St. Clairsville falls short to Bishop Ready in close second round matchup
By: Charlie Ihlenfeld, Payton Brooker
Posted on:
ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio (WOUB) — The stage was set for St. Clairsville’s final home game in the second round of the playoffs as they had a tall task to face against the Bishop Ready Knights. Coming off a win over the Morgan Raiders, the Red Devils were looking for a quick win to move on to the regional semifinals.
For St.Clairsville however, this win was so close from their grasp as this game will go down as their last this season. With a close ending, Bishop Ready would ease this win out and move on with a final score of 24-21.
The Red Devils weren’t going down with a fight of their own though. For senior Jacob Walker’s final game, he rushed for 116 yards and recorded two touchdowns for the Red Devils. Andrew Vera in his last game for the Red Devils would have 201 yards and a touchdown for the night.
Bishop Ready’s strong rushing offense and talented offensive line got them a victory on this night.
The rushing core of Kentrell Rinehart, Brian Fitzsimmons, and Anthony Campbell added to a total of 295 yards with two touchdowns from Campbell and one by Rinehart.
In addition to the Knights performance, they were also effective on the defensive side of the ball, picking off two of Vera’s passes.
The pressure began to mount on the Red Devils as they found themselves down ten with only two minutes left. The Knights on the previous drive ran down the clock by six minutes only with the drive ending in a turnover on downs.
With 48 seconds left on the clock, Vera would find Grant Swider to put the Red Devils only down by three, but needed an onside kick to remain in the game. For the Knights though, they would recover the kick to end the matchup.
Coach Brett McClain this season has been very proud of the performance of his team and has been impressed on making it this far into the playoffs.
“We were a team that was 3-2 at the midway point,” he said. “Our character rose through our seniors and our younger guys that we’re stepping into younger roles. Our season could’ve went in a total different direction and we kept our nose to the grindstone.”
For St. Clairsville, they will be losing 13 seniors next season as they will attempt to rebuild their team for next year. As for the Bishop Ready Knights, they will move on to the Regional Semi-Finals as they take on the Indian Valley Braves at a neutral site.