Playoff-bound Crusaders handle Wellsville
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Wellsville’s Zaiven Williams runs the ball against Steubenville Central on Saturday. (Photo by Michael McElwain)
STEUBENVILLE -- A fast start and a good finish resulted in the Steubenville Catholic Central football team collecting its sixth-straight victory.
Catholic Central built a double-digit advantage against Wellsville in the first quarter, and the Crusaders ended up pulling away from the Tigers en route to a 39-14 Senior Night victory on Reno Saccoccia Field Saturday night inside historic Harding Stadium.
“We got the ball to our athletes in space,” first-year Catholic Central (7-3) head coach Greg Bahen said about what enabled his team to build an early 12-point advantage. “We started off with an easy throw. Daveon can make big plays. Rahim can make big plays.
“After that, we got pretty sloppy. We made mistakes. We lost our momentum on offense. Our defense buckled down in the second half. Our defense shut them out in the second half. They scored a late touchdown against our JVs.”
Catholic Central entered the game having wrapped up its fifth-straight playoff birth as the chips fell the right way for the Crusaders Friday night enabling the team to clinch a spot in the Ohio Division VII, Region 27 playoffs early Saturday morning.
The Crusaders earned the No. 9 seed, and Catholic Central will take on No. 8 seed Lancaster Fisher Catholic at 7 p.m. Friday night on the road.
With the loss, the Tigers end the season with a record of 1-9.
Offensively, Catholic Central outgained Wellsville, 409-219. The Crusaders ended up averaging more than 10 yards a play as they ran 40 plays in the game. The Tigers ran 58.
Wellsville ran the ball 53 times for 206 yards and two touchdowns, while Catholic Central netted 239 yards and four scores on the ground on 23 carries. The biggest difference came through the air as the Crusaders completed eight passes for 170 yards and two more touchdowns, while the Tigers completed just 3-of-5 passes for 13 yards.
In the game, the two teams were penalized a total of 18 times for 153 yards. Catholic Central committed 12 penalties for 97 yards, while Wellsville was penalized six times for 56 yards.
For Wellsville, Zaiven Williams led the way on the ground as the sophomore produced 75 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, and Jeron Jackson ended the night with 71 yards and a touchdown on six carries.
Wellsville starting quarterback Zachary Banks completed both of his passes for nine yards before having to leave the game.
W: 0-6-0-8 – 14
SC: 12-7-0-20 – 39
SCORING
SC -- Thorn 46 pass from Jones (kick fail), 9:36
SC -- Fabbro 17 pass from Jones (run fail), 6:58
W -- Williams 9 run (kick fail), 11:52
SC -- Mitchell 70 run (Vranish kick), 10:42
SC -- Mitchell 8 run (Vranish kick), 10:13
SC --McCarthy 4 run (kick fail), 4:15
W -- Jackson 61 run (Dowling run), 2:20
SC -- McCarthy 51 run (Vranish kick), :25.8
STATS
RUSHING: Wellsville 53-206 2TDs (Jackson 6-71 TD, Williams 19-75 TD, Dowling 12-41, Banks 2-(-4), Morris 8-(-7), Higginbotham 6-30); Catholic Central 23-239 4TDs (Jones 5-41, Mitchell 9-94 2TDs, Holzworth 6-23, McCarthy 3-81 2TDS)
PASSING: Wellsville 3-5-13-0-0 (Banks 2-2-9-0-0, Morris 1-3-4-0-0); Catholic Central 8-17-170-2-0 (All by Jones)
RECEIVING: Wellsville 3-13 (Morris 1-6, Jackson 1-3, Dowling 1-4); Catholic Central 8-170-2TDs (Thorn 4-99 TD, Bryan 2-42, Fabbro 1-17 TD, Holzworth 1-12)
TOTAL PLAYS-YARDS: Wellsville 58-219; Catholic Central 40-409
FIRST DOWNS: Wellsville 12; Catholic Central 11
PENALTIES-YARDS: Wellsville 6-56; Catholic Central 12-97
FUMBLES-LOST: Wellsville 5-3; Catholic Central 2-1
PUNTS-AVERAGE: Wellsville 4-30.25; Catholic Central 2-38.5