ON THE ROAD AGAIN Big Red heads on the road this Saturday afternoon to test Youngstown Cardinal Mooney at Mineral Ridge High School. - Andrew Grimm

STEUBENVILLE Big Reds quest to finish atop the Division IV, Region 15 standings continues Saturday with a trip north for a date with always tough Youngstown Cardinal Mooney.

The kick for the 12th all-time meeting between the tradition-rich programs is set for 1 p.m. Mooney holds a 7-4 lead in the series. Saturdays encounter will be just the third regular season affair. Big Red rolled to a 35-14 victory in 2021.

For the second straight year, Mooney is playing its home games on E.Z. Whittaker Field, part of the Joe Lane Sports Complex at Mineral Ridge High School.

Steubenville stands at 7-1 and for the moment has a comfortable lead in the Region 15 ratings. St. Clairsville is second followed by unbeaten Columbus East and Indian Valley. Joe Eitel, the guru of Ohios computer rankings, says Big Red has clinched a spot in the top eight, meaning it will host a first round home game.

A lot of times I have seen things in the bag and the bag breaksso we are not counting on that, Big Red coach Reno Saccoccia said. We have a job to do as coaches and players and that is to reach our full potential. We have not done that yet.

I was hoping we would do it before the ninth game of the season but we havent. We have a lot of room for improvement. We have great expectations but we are just not getting there as fast as I thought we would. Hopefully, we continue to work hard and achieve those expectations.

Officially, Mooney is 4-4 but would be 5-3 if it hadnt been forced to forfeit a game to Youngstown East for using an ineligible player. The Cardinals thumped East 37-0 back in late September.

The squads have one common opponent in Linsly, which beat Mooney 28-14 and clipped the Big Red 28-27.

Last week, Mooney trailed Warren Harding 17-0 at the half, but rallied to earn a 26-17 victory. Mooney also has wins over Lake Catholic, Lutheran East and Brush. The other losses came to Boardman and Youngstown Chaney. The Mooney offense is averaging 25 points a game while its defense allows 12.

They are getting to be a typical Mooney team, Saccoccia said. They have improved every week. They have gone more towards power football than wide open football. They will use play action and their quarterback does a really good job of extending plays.

If you look for a favorite receiver, you see two or three guys. It seems like there is a different guy every game.

Ashton OBrien, a 6-3, 180 pound junior, directs the Mooney attack. In the win against Harding, he ran for one score and threw for 65 yards.

Alec Delsignore (6-2, 205) caught two of OBriens passes and scored on a 30-yard run. He also returned an interception for a touchdown.

Other OBrien targets include Nolan Radinsky (6-2, 175), Ty Reali (6-1, 180) and Aiden Paige (5-9, 180). Paige also sees time at running back.

Jamar Howell (5-11, 195) leads the Mooney ground game. Against Harding he compiled 169 yards on 17 carries and notched a 7-yard touchdown run.

As always, Mooney has plenty of size upfront.

Adam Garloch (6-3, 310) is one of six Mooney linemen who lettered a season ago. Others include Chris Flora (6-5, 305), Tino Merlo (6-5, 280) and Jonah Woods (6-3, 250).

Mooney is always physical, Saccoccia said. They are very well coached and they just have improved. Everyone in the Youngstown area counted them out but they are showing what kind of football team they can be.

Their actual record is 5-3 against a very tough schedule. Its going to be a really good Steubenville-Mooney football game.

Through eight weeks, Big Red is averaging 33.4 points per game while allowing 12.9. The offense averages 407 yards an outing (240 rushing and 167 passing). Meanwhile, the defense is holding opponents to just 64 rushing yards a game and 133 through the air.

Gavin Bozica now has 815 rushing yards, an average of 6.6 yards per carry, to lead the Big Red. He has 10 rushing TDs. Savier Faulks has contributed 540 yards on 62 attempts (8.7 yards per trip) and scored five times.

Phaeton Hill has thrown for 1,311 yards and 12 six-pointers. He has completed 94 passes.

His top target is Isaac Hill, 35 catches for 544 yards and seven touchdowns. Hakim Edwards is next with 11 grabs for 138 yards.

Penalties have been a problem for Saccoccias squad. It has been hit with 65 flags for 603 yards, an average per game of 75.4 yards.

I dont know if you can fix the penalties I think that is just the kind of team we have, Ohios all-time winningest high school football coach said. If we are going to have them, we have to do a better job of overcoming them.

Following the road trip, Big Red will close out the regular season on Oct. 21 with a home game against Rock Creek Christian from Maryland.

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