By Greg Gulas

sports@vindy.com

Youngstown

After winning six of their first eight contests, Ursuline High head coach Larry Kempe felt as if his Fighting Irish had the proper focus while casting an eye toward the playoffs.

Redirecting that focus after dropping their final two regular season games has become his top priority.

The third-seeded seeded Fighting Irish (6-4) will host sixth-seeded United Local (7-3) in a Division V, Region 15 first-round game Saturday at Youngstown State’s Stambaugh Stadium.

Both squads will look to establish their running games in order to keep opponent defenses honest while controlling the football and playing aggressively on both sides of the line of scrimmage is also paramount.

“When you start out 6-2, you feel good about yourselves. We played really well those first eight games, but I felt like we lost our direction the last six quarters of the season so we must now redirect our focus,” Kempe said. “We missed 50 tackles those last two games and didn’t miss 50 combined in our first eight contests, so it’s back to fundamentals and the basics if we expect to make a deep playoff run.”

Currently in his third season as Ursuline head coach, Kempe has led the Fighting Irish to three consecutive playoff appearances and during an 11-year association with the program, has been a part of seven of the school’s 18 postseason appearances.

Their schedule has more than prepared them for this year’s playoffs as they’ve faced no less than seven playoff opponents, ranging from Division II to Division IV with a convincing win over Farrell; a Division VI playoff qualifier in Pennsylvania, also to their credit.

Under Kempe, the Fighting Irish advanced to the regional title game in 2012 with an early first-round exit last year a blemish they would like to forget.

Their motivation this season was to get back to the playoffs in order to atone for last year’s sudden departure.

“We lost those two games by a total of four points and that has served as our inspiration all year. We’re not in a league and cannot play for a championship, so the team is built for a 15-week run and the kids fully understand that,” he said. “They buy into that philosophy.”

The Fighting Irish are a 75-percent run, 25-percent pass unit that relies on the run in order to set up their play action.

Quarterback Vito Penza guides the offense, entering the 11th week having thrown for 523 yards and four scores while rushing for 653 yards and a team-leading eight touchdowns.

Kimauni Johnson is the team’s leading rusher with 827 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging 5.2 yards per carry while the team has racked up 1,771 ground yards through the first 10 weeks of play.

“Credit our offensive line for the numbers that we’ve been able to put up because they’ve done a great job all season. Defensively, we rotate 20 players and while their statistics don’t exactly pop out at first glance, the collective numbers show how consistent their play has been,” Kempe said.

Special teams could come into play for the Fighting Irish. Placekicker John Hintz, who helped the Ursuline boys soccer team to the regional finals, has the distance to be a game changer if called upon.

While not a mirror-image of their opponent, United Local head coach Mike Ward says his Golden Eagles also depend on the running game with senior leadership an added plus.

“We have a 35-man roster and all 11 seniors start. We’re old school — a no-name team with everyone contributing on both sides of the ball. It’s been a total team effort for us all year,” Ward said.

This is just the second ever playoff appearance for the Golden Eagles with their first coming back in 2010.

Ward had players from that 2010 squad stop by all week in order to share their playoff experience with this year’s team while they prepare for the Fighting Irish.

“The school is the center of the community and a playoff game just brings everyone together. We’ve made it a point to let the team know that only 100 teams get to play an 11th week and that’s the reward for all of the hard work that they’ve put into this season,” Ward said. “We’ve never played Ursuline and this is the largest venue we will have played in, but we’ll be ready.”

The Golden Eagles feature two-way performers Bryan Weyant (fullback and linebacker), Eric Blosser (tight end and defensive end), Caige Vincent (running back defensive tackle) and Cody Dickens (quarterback-free safety).

“We have exceptional athletes who play well together,” Ward said. “If we expect to win then we have to be able to run the football and stop Ursuline from running the ball when they are on offense. You also put yourself in position to win when you win the turnover battle and that’s at any level of play.”

Kickoff is at 7 p.m.