Monday, November 23, 2015
By Steve Ruman
YOUNGSTOWN
The Ohio High School Athletic Association football tournament began three weeks ago with a field of 224 teams, including 18 from the Mahoning Valley.
Today, just 28 teams remain, including one local participant.
Ursuline (8-5) on Saturday will make an appearance in the state semifinals for the first time since 2010. The Irish will meet Steubenville Big Red (12-0) at 7 p.m. at New Spartan Stadium in Boardman. The winner will advance to the Division IV title game that will be played on Dec. 5 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.
Saturday’s game will be a rematch of an Oct. 12 meeting played in Steubenville and won by Big Red, 48-12.
Ursuline advanced to the semifinals with a 41-13 win over Crestwood in the Region 11 championship. Steubenville moved on thanks to a 42-7 victory over Johnstown-Monroe in the Region 13 title game.
Crestview and Warren JFK, the Mahoning Valley’s other two teams alive last week, were eliminated on Friday.
“Our goal all year long was to win our region and take that next step,” Ursuline coach Larry Kempe said Sunday. “I told our players after our game Saturday to enjoy the moment. I didn’t want them to look back and I didn’t want them to look too far ahead. I just wanted them to take in what was in front of them.”
“There’s no better feeling than to look at these kids and see the joy in their faces when they know they accomplished something together. For the seniors, our upcoming game will be our 50th together.”
Against Crestwood, Ursuline held a 13-6 halftime lead after trailing early. However, the Irish scored 28 unanswered points after the break to pull away from the Red Devils.
“Defensively, we played well all night with the exception of a couple of plays that are correctable,” Kempe said. “Offensively, I thought we dominated the line of scrimmage in the second half, and that really opened up our running game.”
“I like where we’re at right now. We have to fine tune some things, but overall we’re playing as well as we’ve played all year long.”
Ursuline lost its final game of the regular season. Its three playoff wins marks its longest winning streak of the season.
“We’re as healthy as we’ve been all year,” Kempe said. “We’re definitely better off than we were the last time we played Steubenville, when we had five starters who were either very limited or out because of injuries.”
“That being said, Steubenville is also much stronger than they were two months ago. They just continue to get better and better each week. Offensively they are extremely diverse, and on defense they are physical and they bring pressure at you from everywhere.”
Kempe admitted he was a bit surprised when he learned that the game would be played in Boardman. His team will have to travel just 7.5 miles, while Steubenville will be making a 60.8 mile trek to the Mahoning Valley.
Ironically, Ursuline has had to travel shorter distances each of the last four weeks as it progressed deeper into the tournament.
“I guess it’s easy for me to say, but I don’t think it makes much difference at all,” Kempe said. “We do a lot of traveling throughout the season, so that’s not an issue with us. Steubenville don’t play many games on the road, so it might be a bit of a twist for them, but trust me when you’re playing in week 14 you don’t worry about location.”
Saturday’s winner will play either Middletown Bishop Fenwick (13-0) or Columbus Bishop Hartley (9-3) in the state title game.
PLAYOFF NOTES
This is the first time an area team has advanced to the state semifinals since 2013 when Cardinal Mooney and Western Reserve won regional titles.
Ursuline has the fewest wins among the state’s 28 semifinalists..
Five schools are making their first trip to the state semifinals: Stow-Munroe Falls (Division I), Perrysburg (II), Milan Edison (V), Grandview Heights (VI) and Fort Recovery (VII). Combined, the five schools had just seven playoff wins prior to this year.
Mogadore, which beat Warren JFK, is making its 17th final four appearance while Steubenville is appearing in the semifinals for the 16th time.
Coldwater is making its seventh consecutive final four appearance.
The remaining playoff field includes 14 No. 1 seeds, five No. 2 seeds, seven No. 3 seeds and a pair of No. 5 seeded teams (Ursuline, Hudson). The only semifinal game pitting a pair of top-seeded teams is the game between Bishop Fenwick and Bishop Hartley.