FOOTBALL Unbeaten Beavers take underdog role

Beaver Local plays undefeated Steubenville Friday in Austintown.
By MARK W. MILLER
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
LISBON -- Beaver Local football team captain Josh Pastore says everyone in his community is talking about Steubenville.
He's referring to the Beavers' (11-0) Division III region 11 playoff game against the Big Red (11-0) Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Austintown Fitch High Falcon stadium.
The Beavers are 3-3 in playoff competition.
"Last year we won for the first time in the playoffs and since we got over that hurdle, we've set our goals high," said Coach Rich Wright, referring to a state championship.
Last year, the Beavers won twice then lost 34-7 to Cleveland Benedictine in a regional final.
In 1999, the Beavers lost to Steubenville 42-7 in a first-round playoff game.
"We aren't treating them an any different then we did Gallia Academy last week," Wright said Tuesday.
Beaver Local won last week's contest over Gallia, 45-13.
Happy as underdogs
"Nobody expects us to beat Steubenville," Wright said. "We like that underdog role, because our kids play well when they are put in that position.
"Nobody thought we would do well at Chardon during the regular season," said Wright, referring to a 35-7 victory.
"If we expect to make it an interesting game, we'll have to limit our mistakes and take advantage of their turnovers and control the line of scrimmage," Wright said.
In his six seasons at Beaver Local, Wright has a 48-17 record and four of his teams have reached the playoffs.
Wright says that this has been his strongest group of kids in the weight room. That's a lesson they learned from Benedictine -- they had to get bigger.
Robinson scores four
Senior quarterback Jake Robinson (6-0, 190 pounds) scored four touchdowns in the victory over Gallia Academy. The Beavers ran 80 plays, compared to 33 for Gallia Academy.
"If we wanted to become the best, we had to become the strongest," Robinson said. "We've had more kids in the weight room this year and it made us stronger.
"Our linemen can bench press 300 plus pounds and half of our backfield [can bench] 285 and more," Robinson said.
Pastore, a 5-10, 200-pound senior tailback, has rushed for 1,283 yards and 15 TDs and has more than 100 yards in each of the 11 games.
"Our offensive line is very physical and tries to wear people out," Pastore said. "Usually by the second or third quarter, we are still pushing and they [opponents] aren't. We just go full steam.
"We spend a lot of time together and do things together," Pastore said. "We have a movie night and just hang out." We are just like family.
"We all try to help each other to improve on our grades and carry about a 3 [grade-point average]," Pastore said.