For three quarters on Friday night, Steubenville Big Red looked like it would cruise into the regional final. Instead, the top seed needed one last defensive stand — and senior safety Braidyn Edwards delivered it, intercepting a deep pass over the middle with 4:04 left to seal a 21-14 win over Dover in the OHSAA Division III, Region 11 semifinal at Harding Stadium on Friday, Nov. 13, according to The Times-Reporter’s account of the game.
The interception was Edwards’ second of the game, The Times-Reporter reported, and it ended Dover’s final possession with a chance to tie. Steubenville ran out the clock from there, closing the game with the kind of poise its coach praised afterward.
“I don’t care if the score is 21-0 or 21-14, you have to win and rise to the occasion, and we did both,” Big Red coach Reno Saccoccia said, according to The Times-Reporter. “I respect Dover. They have tough kids and a great program. I respect the heck out of our kids.”
Steubenville built its cushion behind senior quarterback Santino Haney, who completed 17 of 22 passes for 211 yards, The Times-Reporter reported. Haney engineered a 90-yard scoring drive in a two-minute drill before halftime, hitting seven of eight passes on the drive, and Landon Crosier caught an 8-yard touchdown pass before a two-point conversion made it 14-0 at the half, according to The Times-Reporter.
Tailback Colton Henderson accounted for almost half of Steubenville’s total offense, The Times-Reporter reported: 28 carries for 164 yards and five catches for 42 more. His biggest play came early in the third quarter — after a 58-yard punt by Dover’s Jacob Noretto pinned Steubenville inside its own 5 and three rushers chased Haney in his own end zone, Haney escaped for a 15-yard scramble, and Henderson broke a 65-yard touchdown run three plays later to make it 21-0 with 2:33 left in the third quarter, according to The Times-Reporter.
Dover’s comeback started two plays after Henderson’s touchdown. Dante Clark took a receiver screen 49 yards for a score, The Times-Reporter reported. After Dover’s defense held Steubenville on downs inside its own 10-yard line, a 50-yard double-reverse pass from Dieter Weber to Cohen Murray set up Clark’s 14-yard touchdown run with 6:18 left, cutting the lead to 21-14, according to The Times-Reporter.
The rally fit Dover’s season pattern — the Crimson Tornadoes had overcome deficits to beat West Holmes and rival New Philadelphia in Ohio Cardinal Conference play — but it ran into a Big Red front seven that controlled the night, The Times-Reporter reported. Steubenville held Dover to 33 rushing yards, led by Crosier’s sack and tackle for loss, and Dover quarterback Dieter Weber, who was 2-for-5 with an interception in the first half, heated up only late, going 7-for-12 for 128 yards in the second half, according to The Times-Reporter.
Dover coach Matt Rees credited his team’s fight afterward. “As I’ve said before, when you look at this team, they continue to grow, and they continued to fight throughout the course of the game,” Rees said, according to The Times-Reporter. Dover finished 9-3 under Rees, a five-win improvement in his second season, The Times-Reporter reported. Steubenville (10-2) has won five straight since a 44-40 loss to Youngstown Ursuline in Week 7, according to The Times-Reporter.
Even the finish required work after Edwards’ interception. Haney found Henderson in the flat for six yards on a crucial third-and-4 with 2:33 left, and with Dover down to one timeout, fullback James Turner carried twice for a first down to drain the clock, The Times-Reporter reported.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed: Steubenville is 10-2 and into the Division III, Region 11 final, Dover’s season is over at 9-3, and the final is set for Friday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m. What is not yet known: the neutral site for the final, which the OHSAA had not announced as of this report. The rest of Ohio’s playoff weekend was just as tight elsewhere — NewsForce247 covered another one-score regional semifinal in our report on Elder’s 27-23 win over St. Xavier, and Saturday brought college drama to Columbus in our recap of Ohio State’s 28-19 win over Northwestern.
What happens next is the Region 11 championship game: Steubenville plays No. 3 seed Columbus East (11-1) at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, at a site to be determined, according to The Times-Reporter. East reached the final by scoring 22 unanswered points to stun unbeaten Licking Valley 36-33 in its semifinal, The Times-Reporter reported. The winner advances to the state semifinals on Nov. 27.
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