St. C. Overcomes Injury, Rolls 35-0
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GNADENHUTTEN -- St. Clairsville's talent, depth, size and ability have been widely talked about all season.
The Red Devils demonstrated another trait -- quite effectively -- on Friday night at Indian Valley High School's Brotherhood Stadium.
That being resiliency.
The Red Devils learned just a few days prior to their Division IV, Region 15 semifinal against Meadowbrook that they'd be without quarterback Drew Sefsick due to an injury he sustained last week against Carrollton.
Without going into specifics, head coach Brett McLean said his team dealt with other adversity throughout the week, too.
In the end, however, St. Clairsville pocketed an impressive 35-0 "philosophy win" over the Colts to advance to the Elite 8 next Friday.
"We have a shirt that says together and this week our kids faced different types of adversity," McLean said. "We had things go on that I can't even tell you about, but the kids came up here with the right mindset that we were going to get a win.
"It took some special things to happen with kids stepping into different roles all over the field, but I think they did it pretty well."
The Red Devils delivered and now will shift their focus to yet another playoff rematch. This time, they'll take on undefeated Bloom-Carroll with a trip to the state semifinals on the line. The site for that game will be announced on Sunday by the OHSAA.
Before shifting any attention toward Bloom-Carroll, the Red Devils had plenty of work to do with a Colts squad that came in averaging more than 35 points and upwards of 400 yards a game. But, winning in the playoffs usually boils down to running the ball and playing sound defense.
St. Clairsville did both brilliantly. On top of the shutout, the Red Devils limited the Colts to just 168 total yards, including just 73 stripes on the ground on 28 carries.
Without Sefsick in the lineup, the Red Devils had to adjust. However, junior quarterback Andrew Vera filled in admirably and senior Jacob Jordan continued to do his thing.
The running back had yet another huge game, rushing 23 times for 187 yards and three touchdowns. He opened the scoring when he caught Vera's first pass of the game, on a screen, and raced down the sideline for a 40-yard touchdown.
"We had plenty of confidence in Andrew and he really stepped up," Jordan said. "This was a great team win. I can't give my teammates enough credit. Those guys lifted me up when I had some troubling moments early in the game."
Jordan, who scored on runs of 22, 43 and 17 yards, lost a fumble in the first half in St. C. territory, but the Red Devils' defense buckled down.
"Our defense has been way under the radar all season," McLean said. "Our entire defensive staff did an outstanding job of motivating and challenging our kids to be ready. Our defense answered the bell a lot in the first half because we couldn't get consistent things going because of a lot of self-induced stuff like penalties and a fumble."
The game was 7-0 until there were just 51 seconds to go in the first half. After a dreadful Meadowbrook punt, which netted just 13 yards, St. C. went to work on its own 40. The Devils put the ball in Jordan's hands five consecutive plays and the last covered the final 22 yards.
"We were very excited to go in at halftime and re-adjust to show the kids what we were seeing," McLean said. "Low and behold, we came out and did it in the second half, and I think we did it very well."
He opened the second half scoring by ripping off the 43-yard burst to cap a five-play drive. Lucas Otto was once again perfect on the PAT.
St. Clairsville got the game to mercy rule finish for the final 80 or so seconds when Vera found freshman Tyson Pastor in the back corner of the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown.
For the game, Vera finished a solid 7 of 12 for 106 yards and the two touchdowns. He spread the ball around. Six different Devils caught a pass.
"It's just about playing time and reps for Andrew," McLean said. "We have all of the confidence in the world in him. Obviously, it's a little different on Friday nights when you're out there playing, but he's done everything we've asked him to do. We had to make some adjustments this week to what was happening, but Andrew led the show, and I am really proud of him."