By Greg Gulas

sports@vindy.com

COLUMBIANA

The Mineral Ridge Rams and Columbiana Clippers have two of the higher powered offenses in the Valley this season.

Entering their Inter-Tri County Tier One league showdown, the two teams averaged a combined 741.3 yards of total offense per game.

On Friday, the two league rivals didn’t disappoint as they combined for 772 total yards; 513 by the Clippers.

It was the running of Mineral Ridge’s Dan Skiba, however, that ruined Senior Night for Columbiana.

Skiba rushed for a game high 193 yards and four touchdowns, offsetting a 166-yard rushing; 185-yard passing performance by Columbiana quarterback Austin Barbato, as the Rams (6-3, 5-1) defeated the Clippers, 35-32, for their fourth consecutive win.

It was the Rams’ fifth win in their last six outings since starting the season with two straight setbacks.

“Dan is a special player. At a small school like ours you just don’t come by a player like him very often,” said Mineral Ridge coach Joe Stevens.

“At crunch time, he knows that we rely on him and tonight he didn’t disappoint,” Stevens said.

Skiba, who carried the ball 20 times, had five rushes of 15 yards or better, including touchdowns of 44 and 50 yards; the last one coming on a fake punt in the third quarter.

“This really was a hard-fought game on both ends,” said Skiba. “In addition to a great offensive show by both teams, give credit to our defense as well because they really came up big when they had to.”

Skiba scored all three first-half touchdowns for Mineral Ridge, including two in the second quarter as the Rams built a 21-7 halftime lead.

Columbiana (4-5, 2-4) got to 21-14 in the third period on a 6-yard run by Barbato, who accounted for 351 total yards.

Skiba scored off the fake punt a little over 90 seconds later to make it 28-14.

The Clippers’ Jeff Davidson then found the end zone from 8 yards out but the placement failed, leaving it 28-20 going into the fourth quarter.

Barbato’s second touchdown of the night, from 19 yards, with 2:07 remaining pulled the Clippers to within 28-26 but the ensuing kickoff was returned 51 yards for a score by Mineral Ridge’s John Thomas.

“I was supposed to just get the ball and go down, but I saw an opening so I took it,” Thomas said.

“It’s been the story of our season,” said Columbiana coach Bob Spaite. “This is the third time that we have put on an excellent offensive show but the third time that we have come out on the short end of the stick.

“We felt like we could move the ball on them but didn’t want to get into a shoot out. I really feel bad for our seniors. They put forth a great effort tonight,” he added.