No. 8 Clark has No. 1 numbers

Dom Cutrone had a key recovery for the Irish at the Girard 45 in the third quarter.
By BILL SULLIVAN
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
AUSTINTOWN -- In a football game involving the final eight teams in the state, wouldn't you figure a player wearing jersey No. 8 would lead the eighth-seeded team in the region?
Junior quarterback Daryll Clark, wearing No. 8, made all the right choices to lead Ursuline to a 31-14 win over Girard in a Div. IV regional final Friday at Austintown Fitch High School.
It played out like a game of Crazy Eights, Irish style.
"This is a big win; no one ever thought that we could make it this far with a 5-5 record," said Clark.
Other numbers
Clark completed four of 10 passes for 47 yards on the turf that became soaked with the rain that fell throughout the game.
All four completions resulted in Ursuline first downs.
"Now we're proving everybody wrong," said Clark.
He ran five times for 23 yards, including an important 14-yard dash for a first down on Ursuline's fifth possession of the first half.
Of the five occasions it held the ball before intermission, Ursuline scored four times to seize a 24-14 lead at the break.
Despite a less-than-impressive 5-5 record in regular season, the Irish squeezed into the playoffs as the eighth seed in the region.
Next Friday they will play in a state semifinal against an opponent and at a site to be named Sunday.
"We're the number eight seed, but the 5-5 record doesn't mean anything," said Clark.
"When we're in the playoffs, it's 0-0. We're showing every team that we're not going to be stopped. Just like you saw tonight, we're going to move on to round four."
Girard (11-2) came out fast, and a pair of completions from Matt Zuppo to Nick Canterino covered 70 yards and gave the Indians a 7-0 lead with the game just 47 seconds old.
Early fireworks
The Irish (8-5) turned it into a game of one-upmanship. Girard scored in two plays, Ursuline in one.
Delbert Ferguson, who ran 23 times for 204 yards, burst 83 yards for a score on the first Irish snap.
With just 55 seconds expired, the game was tied 7-7 and threatened to become another one of the famous track meets held at Falcon Stadium in the spring.
"We were very worried about their offense," said Ursuline coach Dan Murphy of the Indians.
"It's a big play offense. They have a lot of great players. We wanted to limit the big plays and after that one there wasn't too many."
After an exchange of three punts to open the second half, the biggest play of the evening was turned in by the Ursuline defense.
Girard snapped the ball from the Ursuline 32, but Zuppo couldn't control the wet ball and Dom Cutrone recovered for the Irish at the Girard 45.
Ten plays later, Terrell Washington turned the corner for a touchdown for the Irish, making it 31-14.
The play covered 8 yards. Yes, 8.