The Irish held off Warren Harding’s rally in a 28-13
victory.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

WARREN — Ursuline High football coach Dan Reardon started to get a little concerned in the third quarter Friday night against Warren Harding.

The Irish, who built a two-touchdown halftime lead, fumbled on their first series of the third quarter which enabled the Raiders to score, and cut the margin to eight points.

But the Irish’s defense came through in the fourth quarter and the offense added a score as Ursuline (5-1, 1-0) scored a 28-13 victory in a Steel Valley Conference game over the Raiders (3-3, 0-2) at Mollenkopf Stadium.

“You bet I was a little nervous out there after we made a dumb penalty and then turned the ball over and all of a sudden they were back in the game,” Reardon said.

“But our defense came back and made some key stops in the fourth quarter,” he added. “Give Harding credit; they never quit and they came right back at us.”

The game started out with the Irish running at will, then Harding started playing defense in the second half and took advantage of the Irish’s mistakes.

“This is a young football team,” said Harding coach D.J. Dota. “There are a lot of sophomores and juniors out there and they battled back in the second half.”

Strong start

Ursuline, behind the leadership of senior quarterback Lamar McQueen and the running of sophomore tailback Allen Jones, looked unstoppable early in the contest.

Those two combined for more than half of Ursuline’s 282 rushing yards, leading the Irish on an opening drive.

After Dale Peterman returned the opening kickoff to the Harding 48, McQueen went to work, ripping off three straight gains and then Jones romped 14 yards to the Harding 8.

On the next play Jones cut inside and waltzed untouched to the end zone.

Harding, which didn’t run a play until just under five minutes remained in the opening quarter, answered the Irish on the ensuing kickoff.

D.J. Willaimson hauled in the kick at his own 13, cut to the sidelines and raced 87 yards for the tying score just 11 seconds later.

Taking the lead

But the Irish were still in high gear and came right back to drive 78 yards in 11 plays and took the lead for good when Jones scored on a 10-yard run.

When Harding couldn’t move the ball the Irish took over at their own 12 and this time McQueen used the pass, hitting on four of his five completions in the drive.

He hooked up with Justin Austin for a big 11-yard gain on third down and then fired a perfect pass to a cutting Peterman across the middle, who bobbled the ball but then grabbed it while falling into the end zone on a 27-yard play.

The Irish fumbled away their next opportunity, but Harding could get no closer than the Ursuline 24 when quarterback Aunre Davis was sacked on fourth down.

McQueen’s second fumble early in the third quarter came at the Irish 24 yard line with Brian Reynolds recovering for the Raiders.

Sophomore Mike Dorsey took over at quarterback and ran six of the eight plays taking it over from 8 yards to cut the lead to 21-13 with 4:16 remaining in the third quarter.

The Ursuline defense stopped the Raiders early in the fourth quarter at their own 29.

McQueen scampered 23 yards to the Harding 34 and two plays later junior Darrell Mason broke right up the middle cut to the outside and raced 27 yards for the Irish’s final touchdown.

Again Harding came back behind Davis who passed 23 yards to Paris Bruner and then ran 30 yards to the Ursuline 14, but they never got closer as the Irish dug in and Davis was sacked for a big loss on fourth down and Ursuline then ran out the clock.

mollica@vindy.com