Team

Southern Local

Record	Div.	Conf.
1/2	Div. VI	Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference

By John Bassetti

bassetti@vindy.com

SALINEVILLE

First-year head coach Mike Skrinjar had quite a day Sunday after the football playoff pairings were released.

His Southern Indians (8-2) had just received word that they were the No. 7 seed in Region 23, with their first playoff game scheduled against No. 2 Bridgeport (10-0).

“It was pandemonium,” the 28-year-old blonde ponytailed coach said of the reaction in the school’s community.

Skrinjar and his staff scrambled to get acclimated to the postseason regimen.

“It’s a whole new season for our guys,” Skrinjar said. “We’re going to be re-energized in our approach this week. We’ve got to become hungry. It was an emotional weekend, but we allowed it to run its course. The community is so proud to be a part of it. It’s going to be something special. We’ll take this second opportunity to showcase what Southern Local has.”

The emotional part of the weekend started with Southern’s loss to McDonald on Friday, which left the Indians deflated. Then, the darkness was lifted on Sunday morning.

“When I was hired, this is something I expect,” he said of his goal of giving Southern its first taste of the postseason. “It was a blessing the way we got in.”

Skrinjar believes his team’s schedule was better than what some people perceived.

“We had eight solid wins and East Palestine and Toronto picked up big wins,” Skrinjar said of the boost from beaten opponents.

“They were strong teams,” the coach said. “When we were 5-0 people questioned the teams we were playing. Toronto finished out the season strong with four wins, so I believe my team is battle-tested.”

Southern lost its first game to Western Reserve on Oct. 1 and the Indians also lost their regular-season finale to McDonald, 27-0.

“Western Reserve was not our best game,” Skrinjar said. “We were sluggish and didn’t take advantage of what we had to early. Against McDonald, we shut down their offense through the first quarter, then it was back and forth. Then we sputtered, offensively, and weren’t putting points on the board; that can wear on a 15-, 16-, 17-, 18-year-old. But we didn’t make plays. We left loopholes for them to capitalized on.”

Skrinjar noted that McDonald had 24 seniors and they’re well-schooled.

“They’ve been ITCL champs the last four years. When Bridgeport watches that film, they’ll see what caliber team we played.”

Skrinjar, whose youthful energy melds nicely with the mature side of his personality, provides his players with first-handed experience.

As a Southern player against Bridgeport in 2000, Skrinjar had one of his better rushing games his senior season. He also experienced losses as a freshman and sophomore.

His senior-season game included an interception that he lateraled to then-teammate Darren Mills, now one of Skrinjar’s assistants.

Southern also beat Bridgeport in Salineville in 2006, the last meeting between the teams.

“Our kids see that Bridgeport has been in the playoffs the last three years and they see 10-0, but they need to know that we won against them. We can go in there with a little bit of a past success with them.”

Southern’s playoff attainment story also has a sad side.

The Indians lost their head coach in June 2009, when Dan Saling died suddenly. Jim Brown assumed the position for the 2009 season before Skrinjar was elevated.

“It impacted all of us,” Skrinjar said.

When he took over, Skrinjar was on a mission to raise the Indians from mediocrity.

“Our records were not the best at Southern, but I wanted to change that. The kids sacrificed a lot of their youth to come walk with me. The payoff was eight quality wins and it tied a school record. Now, it’s time to make the next sacrifice.

“We have 32 players. Of those, I want to see who is willing to make more sacrifices. We’re going to find out who wants to step up and take on this challenge. We’ve got some guys who thought the season was over. We believed that we had to be 9-1 to get in. Now, we’ll see if they’ll be motivated. I want 32 hungry players.”