Potters find some positives

St Clairsville’s Guy Vcelka its taken to the turf by East Liverpool’s Locke Williams (18) Tyler Kirby (32) and Julius Jones (24) during Friday’s game at Patterson Field. (Special to The Review/Jimmy Joe Savage)

By MIKE BROWN

Sports Correspondent

EAST LIVERPOOL — Tradition-rich St. Clairsville unleashed a powerful running game to offset a determined effort by East Liverpool as the Red Devils remained unbeaten with a 35-14 win over the Potters at Patterson Field Friday night.

With the win, the Red Devils are now 5-0 on the season and have outscored their first five opponents, 179-77. St. Clairsville now leads the series with the Potters 5-2 and has won the past five games in the series.

With the setback, East Liverpool’s record fell to 1-4, but the Potters, who were tied 7-7 with the Red Devils late in the first half, can take some positives from the game in how well they played against the best team on their schedule.

“It stinks that we lost but there were (a lot of positives),” said East Liverpool head coach Paul Cusick. “They (the Red Devils) are a very good, solid football team and our guys played their hearts out again, but hats off to them. Sometimes you just get beat by a better team and that’s what happened tonight.”

St. Clairsville held a two-to-one advantage in time of possession and enjoyed an outstanding performance on the ground. The Red Devils finished with 314 yards rushing, led by a 180-yard, three-touchdown performance by speedy senior running back Gavin Schoolcraft. Not to be outdone, junior running back Ollie Muhly added 120 yards rushing and a six-pointer.

“They’re a good, physical team and we knew we were going to be in a battle like that tonight,” stated Cusick. “That’s just what they do and they do it well. I think coach (Brett) McLean was there (at St. Clairsville) when I was at Crestview doing the same stuff and those guys have it going on, but I think we’re getting there.”

“I think we did a good job of managing time of possession, slowing ourselves down a little bit and pumping the brakes and we were patient,” said St. Clairsville head coach Brett McLean. “Our backs did a lot of good things where they read the blocks well and read the plays well. I give them a lot of credit and our line a lot of credit.”

Schoolcraft has now enjoyed two straight 180-yard rushing performances.

“The craziest thing is I had 180 yards last week with two touchdowns and that was my first breakout game,” said Schoolcraft, who topped that effort with 180 yards and three touchdowns against East Liverpool.

East Liverpool and St. Clairsville played to a 7-7 standoff in the first quarter.

On its game-opening drive, the Potters impressively drove 80 yards in five plays to score when quarterback Gavin Wright fired a 39-yard scoring aerial to receiver Quintin Conrad down the right sideline. Kamdin Miller added the PAT boot and the Potters quickly went up 7-0 at the 10:19 mark of the opening period.

But the Red Devils answered on their first possession, covering 64 yards and capped it with a 52-yard scoring run up the middle by Muhly. Kicker Tyler Harris split the uprights on the PAT and the game was tied 7-7 at the 10:19 mark of the frame.

The score remained that way until the final four minutes of the second quarter when the Red Devils struck for two back-to-back scores. The first six-pointer occurred on a 29-yard throwback pass from Schafer to tight end Micky Balgo. Harris added the PAT and St. Clairsville took its first lead at 14-7.

After stopping East Liverpool’s offense, St. Clairsville took over with less than a minute left before halftime and took a 21-7 lead when Schoolcraft, who rushed for 112 yards in the first half, sprinted 59 yards to the end zone with just 38.5 seconds left before the break. Harris added his third straight PAT kick and the Red Devils took a momentum-building 21-7 lead into the locker room.

“That was a big score right before the half, knowing we were getting the (second half) possession,” observed McLean.

St. Clairsville led in total offense, 223-141 at halftime, as East Liverpool running back Jaymin Haney had 85 yards rushing at intermission.

