Round 2: Big Red vs. Alter

MASSILLON - If the New Lexington Panthers learned one thing in their game against Big Red the Panthers' second Ohio Valley Athletic Conference opponent in as many weeks it was that this is another brand of football.

New Lexington, a 21-14 winner in overtime over Martins Ferry in last week's Region 15 final, found itself down, 16-0, in the opening quarter of the OHSAA Division IV state semifinals at Massillon's Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

Steubenville scored two touchdowns and a safety in first frame and the Red rolled from there, celebrating a 30-6 decision, as Mother Nature supplied the confetti with a flurry of snowflakes which fell from sky and blanketed the field in the closing minutes of Friday's semifinal.

Steubenville, the 1984 Division II state champions and the 2005 and 2006 state-title winners, will now make its first Division IV state final appearance and its sixth overall at 3 p.m. Friday at Fawcett Stadium in Canton.

"We gave a championship effort tonight," Big Red coach Reno Saccoccia said. "We've given great efforts all season long and have improved each week. Now, we have to improve one more week. We've got one more game. It's not over yet. We're going to enjoy this win and get back to work Monday."

Big Red wasted little time taking control of Friday's state semifinal. At 4:09 of the first quarter, Steubenville's resident work horse and WVU recruit, Branko Busick, punched in the first TD from a yard out. Brennan Stover, as he would do on all of his PAT attempts, split the uprights after the 11-play, 55-yard scoring drive.

The Big Red defenders forced New Lexington to punt on its ensuing possession and things went from bad to downright terrible for the Panthers when Big Red junior corner Isiah Willis got a hand on the ball. The blocked punt was recovered by New Lexington in its own end zone for a Steubenville safety at the 3:50 mark.

Big Red wasn't done with its first-quarter output just yet. With 1:35 left in the frame, Michael Goodwin hauled down a 29-yard scoring pass from junior quarterback Dwight Macon, who continued to put up big numbers with a 190 total-yard performance. The scoring strike completed a six-play, 56 yard march to extend its lead.

"Being up 16-0 means nothing, and to be honest I thought it was 16-6," the ever-reserved Saccoccia said. "Getting a lead is nice, but that's all it is."

After jumping ahead, Steubenville suffered a setback when it coughed up the football on its own 25. New Lexington's John Sherwood fell on the loose football. Big Red would commit another turnover before the bands took the field Drew Brown recovered that fumble late in the second quarter but the second giveaway didn't lead to a TD.

The first one, however, did when Panther QB Clint Cannon ran in from 3 yards out two seconds into the second quarter. Cannon, who scored all three of the TDs against Martins Ferry and finished with 121 yards rushing against the Red, set up the short run with a long one. He took the ball from the 23 to the 3 with one carry.

"(New Lexington's) quarterback is one heck of a football player," Saccoccia commented. " He's a real physical player and did a great job tonight."

The New Lexington score proved to be nothing more than a temporary distraction. Two minutes after allowing Cannon to cross the goal line, Macon scrambled 12 yards into the end zone for Big Red's third TD. The touchdown run was made possible by a big passing play from Macon to Jordan McIntyre.

McIntyre caught the ball near midfield, but showed some speed, gaining nearly 40 yards after the catch. The play covered 49 yards, while the TD drive covered 76 on eight plays.

Big Red led, 23-6, at the half. Steubenville outmanned the Panthers in the first two quarters, putting up 264 yards of total offense to New Lexington's 80 though the Panthers held the football for one minute longer than the Red.

In the third quarter, New Lexington turned to Cannon to move the football, and it worked, at least for a little while. Cannon kept the ball on six-straight plays and moved the pigskin into Steubenville's red zone. However, crossing the Big Red 10 proved to be the easy part. Steubenville's defense stepped up and New Lexington's offense stalled. Steubenville took over on downs on its own 7.

A balanced mix of runs and passes took Big Red from its end of field to inside the 50 on its second possession of the second half, but Steubenville would punt the ball away and the third quarter would end scoreless.

Playing against the clock and Big Red's speedy defense in the final frame, the Panthers came out throwing. The strategy didn't pay off for New Lexington. Resorting back to its run-Cannon-up-the-middle game plan didn't either, and the Panthers failed to score in the fourth.

"We didn't have too many opportunities tonight, especially in the first half," New Lexington coach Bill Nutt said. "After that first turnover, we did what had worked for us all season, we ran right at them and ran up the middle, but we needed to sustain a drive at some point and we didn't. We needed to catch our breath and give our defense a break, but we couldn't keep their offense off the field."

Steubenville would tack on seven more points before the final whistle after a steady dose of junior tailback and 1,000-yard rusher, Demetrius Brandon, took the Red into Panther territory. Brandon, who finished with a career-high 177 yards, finished what he started by following offensive lineman Ryan Dugan into the Panther end zone from 11 yards out with 1:47 remaining in the game.

Steubenville finished with 434 yards of total offense with 168 in the air and 266 on the ground. The Red recorded 25 first downs and lost two of three fumbles.

The Panthers racked up 174 yards of offense with just 47 passing. New Lexington would achieve 10 first downs and commit no fumbles.

"New Lexington is a good football team," Saccoccia said. "We just had a better night than they did."

Steubenville's state final opponent will be Kettering Archbishop Alter, which pulled away from Genoa Area for a 42-34 win in the other Division IV semifinal.

The championship matchup mirrors the 2006 Division III state final in which the Red earned a 34-33 final over Alter, thanks to a blocked PAT.

Big Red 30, New Lexington 6

Big Red 16 7 0 7 - 30

New Lexington 0 6 0 0 - 6

First Quarter

BR: Busick 1 run (Stover kick), 9:55

BR: Safety, punt blocked out of end zone, 3:50.

BR: Goodwin 29 pass from Macon (Stover kick), 1:35.

Second Quarter

NL: Cannon 3 run (kick failed), 11:58.

BR: Macon 12 run (Stover kick), 9:05.

Fourth Quarter

BR: Brandon 12 run (Stover kick), 1:47.

Team Statistics

Rushing: NL 47-174, BR 29-266.

Passing: NL 7-14-47, BR 9-16-168.

First downs: NL 10, BR 25.

Penalties-yards: NL 4-20, BR 5-55.

Fumbles-lost: NL 0-0, BR 3-2.

Individual Statistics

Rushing: NL: Cannon 22-121, Starkey 8-5, Wycinski 2-2, Huffman 1-(-1); BR: Brandon 27-177, Busick 10-45, macon 8-21, Jeryl Christian 2-13.

Passing: NL: Cannon 7-14-47; BR: Macon 9-16-168.

Receiving: NL: Etherly 2-15, Wycinski 2-2, Huffman 2-10, Hollingshead 1-11. BR: Goodwin 3-49, McIntyre 2-65, Pierro 2-20, Wiggins 1-25.