Ursuline powers way past Potters
Saturday, August 26, 2006 The Irish won, 54-13, after falling behind 10-0 early in the contest. By ERIC HAMILTON VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT EAST LIVERPOOL — Even in his nightmares, Ursuline High football coach Dan Reardon couldn't have dreamed of a worse scenario to begin the 2006 football season. Before the Irish could even run a play, East Liverpool, using its new spread offense, built a 10-0 lead and had the ball at the Ursuline 37 after recovering a fumble. "Yes, I'd say livid is a good word to describe my feeling at that moment," said Reardon. "Obviously, we got off to shaky start and before we could even blink, they were ahead 10-0." Ursuline lost four fumbles in the first half, including one on a kickoff and another on its first offensive possession. Those miscues, coupled with East Liverpool's offense, put the Irish in a hole early. But once Ursuline figured out how to hold on to the football and bottle up the Potters' passing attack, things changed in a hurry. Yarab runs wild Running back Matt Yarab more than redeemed himself for a lost fumble in the first half. The senior simply ran over the East Liverpool defense to the tune of 217 yards, as Ursuline racked up 534 rushing yards The Irish's smash-mouth offensive attack was much too powerful for East Liverpool, as Ursuline rolled up 26 points in the third quarter and rolled to a 54-13 victory over the Potters Friday night in the first-ever meeting between the programs. "I just had to forget about it [the fumble]," said Yarab, who scored a pair of 7-yard touchdowns. "There's no excuse for it and I just kept on running. We knew once our offense got on the field and established our style of football we'd wear them down. "We have a great running backs coach who works us all hard to get ready each week. We just can't get ahead ourselves because this is just one game and we have to be ready tomorrow and get back to work." Yarab had a little help from his friends. Darrell Mason, a sophomore, piled up 120 yards and two touchdowns on just six carries. Ryan Curry added 94 yards, including an 88-yard scoring run, on five attempts. While things didn't look so great in the beginning, Reardon could finally crack a smile at the end. Early turnovers costly "Their offense gave us trouble early and the turnovers just killed us in the first half," said Reardon. "But once we started running the ball well we just stayed with our base plays and our offensive line took over the game. "Matt [Yarab] is a strong, hard-nosed player and he had a great off-season in the weight room. His conditioning really showed tonight because once he knocked is way through the line, they couldn't catch him." After scoring on the game's first possession, East Liverpool recovered the ensuing kickoff at the Ursuline 20. Jim Wood kicked a 33-yard field goal to pad the Potters' advantage to 10-0 with 6:45 left in the first quarter. Irish finally take lead But Ursuline finally settled down and scored twice in the second quarter to seize a 14-10 lead at halftime. The Irish rolled from there with 26 points in the third period. Allen Jones' 23-yard scoring jaunt gave Ursuline a 40-13 lead heading into the final quarter. "One of the things we wanted to do this year is be more physical," said Reardon. "I thought of defense hung in there and offensively we just kept pounding away and established our running game. That's what we want to do every week."