By John Bassetti

The unbeaten Irish will face Gates Mills Gilmour Academy in a regional semifinal battle at Stow High School.

YOUNGSTOWN — Dan Reardon must have heard one time too many that his team had a sluggish start in last Saturday’s playoff opener against Cuyahoga Heights.

Ursuline’s early performance wasn’t typical of this year’s unbeaten team, yet the Irish rebounded to win, 27-7.

Good reason to be piqued.

“A lot of people talking about that and I guess my response would be that we won the [Division V] poll for the first time, earned top seed with most playoff points in our region, and have the first 11-0 football team in Ursuline history, yet people are complaining about our performance,” Reardon said. “I guess I take it a little bit personally.

“Did our kids play a perfect game? No, but we also played a team that was 9-1 and no other team on our schedule went 9-1 this year – not even Mooney.

“We knew they [Cuyahoga Heights] were going to give us a challenge and they did,” Reardon said. “We did not play our best but we certainly did what we needed to do to win the football game.”

Ursuline, in its second straight year of Div. V playoff competition, faces another first-time opponent in its regional semifinal Saturday at Stow High School against Gates Mills Gilmour Academy, a private, co-ed institution whose entire student body is college-bound.

Gilmour (10-1) advanced by beating Creston Norwayne, 48-21.

“What we see from our film exchange is a team that is very fundamentally sound with a great team defense,” Reardon said. “They have a tremendous quarterback in 6-1, 175 senior Billy Urban.”

Reardon said that Ursuline’s defensive success will rest in its ability to crimp Urban’s effectiveness.

That means a matchup with Ursuline’s secondary that includes Dale Peterman, DeAndre Harris, Justin Austin, L.J. Stevens and Wade Daniels.

One Gilmour player Ursuline’s offense will contend with is Will O’Brien, a 6-0, 220 senior.

He’s the top tackler on a team that Reardon describes as having “very active linebackers.”

Reardon doesn’t foresee his players repeating their regressive start against Gilmour.

“With 16-year-olds, I can’t predict,” Reardon said. “I’d like to think they’re going to play well from the start. Gilmour has to be taken as a difficult opponent. They’re 10-1 and that’s why they’re in the playoffs.”

So what has Reardon been telling his players this week?

“They’re a very efficient offense with an outstanding quarterback and our defense has to contain that,” Reardon said. “Offensively, we need to control the line of scrimmage, control the trenches.

“We say virtually the same thing every week; the keys to winning don’t change: we have to play good team defense, take care of the football, offensively, and limit unforced errors.”

Gilmour’s first game of the regular season was a 28-21 victory over LaBrae, which was eliminated by Tuslaw in the Div. IV Region 13 opener last Friday, 28-0.

Ursuline’s diversified backfield includes five rushers with over 200 yards.

In 11 games, Allen Jones is the top ground-gainer with 683 yards, followed by Dawalyn Harper with 473, Nico Irizarry with 405, Darrell Mason with 358 and Jeff Podolsky with 232.

Jones has 103 attempts, Irizarry 71 and Harper 68 in 11 games.

Due to injury, Mason’s 64 rushes are in nine games. Podolsky has 20 tries in eight games. Mason’s eight touchdowns are second only to Allen’s 11.

Paul Kempe remains Ursuline’s No. 1 passing quarterback with 678 yards on 42 of 68 attempts.

Peterman is the Irish’ top receiver with 21 catches for 327 yards. Dominique Cole and Jones each have five catches for 104 and 100 yards, respectively.

Austin has three receptions for 119 yards. Only three of Ursuline’s 42 TDs are through the air.

bassetti@vindy.com