Ursuline defense stifles Trinity

By JOE SCALZO

Vindicator Sports staff

GIRARD — A few weeks ago, Ursuline’s coaches decided they wanted more speed on defense, so they shifted a couple linebackers to the line, and a couple defensive backs to linebacker.

Did it work? Well, just look at these statistics from Friday’s Division V regional quarterfinal against Garfield Heights Trinity.

UTrinity quarterback Alex Nydza was sacked five times and dropped for a loss twice more.

UThe Irish defense finished with six sacks and three tackles for a loss.

UTrinity didn’t run an offensive play in Ursuline territory until three minutes remaining in the third quarter.

“[The change] got more speed on the field and I think you saw that tonight,” said Irish coach Dan Reardon, whose team rolled to a 28-0 victory at Arrowhead Stadium. “We bring a lot of blitzes from different areas and just try to harass [the quarterback] and continually apply pressure.”

The Trojans (7-4) had just one real scoring opportunity on Friday and it was the result of an Irish fumble at their own 9. Trinity quickly ran four plays, lost 6 yards and nearly had a pass intercepted.

“We pride ourselves on playing fast team defense,” said senior David Rossi, who had two sacks and two tackles for loss. “It’s all about attitude; that’s how we play.

“We’ve got a great defensive coordinator in Coach [Larry] Kempe. He’s put great defenses together ever since he’s been here.”

Offensively, Kempe’s son Paul had a pretty nice night himself, completing 9 of 15 passes for 241 yards and a TD. He also ran for a score as the Irish (7-3) looked capable of advancing to a third straight state championship game.

“We blew it last week,” said Trinity coach Ed Schaefer, whose team lost to Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph in overtime last weekend. “If we had beat St. Joe’s last week we would have had a home game this week against one of the smaller schools.

“We know what Ursuline is. They’re not a Division V team. They play like a Division II or a Division III team.”

Senior Allen Jones rushed 25 times for 159 yards and two TDs for Ursuline, which will play Crestview in next Friday’s regional semifinal.

The Irish last played a Columbiana County school in 2002, when they beat East Palestine 56-7.

Junior Akise Teague caught five passes for 169 yards and Chris Collins added four catches for 62 yards and a TD.

Ursuline led just 7-0 at halftime and 14-0 after three quarters, but the Trojans’ defense eventually wore down.

“Our guys don’t panic,” said Reardon. “They keep chipping away.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who have played a lot of football over the past three years and they’ve been in some tough ballgames. They just don’t panic.”

Although Trinity’s schedule isn’t quite as tough as Ursuline’s, the Trojans did play six games against teams in higher divisions.

To survive it, Schaefer said he tries to avoid two-way players as much as possible, building depth and giving his team a chance to stay fresh late in the game.

Unfortunately, it also leaves him with a few less-talented players up front, which was evident against Ursuline.

“I think we suffer trying to play guys one way on the line,” he said. “We put our linebackers in at guard in the third and fourth quarter [Friday] to run them and our defense kind of fell apart.

“We ran out of gas there.”

Nydza, a 6-foot-2, 190-pounder who plays even bigger, was effective running the ball. He carried a team-high 23 times (no one else had more than seven carries) for 46 yards. He also completed 6 of 12 passes for 50 yards.

“Their quarterback is a heck of a football player, so we had our hands full with him obviously,” said Reardon.

You could say the same about any team Ursuline plays over the next few weeks. The defending champions aren’t quite as talented as last year, but they proved again Friday they’ll be in the title mix.

“Step one of five for us,” said Rossi. “We set our goals on repeating this year and we don’t plan on getting stopped.”

scalzo@vindy.com