Tom Williams: Documentary recaps Steubenville’s ugly era

Youngstown State University dodged a pretty big hit with the recent release of the documentary “Roll Red Roll.”

Nancy Schwartzman’s movie recounts what happened in Steubenville in 2012 when a 16-year-old girl from nearby Weirton, W. Va., was sexually assaulted by two members of the Steubenville High School football team on a night where several homes played host to teen drinking parties.

The film, which was screened earlier this month at the Cleveland International Film Festival, is disturbing and haunting.

Schwartzman said the film will be screened in Wheeling, W.Va., and maybe Pittsburgh, but not Steubenville.

And don’t expect to see “Roll Red Roll” at Tinseltown or Regal Cinemas. It’s not commercial.

However, Schwartzman said the film will be shown on PBS in June.

Her film chronicles the efforts of crime blogger Alexandria Goddard plus the Steubenville Police Department who used social media posts by teens to piece together what happened.

If you think remorse was shown, think again. Misogynist posts boast of conquest. The culture is flat out ugly. Along the Ohio River, football rules and as long as current players live up to the Big Red tradition of winning, anything goes.

What the teens text and share about the crime is bad enough. The comments by school officials and residents are worse. Adults are supposed to protect children, not look the other way.

And there was plenty of looking the other way.

Some of the footage is from police videos of the interrogations. Unfiltered, they are.

At one point, Steubenville head coach Reno Saccoccia tells a detective that he’s well aware that players broke team rules for attending drinking parties.

But Saccoccia didn’t suspend anyone, saying he was afraid it might make his players look guilty.

To be fair, Saccoccia, who is still the head coach, could not have handled speaking to the media better than he did following Big Red’s 34-16 playoff loss to Hubbard on Nov. 10 at Boardman High School. Saccoccia accepted responsibility after his team was penalized 16 times for 99 yards.

“When you have that many penalties, you’re not mentally ready, that’s on me,” Saccoccia said. “I want to congratulate Hubbard — their coach [Brian Hoffman] out-coached me and he deserved to win.”

If only that version of Saccoccia had been making decisions in August 2012 when his team’s barbarian behavior was uncovered.

Eventually, two players — Trent Mays and Ma’Lik Richmond — were convicted of the sexual assault.

So how did YSU escape unwanted attention? There is no “Where Are They Now” recap at the end of the film. Not every documentary ends with one, but this film cries out for it.

Did Steubenville school officials lose their jobs?

Was any assistant coach fired?

What happened to the players?

Mahoning Valley sports fans know what happened to one. In 2017, Richmond, a defensive end, joined the YSU football team as a walk-on player.

Mays, the other, finished his college career at Central State in 2018.

Tom Williams is a sportswriter at The Vindicator. Write him at williams@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @Williams_Vindy.