St. Clairsville and head coach Brett McLean has established itself as one of the premier football programs in the Ohio Valley over the last 20 years. Martins Ferry has long been a Valley powerhouse with some down years recently. The teams met Friday night on the beautiful new turf at Red Devil Stadium to see where each program stands. Unlike last week where the weather caused havoc on nearly every game in the valley. Friday night was picture perfect for high school football.
Gavin Schoolcraft started the game off with a big hit on the opening kick return to begin the hard-hitting game. After the Red Devil defense got an early stop the offense got started early on their first play from scrimmage with Brady Schaffer hitting Ava Saunders for the long touchdown, with Tyler Harris’s point after it was St. C 7 Martins Ferry 0 early in the first quarter. Two Dino Burk touchdowns in the first quarter (one set up by a Schoolcraft interception) each followed by a Harris PAT gave the Devils a three-touchdown lead and what looked like would be a blowout by the hosts. It got worse for the Purple Riders as Ollie Muhly returned a punt 66 yards on the next Martins Ferry possession to extend the lead to 28-0 for the Devils.
Coach Kropka wouldn’t let his team laydown as quarterback Ayden Ludolph lead a touchdown drive, ending with his sneak for a touchdown and a Jacob Theaker PAT put the visitors on the board for the first time on the night. Burk scored again for St. Clairsville on a 12-yard touchdown run to stretch the hosts lead to 35-7.
The Riders went down the field again to score on a pass completion to Walkquem Cox who then pitched to a teammate who scored making the game 35-14 after the Theaker point after. A Martins Ferry interception by Tev’n Williams on the next Red Devil possession gave the Purple Riders the ball back and a little momentum. Ludolph hit senior Alex Reese for the Martins Ferry touchdown and the visitors now pulled to withing two touchdowns at 35-21 late in the second quarter.
Schoolcraft would strike again this time on the offensive side of the ball. After Burk went out with an injury Schoolcraft scored on a short touchdown run towards the end of the first half to give the hosts a 41-21 lead at the half.
At halftime St. Clairsville inducting four new members to their Athletic Hall of Fame. Congratulations to Justin Clifford (current athletic director), Ken Holloway, Bethany Stranges, and Walt Skaggs, current superintendent. It was a nice halftime ceremony where each was honored with a nice bio and a plaque to honor their achievements.
The second half was all Devils as Schoolcraft scored again on a 46-yard touchdown run and with the Harris PAT, the hosts extended the lead to 48-21. The final score of the game came way of a Sam McLean touchdown pass to Guy Vcelka to get to the final score of 55-21. The Red Devils played a great game to gain the victory. Martins Ferry has some young talent and thought the score may not indicate, they will be a team to be reckoned with the rest of the season and in the future. On a side note the crew featured the best father son duo in the Valley as Curt and Izac Babiczuk roamed the sidelines as two of the officials on the game.
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