“We’re growing as a team,” said Cusick. “It’s hard to see that but when you watch the film you can see our guys battling and we’re really starting to do some good things, and I’m really excited for the second half of the season. We’re going to stay positive and keep coaching them. We’re going to keep getting better and our guys have got to keep believing. I know it’s hard for them right now, but we believe in them as coaches that they’re going to get it done.”

“I have a ton of respect for coach Cusick, we coached against each other a while back in some really tight football games when he was at Crestview,” said McLean. “We had a home and home with them and we had some battles. It’s a chess match and he makes you a better coach coaching against him because you know he’s got a plan and you’ve got to adjust.”

The Potters opened the second half to close the gap to 21-14 when Wright found receiver Blake Adkins with a 25-yard touchdown pass at the 6:14 mark of the third period. Kamdin Miller added the PAT kick. The score was set up by a 25-yard interception return by Potter defender Michael Harty.

But once again, the Red Devils answered with a 64-yard march with Schoolcraft capping the march with a one-yard scoring bolt over left guard. Harris added the PAT kick and St. Clairsville went back up by 14 at 28-14 at the 2:27 mark of the third.

“They came out with a big interception and put the heat back on us to respond and our kids did and got it back to 28-14,” stated McLean.

The Red Devils closed out the 21-point win when Schoolcraft scampered 16 yards to score with 7:09 remaining in the fourth quarter. Harris added the PAT boot to finish off the 35-14 win.

“We feel pretty good, we’re 5-0 now, looking to go 6-0 — one win at a time,” said Schoolcraft.

“I’m really proud of our team,” said McLean. “We’re through five weeks and I just told them it’s amazing how fast football season goes. “You’ve got to breathe it in and those seniors are getting a little starry-eyed when you talk that way, but it is what it is. It can go so fast and you can forget to have fun with what you’re doing while it’s happening.”

Game notes

• St. Clairsville, which is second in D4 Region 15, has recorded three running clock wins of its five games this season. It was the first time the Red Devils and Potters had played since the 2020 campaign.

• East Liverpool will travel to Cambridge (0-5) next Friday night to play the Bobcats at 7 p.m.

•¯ St. Clairsville will be on the road for the second straight week next Friday when it treks to Cadiz to play the Harrison Central Huskies (1-4) at 7 p.m.

STC: 7-14-7-0 –35

EL: 7- 0-7-0 –14

SCORING

EL–Quintin Conrad, 39 pass from Gavin Wright, 10:19 1st (Kamdin Miller kick)

SC–Ollie Muhly, 52 run, 8:18 1st (Tyler Harris kick)

SC–Micky Balgo, 29 pass from Brady Schafer, 3:55 2nd (Tyler Harris kick)

SC–Gavin Schoolcraft, 59 run, 38.5 2nd (Tyler Harris kick)

EL–Blake Adkins, 25 pass from Gavin Wright, 6:14 3rd (Kamdin Miller kick)

SC–Gavin Schoolcraft, 1 run, 2:27 1st (Tyler Harris kick)

SC–Gavin Schoolcraft, 16 run, 7:09 4th (Tyler Harris kick)

SC EL

First downs 23 14

Total yards 409 246

Rushes-yards 42-314 24-115

Passing 95 131

Comp-Att-Int 7-10-1 8-18-1

Punts 3-39 5-40

Penalties-Yards 4-35 4-20

——

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING — St. Clairsville, Gavin Schoolcraft, 22-180, Ollie Muhly, 12-120, Brady Schafer 3-6; East Liverpool, Gavin Wright, 8-20, Jaymin Haney, 14-85, Amir Baker.

PASSING — St. Clairsville, Brady Schafer, 7-10-90-1-1; East Liverpool, Gavin Wright, 8-17-125-2-1, Ben Myers, 2-3-3.

RECEIVING — St. Clairsville, Ollie Muhly, 2-13, Brody Saunders, 1-10, Micky Balgo, 1-29, Gage Wolfe, 1-10, Tyson Pastor, 2-28; East Liverpool, Quintin Conrad, 3-56, Blake Adkins, 4-68, Julius Jones, 3-7.