By Eric Hamilton

The Tigers defeated Struthers, 24-7, bringing relief to their coach.

NEW MIDDLETOWN — After the Springfield High football team finished 2-8 in his first season as head coach, Sean Guerriero put a lot of emphasis on starting strong in 2008.

Winning the Tigers’ season-opener against Struthers was so important that Guerriero was prepared to pull out all the stops if need be.

With Springfield nursing a 14-7 lead in the fourth quarter, he decided it was the right time for some offensive trickery.

On second-and 10 at the Wildcats’ 35, running back Travis Richey took a pitch from quarterback Matt Evans and heaved it to a wide-open Joe Musial for the long touchdown. The score put Springfield ahead 21-7 and deflated any momentum Struthers had gathered in the second half.

The Tigers added a 47-yard field goal by Bryan Visingardi and pulled away for the 24-7 win Friday night.

“This is a big relief,” said Guerriero. “These kids have been working so hard for the last three months and it really gives them some confidence to win the first time out. We made the right plays at the right times tonight.

“On that toss pass, we just got lucky that they came up on us and rotated over. We had been practicing it and it was just open, so we went for it.”

While Springfield’s offense wasn’t overly explosive, it didn’t have to be.

Struthers had big problems holding onto the football, turning the ball over four times. The Wildcats registered six fumbles, losing three.

The Tigers cashed in on two of the turnovers, converting two second-quarter miscues into touchdowns.

“Springfield did exactly what good teams do — they took advantage of our mistakes,” said Struthers coach Dallas Saunders. “We made too many mistakes and didn’t execute. Top to bottom, we could not get into any kind of a rhythm and they were the better team tonight.”

The Wildcats began the contest with three straight turnovers. Springfield converted two of those into scores in the second quarter.

After Garrett White recovered a Struthers fumble, Dylon DeJane scored the game’s first touchdown, pounding in from 1 yard out on the opening play of the second quarter.

On the next Struthers’ possession, Musial picked off a Tony Valquette pass attempt to set the Tigers up with a short field.

DeJane scored again six plays later from 10 yards away to pad Springfield’s lead to 14-0 with 8:23 left in the second quarter.

Struthers took advantage of Springfield’s lone turnover – an interception in the third period. Setting up shop at the Tigers’ 26, the Wildcats needed just six plays to hit paydirt.

Running back Dom Lariccia plowed in from the 1 to get Struthers back in the contest at 14-7 with 8:20 remaining in the third.

But the toss pass from Richey to Musial and yet another turnover by Struthers in the fourth quarter enabled Springfield to pull away.

“Struthers is a good team and this was a big challenge for our defense,” said Guerrero. “Our defense did a great job of forcing turnovers and made some plays when it needed to. We just have to keep working hard.”