Photo by Kristin Mazgaj St. Clairsville defender Jaiden Zebbs (22) reaches out to grad Canton South quarterback Pookie Snyder, left.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Staying the course and not hitting the panic button can be challenging at times for players and coaches. Especially when they watch the opponent go up two touchdowns to begin the game.

Despite having several new faces, basically all over the field, St. Clairsville was able to maintain its poise, show its moxy and take a big step forward in what Brett McLean hopes will be a season-long maturation process.

Add to those intangibles an impressive running game that churned out 367 yards, produced a trio of 100-yard rushers and a couple of timely defensive stops and the Red Devils celebrated a cherished 48-34 victory against Canton South Friday night at Red Devils Stadium.

“Obviously, you don’t like to be in a deficit like we were, but I am super proud of my team and our coaches because we showed no panic,” McLean said. “We stayed the course and didn’t throw the playbook out the window when we look up and realize we’re in a horse race.”

After spotting Canton South, which is led by impressive junior quarterback Poochie Snyder who performed as well as advertised, the 13-0 lead, the Red Devils seized momentum.

Shifty and speed sophomore tailback Dino Burk, who rushed for 111 yards on 13 carries, got the Red Devils on the board with a 51-yard burst. Junior Jacob Meager — making his debut as the placekicker — was perfect on the first of six PAT kicks.

Taking advantage of a South fumble on the kickoff, the Red Devils wasted no time in taking their first lead. Senior quarterback Andrew Vera ignited what was a big night at the office for him when he went 33 yards for a touchdown. Meager’s placement made it 14-13.

“We got the series going with some extra tempo and that was something we had hoped to do,” McLean said.

The Wildcats, who were a Division IV playoff team in 2021, didn’t panic themselves. Snyder, who completed 19 of 26 passes for 316 yards and 3 touchdowns and an interception, hooked up with junior Tavon Castle for a 26-yard touchdown. The PAT put South back on top, 20-14 after a quarter.

The Red Devils didn’t blink. Actually, they took over.

St. Clairsville was forced to punt, but the defense, which hung in there quite well considering Canton South’s firepower and versatility, came up with one of the biggest plays of the night. Max Fogle intercepted Snyder, picked up a convoy of blockers and just broke into the end zone for the pick six.

“That return by Max Fogle was beautiful,” McLean said. “Our defense really settled in. We used so many kids (Friday), which is awesome.”

Following another stop by the Devils’ defense in the red zone, the St. C. offense marched 76 yards in seven plays with Vera capping it with a 33-yard jaunt to the end zone on a fourth-down play to go up 27-20 at halftime.

“When the field was reduced in the red zone, I think that really helped our defense,” McLean said. “They have the ability to be down the field in two plays. They got down there, but we stiffened up and didn’t break.”

Getting the second-half kickoff, the Devils made it three scores in as many possessions when senior tailback Jacob Walker, who rushed 21 times for 107 yards, found the end zone from 7 yards out.

Canton South got it back to a one-score game entering the fourth after Snyder found Jikai Holston, who also rushed for 100 yards on nine carries, on a 7-yard touchdown.

Still, however, the Devils were unflappable. Vera, who led the St. C. ground game with 143 yards on 16 yards, plunged in from 2 yards out for his third touchdown of the game, making it a two-score game again with nine minutes to play.

“The (rushing stats) are a compliment to Coach (Kevin) Sacco, Coach (Vern) Ridgeway, Coach (Chris) Fogle and Coach (Chris) Balog and our offensive line,” McLean said. “They’ve made it special for our guys to be offensive linemen and they did a great job.”

Another pivotal stop by the Devils’ defense set up the dagger score. After only throwing the ball just six times prior, St. C. caught all 11 Wildcat defenders in the box and slipped Grant Swider out who was all alone for a 44-yard touchdown, which sealed the deal.

“We had a lot of kids grow up and the first experience under the Friday night lights is huge for them,” McLean said.

The Red Devils will make their first road trip of the season next week when they visit Wheeling Island Stadium to take on debuting Wheeling Park.

“This is a good win to start the season and now we’ll go to work to try to evaluate ourselves and get better,” McLean said.