from its own 7 to the Aurora 48 following Bibza’s boot.

On fourth-and-8, Mitchell connected with Zorne for what appeared to be a crucial first down. The gain, however, was nullified by an illegal man downfield penalty. Mitchell’s next pass attempt was broken up, allowing the Greenmen to run out the clock.

“Of all the things we did right and all the things we didn’t do well, it came down to that fourth-and-8 play,” Saccoccia said. “We thought we did a perfect job of executing the play and picking up the first down.

“The officials said our motion man covered the end man on the line of scrimmage. They said he was too close to the line of scrimmage. I haven’t seem that call in the history of football.”

In his final game for Big Red, Crawford ran the football 28 times for 187 yards and a touchdown. He finished the season with 2,089 rushing yards and 28 scores. Mitchell rushed for 83 yards and passed for 47.

“I’m so proud of the way our players stuck together this season and our coaches kept grinding,” Saccoccia said. “It was an 11-week grind.

“Hopefully, our younger kids learned something from it and hopefully our seniors took something from it. And, hopefully we will be a better team going forward because of it.”

Big Red’s defense did a solid job against Aurora’s high-powered run game, holding the Greenmen to just 56 net yards on 32 carries.

Moore, however, finished with 298 passing yards, completing 16 of his 20 attempts. McVay had eight receptions for 162 yards.

“He’s been getting better every week,” Mihalik said of Moore. “We’re traditionally a run heavy team, but we didn’t think we could line up and run the ball aagainst Steubenville. They are pretty physical, so we wanted to spread them out, try to throw the ball a little and loosen them up.

“We threw the ball very successfully. That has been their Achilles’ Heel all season it looked like on film. Credit to our kids for following the game plan. We’ll enjoy this one tonight then start getting ready for New Philadelphia. Hats off to Steubenville — they have a great program.”

SHUT-DOWN DEFENSE

Big Red did not score in the first and fourth quarters Friday night, which is nothing new to the Greenmen. Aurora has not allowed a first-quarter or fourth-quarter point all season. In fact, the 21 points are the most it allowed to one opponent this season.

Aurora 27, Steubenville 21

Big Red 0-14-7-0 — 21

Aurora 0-17-7-3 — 27

AURORA: Bibza 38 field goal

BIG RED: Mitchell 5 run (Roberts kick)

AURORA: Moore 1 run (Bibza kick)

BIG RED: Biacco 6 pass from Mitchell (Roberts kick)

AURORA: Barner 10 pass from Moore (Bibza kick)

AURORA: Moore 1 run (Bibza kick)

BIG RED: Crawford 67 run (Roberts kick)

AURORA: Bibza 28 field goal

RUSHING: Big Red 49-303-2 (Crawford 28-187-1; Mitchell 15-83-1; Tuttle 3-8; Kausky 2-5; Bozica 1-(-2); Aurora 32-99-2 (McVay 7-27; Gramm 7-15; Papesh 1-6; Moore 13-5-2; Rogge 2-3; Skolaris 1-1; Team 1-(-1)).

PASSING: Big Red 4-12-47-1 (all by Mitchell); Aurora 16-20-1-298 (all by Moore).

RECEIVING: Big Red 4-47-1 (Crawford 1-20; Ferguson 1-12; Zorne 1-9; Biacco 1-6-1); Aurora 16-298-1 (McVay 8-162; Rogge 3-84; Papesh 2-23; Hauptner 1-13; Barner 1-10-1; Gramm 1-6).

FIRST DOWNS: Big Red 17; Aurora 18.

PENALTIES-YARDS: Big Red 5-50; Aurora 4-48.

PUNTS: Big Red 1-40; Aurora 1-25.

FUMBLES-LOST: Big Red 0-0; Aurora 2-1.