Graziani strikes again, has 8 touchdowns in two games

"You can draw x's and o's all night long, but the biggest problem was I don't think our kids were mentally prepared to play in the first half. But I think they came out with a renewed attitude in the second half.".- St. Paul head coach John Livengood on his team's first half performance and subsequent turnaround.

TIFFIN – Briefly, it became the "greatest show on turf" Saturday night at Tiffin National Field at Frost-Kalnow Stadium, and it's a good thing...because the Flyers were in the middle of a dogfight in attempting to earn its second win in as many tries in the 2007 season against the Calvert Senecas.

In fact, the only thing missing to add to the element of the greatest show on turf was the dozens upon dozens of flashing light bulbs from cameras, as the Flyer faithful gasped and wooed every time he touched the ball in the fourth quarter after they built a 34-21 lead that eventually stood up to improve St. Paul to 2-0 on the young season.

Trailing 14-7 at halftime, the Flyers had managed just 82 yards of offense while yielding 192 to the Senecas and it was pretty apparent that St. Paul once again was going to have to fight and scrape for everything they could get at the particularly unfriendly venue.

"We didn't really do much to stop Calvert and we didn't play very well defensively," St. Paul head coach John Livengood said. "As much as I'm disappointed in that aspect of our game, I have to give credit to them. But I really felt like early on in the game we had to adjust to what they were doing defensively because they had changed up their look a little bit and that forced us to adjust. But the biggest thing...you can draw x's and o's all night long, but the biggest problem was I don't think our kids were mentally prepared to play in the first half. But I think they came out with a renewed attitude in the second half."

After Calvert lost four yards in three plays to start the second half, the Senecas made the mistake-decision that St. Mary did a week ago...punt to Flyer captain Joe Graziani, the career record holder for punt return touchdowns. Graziani made two bobbing and weaving shifty moves and found a seam down the left sideline for a 64-yard scoring return at the 10:07 mark of the third quarter and Wes Stein's placement kick tied the game at 14.

Calvert responded with an 11-play, 62-yard scoring drive as senior quarterback Aaron Gassner continued to stretch the Flyer secondary down the field while Vinny Pardi capped the drive with a five-yard run with 4:28 left in the quarter and Spencer Kerr hit his third extra point to make it 21-14. At that point of the game, Gassner was 13-of-19 passing for 160 yards and one touchdown.

But then it happened again. In an instant, Calvert again kept a kick attempt in bounds and Graziani's speed and field vision got to run its course on the field turf, with the end result being an 87-yard kick return touchdown at the 4:14 mark to again immediately tie the score. It marked the second kickoff return for a touchdown in Graziani's career, which gives him another school record, tying the mark set by Jay Morrow (1995-98).

The tide then finally shifted in St. Paul's favor as senior Karl Stanbery made a crushing hit on the Seneca returner, who coughed the ball up where sophomore Brian Roberts fell on it at the Calvert 24.

"With our special teams plays, those units just did a great job tonight," Livengood said. "And I know Joe had some nice runs on those, but they were just well-executed, blocked very well, and I think the big hit by Karl on kickoff was a really big turning point in this game."

It took Graziani just two plays to cover the 24 yards, a seven-yard run to the 17 and then on a pass across the middle from quarterback Eric Schwieterman with 3:31 left in the quarter, which proved to be the winning points for the Flyers. Stein's placement kick failed, but the Flyers had a 27-21 lead and much like a week ago, despite having put the capper on the game, Graziani went for the exclamation point.

The Calvert offense, showing signs of finally being slowed, was off the field after just six plays and pinned St. Paul at its own 26 for it's next possession. Graziani carried for 3 yards, 7 yards, and then broke off untouched through excellent blocking off the left tackle side for a 65-yard touchdown run with 11:21 left in the game for the final points. From that point forward, the Flyer fans were anticipating another possible big play from the senior with every touch.

After the Senecas last touchdown drive, Gassner was limited to 4-of-16 passing for 70 yards, 34 of which came on one late pass play.

"Special teams came through for us and I thought after we made those adjustments the kids did a nice job moving the ball," Livengood said. "But the problem was Calvert was doing such a great job of moving the ball and keeping our offense off the field. I think the coaches did a good job making adjustments to get pressure and get better coverage and we switched things up scheme-wise, and I think that slowed down Calvert's offense in the second half. We didn't completely stop it, but we did slow them down."

The win also avoided another disaster at Frost-Kalnow, as dating back to the 1999 season, the Flyers had lost 5-of-7 games at the venue, including two playoff losses the past two seasons.

The Flyers were held to five offensive plays in the third quarter, with Graziani touching the ball every time. In all, the offense was limited to just 36 offensive plays total, with Graziani pacing the unit with 142 yards on 13 attempts. The senior now has over 620 all-purpose yards and eight touchdowns in the first two weeks of the season.

Matt Wilde finished with 44 yards on 11 attempts, including a 12-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to get St. Paul on the scoreboard for the first time. Schwieterman finished 4-of-7 passing for 42 yards and a touchdown with Graziani pulling in two catches for 24 yards receiving. Gassner finished 17-of-35 passing for 234 yards for Calvert while Pardi ran for 52 yards on 16 attempts. The Senecas had great balance receiving, with Bill Mullen catching five passes for 48 yards.

Up next is a big task for St. Paul (2-0), as they will travel to Elyria Friday night to take on the Panthers of Elyria Catholic (2-0). The big Division IV school has been a bit of a thorn in the side for the Flyers in recent years. After St. Paul won the first three meetings, the Panthers have come back to win the last two by double-digits. It will be the sixth and final meeting between the two, as EC will play Midview next season while St. Paul will host Huron.

"They are an awesome football team," Livengood said of Elyria Catholic. "They have size, speed...they are a total package that is well-coached in what should be a playoff atmosphere next week."