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INSIDER || Ursuline, Mooney prepare to share
YOUNGSTOWN
Most of the time, it’s not hard to determine the starting times for Friday night football games.
The All-American Conference and Inter Tri-County League kick off their games at 7 p.m. Just about everyone else waits until 7:30 p.m.
Tonight has a major exception as Ursuline and Mooney have home games scheduled for Youngstown State University’s Stambaugh Stadium.
How do they pull it off? Doubleheader.
“It’s two games for the price of one,” Ursuline athletic director Sean Durkin said.
Ursuline (6-0) has the early game, kicking off at 5:45 p.m. against Columbus St. Charles (5-1).
In the nightcap, Mooney (3-2) will take on Cleveland Benedictine (1-5).
Don Bucci, Mooney athletic director, said Ursuline fans are welcome to stay for the Mooney game.
“We just ask the Ursuline fans in the reserved seats move so that our reserved seat ticket holders can take their seats,” Bucci said.
Here’s the fun part: The Mooney game is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. (I’ll pause while you finish chuckling).
Unless Ursuline and St. Charles use a running clock, their game won’t be over before 8 p.m. It might not even start on time as the Youngstown State women’s soccer game against Detroit is set for a 3 p.m. start at Stambaugh.
“If they need extra time to finish, our game might not start on time,” Durkin said.
Even if it does, Bucci agrees that the Mooney game “isn’t going to start at 8.”
Bucci said he wants Mooney and Benedictine to have 40 minutes to warm up properly.
The doubleheader has created a timing problem for Clear Channel radio station WNIO-AM 1390 which is broadcasting the Mooney-Benedictine game.
Clear Channel stations broadcast a 30-minute pregame program. Jim Campbell, Clear Channel sports director, says their broadcast led by Jim Evans is prepared to come on the air at 7:30 p.m.
But if Evans senses that the Ursuline game won’t end in time for an 8 p.m. Mooney kickoff, WNIO will delay its pregame.
On the bubble
Although it’s only Week 7 of the 10-game season, some teams already are on the bubble for qualifying for Week 11.
While some teams already are all-but-assured on making the playoffs (Fitch, Ursuline, Crestview and Western Reserve immediately spring to mind), others on the outside looking in (Warren Harding, Niles, Girard, Champion, Brookfield and McDonald) almost have to treat their remaining four games as must-win contests.
At an uncharacteristic 3-3, Columbiana fits into the latter category.
Two of the Clippers’ losses were nearly wins. In the opener at Monroe Central, the Clippers lost 34-28 when they were stopped on the game’s final play inside the 5-yard line.
In their ITCL Tier One opener at South Range, the Clippers watched Raiders kicker Ethan Witmer kick a 35-yard field goal with 16 seconds remaining for a 33-32 victory.
“We’ve lost two games that we shoulda-coulda won, two heartbreakers, two games that would have put us [in a better position],” Columbiana coach Bob Spaite said after the Clippers lost last Friday to Crestview, 30-7. “Right now, we just want to salvage the season.”
Spaite, who is entertaining to talk to win or lose, didn’t impersonate former Indianapolis Colts coach Jim Mora when he was asked about the postseason.
“I just told [my players] I think we’re really up against it, us making the playoffs,” Spaite said.
“This game would have hurt [in the league race], but it wouldn’t have mattered [as far as playoffs],” Spaite said. “Now, we are up against it, there’s no doubt about that. We’ll see.
“Like I told our kids, it’s easy to be a leader when everything is going your way. It’s easy to be the coach of a 5-0 team or a 6-0 team,” Spaite said. “We’ll find out how good of coaches we are, we’ll find out how good of seniors we’ve got, we’ll find out what kind of team we’ve got.”
The Clippers’ postseason chase begins tonight in Hanoverton over a resurgent United squad that has league wins over East Palestine and Lisbon. The Eagles’ losses were to Salem (31-25) and Crestview (30-19).
In the playoff ratings, United is eighth in Division V Region 17. In the same region, Ursuline and Crestview are second and third, trailing unbeaten Kirtland.
Spaite was impressed with the Rebels who jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the second quarter.
“They are extremely good at what they do,” Spaite said. “It’s not horribly complicated but it’s very efficient.
“They are well-coached, they are well-disciplined, they play very hard,” Spaite said. “I thought maybe we could hold them to 21 points.”
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