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NORWALK – In front of 1,628 fans at Warren A. Whitney Field, it was a classic St. Paul-Monroeville rivalry football game that those fans in attendance have come to expect from the two schools located just five miles apart, as the Flyers used an outstanding defensive effort to claim a 21-6 win Saturday night. In something that appeared lost in all the playoff talk for both teams entering the contest, it was the Flyers winning the Firelands Conference for a conference-high 15th time, including the ninth time in the last 12 seasons. Meanwhile, St. Paul has now won 14 of the last 19 meetings in the series while the Eagles haven’t won in Norwalk since 1991. Overall, the Flyers lead Monroeville 26-20-1 in 47 meetings while also improving to 14-9 in games played at home, including eight in a row. “We are real proud of that and the kids were excited about that because it was our first goal this season,” St. Paul head coach John Livengood said of the FC title. “The second goal is to make the playoffs and we’ll see what happens from there, but I think it’s a great accomplishment for our kids and not winning it last year was something we were really looking to do this year.” Despite 330 yards of offense, St. Paul was hindered by three turnovers inside the Monroeville 26, but defensively there was little doubt as they held Monroeville to just 4 net yards in the second half, including a single yard rushing with no first downs. “It was a typical game between these two teams in being hard fought and fighting for every inch,” Livengood said. “There was a lot of emotion, but we were fortunate enough to come out on top. Our defense has played well all year and they really stepped up tonight. It was a great effort on those kids part.” St. Paul's first costly turnover came in a drive that started at its 45 after a shaky Monroeville punt set up the offense with solid field position. Matt Wilde ran for 10 yards and a face mask penalty on the play added 15 more yards, but two plays later Joe Graziani was ran into by one of his own blockers and lost the football as the Eagles recovered at the Monroeville 26. After getting the ball back after a punt, the Flyers opened the scoring with 1:03 left in the first quarter when quarterback Eric Schwieterman found Joe Graziani on a 62-yard touchdown pass on a second-and-17 play and Wes Stein added his first of three extra points for a 7-0 lead. After the Flyer defense stopped Monroeville, the ensuing punt was disaster for the Flyers as it was muffed and recovered in the end zone by the Eagles Nick O’Neil with 11:06 left in the first half. The extra point attempt was blocked for a 7-6 Flyer lead. "It was a mistake on our part," Livengood said. "We didn't field the ball very well and they took advantage of it." The Flyers then answered that score on the ensuing possession, as a 9-play, 69-yard drive was capped in a breakdown of coverage for the Eagles as running back Adam Pugh had nobody within 25 yards of him on a 33-yard touchdown catch from Schwieterman with 8:08 left in the half which led to a 14-6 lead at the break. A second scoring opportunity was lost when a late drive went for naught after Schwieterman was intercepted by Brian Sparks at the Monroeville 13 with less than 40 seconds left in the half. The Flyers then took the opening possession of the second half and marched right down the field, only to again turn the ball over, this time on downs, at the Eagles 19-yard line. But as the defense continued to tighten, the only score in the second half was setup when Cory Schaffer intercepted a Brian Ringholz pass at the Monroeville 37 and nine plays later Matt Wilde scored on a 1-yard run with 11:48 left in the game. The culmination of the drive did not come that easy, however, as Schwieterman had to pick up 13 yards scrambling on a fourth-and-11 play at the Monroeville 25. While most nights it is a major concern to turn the ball over three times inside an opponent's 26, that was not the case on this night as the St. Paul defense was simply overwhelming. Monroeville was 0-for-12 on third down conversions in the game and was limited to just 4 net yards of offense in the second half, including just one single yard rushing which also contributed to zero first downs in the second half. Running back Brock Schafer, who led the Firelands Conference in rushing with 153 attempts for 1,294 yards entering the contest, was limited to just 21 yards on 11 attempts. “Our offense missed some early opportunities that could have made this a different football game,” Monroeville coach Steve Ringholz said. “We had a couple missed chances on some early drives but it’s obvious the way they play defense is, they will stop the run and make you beat them throwing the ball and we didn’t get it done in that aspect. It's a cover-1 defense across the board and they want to make you win the game throwing the ball...but that's what St. Paul does, they live and die with it. Look at last year, they died with it over at our place (34-14 loss) and this year they won with it." Ringholz then commented on his general thoughts on the game. "Our kids played their hearts out and made them work for everything they got outside of that one touchdown pass (33-yarder to Pugh) and it was a hell of a game," he said. "Both teams played good defense, they just played better offense. I wasn't sure our defense had been challenged in a while but our defense showed tonight it's not bad." Schwieterman was 8-of-16 passing for 181 yards and two touchdowns to pace the Flyers, while Graziani caught two of those for 82 yards and ran for 38 yards on 11 attempts to put him over the 1,000-yard mark for the season. Wilde led the running game with 84 yards on 21 attempts while Dominic Dellisanti added three catches for 33 yards receiving. "I wish we would have executed better offensively and not turned the ball over when we did," Livengood said. "And I wish we would have gotten our running game going better, but I think you have to credit Monroeville with how hard their kids played and how well their coaches prepared them. It was tough to get things going against them." For Monroeville, Ringholz was 13-of-29 for 110 yards with Jake Schwab catching four passes for 50 yards. Monroeville (6-4,
6-1) 0 6 0 0 – 6 Scoring STP- Joe Graziani 62
pass from Eric Schwieterman, (Wes Stein kick), 1:03 1st Stats Yards rushing- MON-
23, STP- 149 |
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