High School Sports

Red Devils Roll In Region Quarterfinal

ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- It's certainly nice to have options.

That's a cliche for life, but it certainly applies to the St. Clairsville Red Devils, too.

That was on clear display again on Friday night when the Red Devils rolled past seventh-seeded Carrollton, 38-9, in a Division IV, Region 15 quarterfinal at Red Devil Stadium.

Taking advantage of its mammoth and talented offensive line, the Red Devils opted to focus on the ground game and they did so to a tune of 287 yards on 35 carries and all five of their touchdowns came via the rush.

St. Clairsville (11-1) will now take on Meadowbrook, which pulled out a dramatic victory at John Glenn in the final seconds. The site for that game will be announced on Sunday by the OHSAA.

Before any attention could shift to the Colts, the Red Devils had to deal with a Warriors (8-4) squad, which gave St. C. all it wanted and then some in a season-opener in Carroll County.

In terms of time off the clock or possessions, it didn't take long for the Red Devils to assert themselves, but it did take some time for the officials to sort out significant confusion on both sides of the field.

The Red Devils were the beneficiaries of a very bizarre occurrence.

It appeared as if Carrollton had stuffed the Devils on a fourth-and-short play and was primed to take possession on its own 20.

However, the officials ruled there was an inadvertent whistle and replayed the down prior to what was believed to be the fourth-down play. Thus, fourth down was actually third down, the Devils converted the fourth-down try and two plays later, senior Jacob Jordan was in the end zone from 14 yards out.

"We benefited from some crazy things happening at the start of the game," McLean said. "Thankfully, we got (what down it was) worked out and we popped it in the end zone. That was big."

Seemingly unfazed by what transpired on the prior possession, Carrollton marched to the Devils' 9 with Chase Oehlstrom doing the bulk of the work on the ground.

However, the drive stalled and eventually ended on downs when a throw-back screen was snuffed out by St. Clairsville for a loss of 2 yards.

"We talked to the kids about playing complementary football," McLean said. "We told them that if we can get a score, then we have to go out and get a stop. They did that right away, which took them out of what their ultimate game plan was, which was to churn the clock and run the ball."

Indeed.

As it's seemingly done all season, when given the opportunity, the Red Devils put their foot on the gas and took the game over.

The Devils ended up scoring on all four of their first-half possessions.

They made it 14-0 on a 25-yard scamper by senior quarterback Drew Sefsick. Jordan plunged in from 6 yards out and back-up quarterback Andrew Vera capped the first-half scoring with a 4-yard scamper.

Vera was pressed into duty late in the half because Sefsick left with an apparent leg injury and didn't return. McLean said

"Hats off to all three phases of our team," McLean said. "Andrew did an excellent job. The running backs and line did a great job throughout the entire game. I am really proud that Andrew took full advantage of his opportunity because he practices every day and it pays off."

Moving forward, Sefsick's injury isn't believed to be serious.

"We were pretty cautious with him," McLean said of his senior quarterback, who watched the second half from the sideline in street clothes. "There was no need to risk anything because we have great confidence in Andrew."

Vera orchestrated two more scoring drives in the second half. The first ended with senior place kicker Lucas Otto, who was a perfect 5 for 5 on PATs, connecting on a chip shot field goal from 18 yards. The second was capped by Jacob Walker on a 2-yard run.

The Devils finished with an impressive 414 yards of offense and only allowed 203 and much of that came after the first group had been lifted.

Jordan continued his impressive season, carrying 18 times for 187 yards. Sefsick added 75 on the ground. Sefsick completed 4 of 9 passes for 61 yards, while Vera was 3 of 4 for 68 yards.

Oehlstromg was impressive for the Warriors with 161 yards and a touchdown.