Jones Throws Five Touchdowns, Crusaders Earn Third Straight Win
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STEUBENVILLE -- Last week, Steubenville Catholic Central head coach Greg Bahen said he saw Matty Jones making strides and getting closer to the potential the Crusaders coaching has seen from the junior signal caller.
Saturday night, it’s safe to say Jones lived up to that potential.
The first-year starting QB went 18 of 21 passing for 225 yards and a career-best five touchdowns to lead the Crusaders to a 39-6 victory over visiting Southern Local at Harding Stadium, the third-straight win for Catholic Central.
Jones hit touchdown passes to three different targets and completed passes to five different receivers. He had four TD tosses in a win over St. Thomas Aquinas last week, giving him nine touchdown passes in his last two games.
“He was awesome,” Bahen said of Jones, who also ran for 40 yards. “He put it all together. He didn’t turn the ball over, made great decisions, put the ball where it was supposed to be. He took the easy throws and then big stuff happened from them, that’s what we’ve been telling him and he bought into it this week. You could really see the maturity and the growth.
“It’s fun to watch when you see a kid take the next step, and he’s starting to take that next step and be a really good quarterback.”
Daveon Thorn had another big game, hauling in seven passes for 100 yards and two of the Jones scoring tosses. Michael Fabbro had a big night as well, pulling down eight passes for 78 yards and two scores, both of which were spectacular catches in the back corner of the endzone.
“We have dudes, for our level we have some weapons,” Bahen said. “We try to find creative ways to get them the ball in space and take it when it’s there. If we can get them the ball in some space, Daveon and Rahim (Mitchell) are a threat to take it to the house anytime they touch it and Michael is reliable, moves the sticks and now he’s making some big plays, too.”
Not to be overshadowed by the offensive fireworks, the Crusader defense had perhaps its strongest night of the season, too. Outside of Southern Local (1-6) hitting on one big play to set up their lone score, the Steubenville Catholic defense was stout, pitching a second half shutout while the offense pulled away. The Crusaders held the Indians to just 53 yards and one first down after halftime.
Luke Bryan had an interception and a tackle for loss, Jones added two tackles for loss on defense, Nick Mascio had two TFLs, and Fabbro and Kyran Busic each had a TFL.
“The defense was lights out, they could not move the ball, we stopped their run game,” Bahen said. “Outside of one big play they caught us on, which happens, we played really good defense.”
The Crusaders are now above .500 for the first time this season at 4-3 and winners of three-straight, having played their way back into the thick of the Division VII, Region 27 playoff race. Joe Eitel’s unofficial rankings had Steubenville Catholic sitting at No. 15 Saturday night after the win, moving up two spots from last week. The top-12 make the playoffs.
“Overall, it was a great night. I thought it was a pretty complete game,” Bahen said. “That was the most complete game of football we have played all year, we played four quarters of good, solid football. It was the cleanest we played all year on both sides of the ball, both sides of the ball complimented each other perfectly.”
For the Indians, they had some success moving ball early, racking up 130 first half yards, but did not convert that into points and ultimately were not able to make enough plays to hang around.
“We knew it was going to be a physical challenge, we knew they were a physical football team,” Southern Local head coach Jimmy Malone said. “Their kids really got after it and made more plays than we did. We had some mistakes and penalties that hurt us when we had drives going, we have to clean that stuff up.
“We knew if we stopped the run they were going to get after the pass. We have been moving guys around in the secondary trying to find the right fits and they found some weaknesses. Their players also made some great plays, we had guys in position and they just made some great catches despite being covered. They’re a good football team, credit to their guys.
“We’re improving every week, we’re going to get back after it on Monday and keep working.”
Logan Mettenberger led Southern’s efforts with 56 rushing yards and 36 receiving yards and the lone score. Jaylon Pitts had a 52-yard catch from Jack Pitts that set up the Mettenberger score, which made it a one-score game in the second quarter, but was the last big highlight for the Indians offense.
Jack Pitts went 7 of 10 for 97 yards with a TD and a pick. Some 66 of his yards came before the break.
Catholic Central led 7-0 after one off of Thorn’s first score, a 27-yard catch and run, and doubled the lead midway through the second quarter when he took another pass 24 yards to the house for a 14-0 lead.
After the Mettenberger 5-yard TD grab made it 14-6, Steubenville Catholic answered with a quick scoring drive, capped by a leaping, acrobatic catch in the back corner of the endzone on a fade route by Fabbro with 13 seconds left in the half, making it 20-6 at halftime.
The Crusaders got the ball first in the second half and marched down the field, Ryan Holzworth capping the drive with a 3-yard plunge across the goal line.
Fabbro, on the next Catholic Central drive, made another contested catch in the same corner of the end zone to make it 32-6 after three.
Early in the fourth quarter, Jones connected with tight end Seth White to cap the scoring.
UP NEXT
Southern Local: Is back on the road next Friday traveling to Columbiana County foe Lisbon.
Steubenville Catholic Central: Goes on the road for the final time in the regular season, traveling down Route 7 to take on the Bridgeport Bulldogs on Friday night.