By JOHN HARRIS

sports@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

In a game that was determined by the team that made the most big plays, Ursuline didn’t make enough of them and suffered the consequences on Friday night.

The Irish yielded three big plays in less than two minutes late in the second quarter and never recovered. The result was a 24-15 loss to visiting Steubenville at Stambaugh Stadium.

“We made some critical errors in the secondary in the first half that hurt us badly,” said Ursuline coach Larry Kempe, whose team fell to 3-4 on the season. “We gave great effort, but we didn’t win the ballgame. We’ve got to eliminate mistakes while playing with great effort.”

Steubenville (6-1) scored 17 unanswered points in the second quarter. Quarterback Javon Davis sandwiched a pair of long touchdown passes to Shyoun Petteway (86 and 35 yards) around a Ursuline fumble that resulted when quarterback Jared Fabry couldn’t handle a bad snap from center and was forced to kick the ball out of the back of the end zone for a safety.

Trailing 17-0 at intermission, Ursuline never recovered from its slow start, or the rash of big plays by Steubenville.

“At 17-0 at halftime, we talked to the kids,” Kempe said. “You take three big plays out of it - two missed coverages and a bad snap - and you’re right where you want to be.

“I thought we did a good job with the exception of two passes and a long run. If we’re running the schemes we want to run, we’re in better shape. Our kids battled.”

Ursuline rallied behind some big plays of its own in the second half, Anthony Howell returned a Steubenville fumble 21 yards for a touchdown with 6:13 left in the game to make it 17-7.

The Big Red answered quickly on the ensuing drive when Jacob Bernard burst 51 yards up the middle for a touchdown run less than three minutes later.

“As the game went on, our offense pushed it up. I thought we did a really good job offensively, not always scoring, but working for first downs and moving it when we needed to,” Steubenville coach Reno Saccoccia said. “The offense finished very well.”

Davis completed 15 of 21 passes for 260 yards and two touchdowns, but he lost two fumbles that were recovered by Ursuline. Bernard carried 21 times for 137 yards and a score.

The Irish (less than 200 total yards offense) rallied one more time when Fabry connected on two big plays in the passing game, the second completion resulting in a 26-yard touchdown pass to Dakota Hobbs, capping an impressive four-play, 80-yard drive.

Unfortunately, it was too little, too late, for the Irish.

“They’re no slouch. They’re a very good football team. They’re 6-1 and on the right road,” Kempe said.about the Big Red.

As for his own team, Kempe noted: “We’ve got to move the ball better on offense. I did like the way we attacked defensively,. We’re going to come back Monday and get better at what we’re doing.”