Columbiana’s defense shuts down Springfield

Columbiana vs Springfield

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Clippers’ Grant Crider scored both TDs in the 13-7 win.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

NEW MIDDLETOWN — Columbiana High coach Bob Spaite does a lot of things for his football team, but he’ll be the first one to tell you that defense is not one of them.

The Clippers defense came up with an outstanding effort Friday night as Columbiana (5-2, 2-2 ITCL Tier One) outbattled Springfield 13-7 in the rain.

“I’m the guy that pats them on the back, and tells them nice job, but that’s about it. The rest of it is my defensive coaching staff and they did a whale of a job tonight getting these kids ready,” said Spaite.

“Our defense was outstanding and we had enough offense to pull off the victory,” he added.

The Clippers held Springfield (4-3, 2-1 ITCL) to just 44 rushing yards and 107 yards passing, of which 73 of them came on one play by the Tigers.

That play, a perfectly executed screen pass from Springfield quarterback Brad Ferraro to his running back, senior Jimmy Zubick, had touchdown written all over it. Zubick streaked down the sidelines before the Clippers’ Mardell Halas hauled him down from behind at the 6-yard line.

“I’ll tell you what the play of the game was,” said Spaite. “It was Mardell Halas coming from the opposite side of the field and sprinting down to make that game-saving tackle.”

And then the Clippers defense came on and kept the Tigers out of the end zone and came away with no points as Jake Noble missed a 38-yard field goal attempt.

“That really hurt,” said Springfield coach Sean Guerriero. “Any time that you get into that red zone and don’t get any points it is really disappointing.”

“Our kids played hard and give Coach Spaite credit they made the adjustments that shutdown our running game in the second half,” he added.

“We had our opportunities,” Guerriero said. “We just didn’t take advantage of them tonight.”

The Clippers came out fired up and wasted little time as Britton Steiginga ran the opening kickoff back from his own 10 to the Tigers 44.

Columbiana’s sophomore quarterback Austin Barbato then scooted 32 yards right up the middle on a quarterback draw play to the Tigers 1-yard line and junior Grant Crider, who scored both Columbiana touchdowns, then dove over the top for the first score.

Springfield got its first break later in the first quarter when Columbiana punter Matt Huk shanked one off his foot and the ball traveled just 15 yards to the Clippers 45.

Ferraro hit Zubick with an 11 yard run and two plays later from the 18 Zubick darted right up the middle and scored untouched to deadlock the contest.

After Springfield blew their big scoring opportunity early in the second quarter, both defenses took over and dominated things until the tail end of the third quarter.

With three minutes remaining in the third quarter the Clippers began a 62 yard drive on 15 plays, all of them on the ground as Crider and senior Jon Richey took turns picking up yardage. It was Crider who capped off the drive on a six yard run with 7:48 remaining in the contest.

The Tigers had three more opportunities, the first ended with a fourth down pass falling incomplete and then Ferraro was intercepted twice in the final four minutes. The first by defensive lineman Matt Douglas on a ball that was tipped several times and then again in the final minute by Jeff Davidson that enabled the Clippers to run out the clock.

mollica@vindy.com