Girard is too much for VA-SJ in playoff

The Indians rompedto qualify for a regional finale against Ursuline.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
CHARDON -- Girard coach Bud McSuley talked confidently about his football team Friday following the Indians' impressive 33-12 victory over Cleveland Villa Angela-St.Joseph in a Division IV, Region 17 playoff game.
"We're not the biggest dogs in the fight," McSuley said. "But our dogs will come after you."
Girard (11-1) did just that against a physically bigger and faster Viking team. The Indians outplayed, out-hit and outsmarted St. Joe's from the opening kickoff to the final whistle.
"They flat out beat us," Vikings coach Tom Schoen said. "They are a darn good football team. My hat goes off to them, they're better than us."
With the win, Girard will face Ursuline for the Division IV regional championship next Friday.
Turnovers
The Indians took advantage of three first half turnovers by VA-SJ (8-4), and the Girard offense and quarterback Matt Zuppo turned them into 12 points.
Zuppo ran or passed the football on 28 of Girard's 32 first-half offensive plays.
The junior led the Indians on two impressive scoring drives by tossing scoring strikes of 17 yards to Nick Shirey and 20 yards to Dustin Helle.
On the night, Zuppo completed 17 of 22 passes for 227 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also ran for 37 yards on 20 carries.
Helle caught two of those touchdown passes and 10 overall for 146 receiving yards. Shirey also caught four passes for 59 yards and scored a rushing touchdown.
Tailback Mark Grdinich scored a second half touchdown from nine yards out, and finished with 52 rushing yards on 11 carries.
Versatile offense
"Offensively, we are tough to stop," McSuley said. "We have a lot of weapons and if we are on, you're going to see a lot of points on the board like you did tonight."
The tone of the game, however, was set by the Girard defense which kept VA-SJ's high-powered offensive attack from getting any momentum by forcing numerous turnovers.
"We hit them hard. I don't know if they've ever been hit like that this year," McSuley said. "We stopped their early momentum and it got our offense going."
The Indians put the game away for the most part by scoring on their first drive of the third quarter.
Helle made another fantastic catch in the end zone from 13 yards out to put Girard up 19-0.
"He's a great receiver," McSuley said of Helle. "He was all-Ohio last year with LeBron James. He's a playmaker."
Two more scores
After VA-SJ scored midway through the third quarter on a Mike Cvelbar 6-yard run, Girard tallied twice more to seal the win.
St. Joes scored a late touchdown to make up the final score.
"You can't make mistakes like we did against a team like this, you can't do it," Schoen said. "Look what happened. They're good enough without helping them."
Overall, Girard gained 347 yards of offense with 18 first downs.
Cvelbar led the Vikings as he passed for 197 yards on 19 of 26 passes. Freshman David Lighty caught 10 passes for 83 yards and a touchdown.