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NORWALK – The "house" has again been protected. The St. Paul senior class took on the motto of keeping the tradition of home field dominance at Warren Whitney Field and more than lived up to the task in beating the Monroeville Eagles a second straight week, 49-21, this time in a Division VI Region 21 quarterfinal a week after the teams played in a winner-take-all for the Firelands Conference championship, a game the Flyers won 21-6. With the win, St. Paul improves to 10-1 overall and will play Warren John F. Kennedy (9-2) next week at a site to be determined, which includes possibilities of Brunswick, Medina or even southward to Ashland. The JFK Eagles were a #5 seed in Division V last year but were unbeaten until a 28-7 loss in the state championship game to St. Henry. The school has long been a Division IV-V school before dipping to Division VI this year with the latest enrollment figures. In six home games this season, St. Paul finished 6-0 while outscoring teams 296-60 for an average home score of 49-10 in front of the Flyer faithful. The senior class then put together a stretch unrivaled by any other class to come through the Flyer program, as they finish their four years with a sparkling 22-1 record at home. The lone loss came in the 2006 season when Elyria Catholic rallied from a 12-10 deficit for a 23-12 victory. St. Paul has also now won 15 of the last 20 meetings in the series while the Eagles haven’t won in Norwalk since 1991. Overall, the Flyers lead Monroeville 27-20-1 in 48 meetings and improved to 15-9 in games played at home, including nine in a row. For senior captain Joe Graziani, it meant a chance at redemption a week later. A week after being limited to 38 yards rushing and a single touchdown (62-yard catch), Graziani exploded for a career-high 200 yards rushing on 22 attempts, also a career-high, while scoring three times and having a fourth called back on a holding penalty. In the win last week, Graziani did not play on offense in the second half. "This was the most fun in a game I've had in my life," Graziani said. "Last week I was cramping up in the second half and couldn't really play and It was kind of a boring game. I really wanted a good St. Paul-Monroeville memory and this was 100 percent just that. It was a hard fought game and I loved every minute of it and the line was blocking great like always. They open the holes, I just have to run through them." For St. Paul head coach John Livengood, who won his 153rd game in his 200th game coached, all at St. Paul, discussed the play of the offensive unit and Graziani as a whole. "The whole team did a good job and Joe is a good athlete and ran hard," he said. "But he'll be the first one to credit the guys around him and the guys up front did a good job. Joe made nice moves and a lot of that had to do with Matt Wilde and the line blocking, and some of the areas we didn't do well in last week I think we improved tonight." In the opening minutes, it appeared to be another St. Paul runaway, only to see shades of last week play out to form with key turnovers and short field for the Monroeville offense allowing the Eagles to scrap back into the game. Graziani opened with a 28-yard kick return and on the first play from scrimmage ran 15 yards to the Monroeville 40. From there, Wilde covered the distance by slicing through the Eagle defense to put the Flyers on the board just 35 seconds into the game and Wes Stein added his first of seven extra points for a 7-0 lead. After a Monroeville punt, the Flyers had another short field and quickly covered 58 yards in seven plays with Graziani scoring on a 16-yard run at the 6:06 mark in the first as the Flyers appeared to be on all cylinders. That thought process remained when the defense forced Monroeville off the field in three plays and the Flyers after a Graziani run were again threatening at the Eagle 38, but almost in sneaky fashion, as Matt Wilde hit the hole the next play, Monroeville standout Brock Schafer simply took the ball right out of his hands and broke a few tackles by some surprised members of the Flyer offense for a 62-yard fumble return for a score. Brian Sparks added his first of three extra points and a 14-7 deficit. On the first play of the ensuing series, Graziani ran for a 9-yard gain but was hit in the back hard by Schafer and the ball came loose and Myles Smith fell on it for the Eagles at the St. Paul 48. A 10-play drive followed in which quarterback Brian Ringholz tied the game by finding Jake Schwab for an 11-yard score on fourth-and-8. "I think we were executing pretty well offensively, and defensively we were playing well but those two turnovers really swung the momentum after things were going in our favor," Livengood said. "It really made it a shootout there in the first half." That shootout continued when on the ensuing kickoff Wilde was able to return it the distance down the Monroeville sidelines 89 yards for a 21-14 lead. Again the Eagles answered, however, with an 8-play, 74-yard drive that culminated in a 2-yard scoring run by Ringholz with 7:37 left in the half. A 9-play, 53-yard drive then followed for St. Paul with Graziani getting his second score on a 6-yard run with 3:54 left in the half to make it 28-21, which is where the score stood when the Eagles were able to keep the Flyers off the scoreboard inside the final minute despite St. Paul having it first-and-goal at the 6. A 23-yard field goal attempt by Stein was wide left just before halftime. "Execution was the biggest thing," Monroeville coach Steve Ringholz said. "We got a stop there at the end of the half and that hasn't happened to them too many times this year. There was some good things we did and we came over here and played probably as about as well as we could play and gave them everything they wanted for the better part of three quarters." Last week St. Paul was able to limit the Eagles to just four yards in the second half, and while it wasn't quite that lopsided, it was close as this time the Flyers allowed just 44 yards in the second half, with the biggest performance coming in the final 12 minutes as the Eagles had just -4 yards net. Wilde scored on a 2-yard run in the third to give the Flyers a 35-21 lead entering the fourth while Graziani scored on a 15-yard run with 8:41 left to make it 42-21. The capper came when lineman Jacob Rhoad blocked and recovered a Schafer punt in the end zone for the final score at the 2:12 mark. "I think we settled down again in the second half and the defense remained solid," Livengood said. "We were finally able to sustain some solid drives and put together some more scores as well." A week after throwing for 181 yards on the Eagles, the Flyers completed just one pass with Wilde hauling it in from Eric Schwieterman for 14 yards. Instead, the Flyers totaled up 321 yards rushing with Wilde adding 60 yards and two scores on 11 attempts. Ringholz talked about the running of Graziani afterwards. "He did a good job of setting himself up for the outside," he said. "He was getting in there and busting it outside and we just didn't have good leverage or angles on him." For Monroeville, Ringholz was 13-of-24 for 110 yards with Jake Schwab catching six passes for 91 yards. Schafer again had a tough night, picking up 27 yards in 13 attempts and in the two games was held to exactly two yards per carry (24 attempts for 48 yards). The Eagles overcame an 0-3 start to the season to finish 6-4 and qualify for the playoffs with a fairly young roster. "These guys did a hell of a job this year and have come a long way in 10 weeks," Ringholz said. "When you have three sophomores and a freshman on your offensive line and you make the playoffs, that says something about these guys. Like I said, we gave it our best shot and these kids can walk off the field with their heads held high." Despite winning by four touchdowns, Livengood is just pleased to be playing still. "My focus right now is all on this game and I'm glad we got this one under our belts," he said. "We'll start thinking about JFK Sunday. They are a good program and we'll put in a good week of practice and try and get better." Monroeville (6-5)
7 14 0 0 – 21 Scoring STP- Matt Wilde 40
run, (Wes Stein kick), 11:25 1st Stats Yards rushing- MON-
80, STP- 321 |
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