Steubenville - the best team ever?

[CoalMan]

Some of the folks i work with at the Mine are sayin that this darn near should be the best team of kids steubeville ever fielded! I spent the fall going to harrison central games so i missed steubenville play but the folks at the mine said this is the best team yet,,,,what do ya'll think? they are playing for the championship of the state this coming weekned right?

[CoalMan]

woldnt i be a son of a gun if i said that i think harrison central counda gave stebenville a good game this year. NOT SAYIN they would win,,,,, but a good game!!!!!!!

[kick2win]

The 2008 version of Steubenville Big Red is pretty darn good but it hard to beat some of the teams they have had in the past. They are very good discipline, a solid defense, and young but very experienced skill players.
As far as Harrison Central goes, I had the chance to see them once this season, and not to rain on the parade of any fan, team or individual player on any team the game would not have been close. Harrison was a decent football team and I have the upmost respect for Justin and his players and he knows I do because I have told him to his face, but Steubenville is in such a different class among teams in this area. Yes I know that other teams have tradition, others made it to the playoffs, but none have done what Steubenville has done in the last 6 seasons. 60 straight regular season wins, 2 State Titles, and on the fortnight of maybe a third. Coach Reno Saccoccia has amassed a winning percentage of over 80 percent since he has been the HC. When it is broken down the numbers are mind boggling.
It is just truly amazing, and in my professional position I get a chance to talk to plenty of coaches and I will say that every coach in this area is incredible, Coach Bruney, Coach Cisar, Coach Young, Coach Sacc, Coach Kropka, just to name a few, those are class individuals each one of them, they all bring something different to the dance, but Reno keeps bringing the same date year after year and that is awesome.

[MANOWAR]

This team is very good, but IMO not the best team ever....05 was the best recently, and 06 was better overall..primarly because this years team is so young. There are 7 sophomores that start..it was unheard of for a sophomore to start at Big Red not too long ago.

[RBA]

I will echo MOW's response.

Before I rank this team in the annals of great Big Red teams, they have to finish the season strong on Friday. It doesn't matter how much talent we have this year, if we don't win the title, I can't compare the 2008 version to 1984, 2005, or 2006.

If we were to win it all, this team certainly warrants inclusion into the halls of some of the best Big Red teams ever.

This would be may rankings of Big Red teams I have seen in my lifetime (not including '08):

1. 2005
2. 1984
3. 2006
4. 1994
5. 1988
6. 1991
7. 1985
8. 1987
9. 1983
10. 1999

If we fall in the state title game, this team likely falls somewhere in between No. 5 and No. 8. Note, these are only teams that I have seen (I'm 29). We had some great teams in the 60s and we were the best team in the state, any division, in the late-20s and early-30s.

If we were to win a title, this team will definitely catapult into the Top 4. Depending on how the game goes, I believe this team could go all the way to the top. Let's not forget, MOW... We haven't really had a close game yet this season. Probably the closest game has been Poland and we had that win well in hand by the final quarter.

The 2005 team was more well-rounded, with absolutely dominant defensive tackles in Ralph and Ang and also much better special teams... But, I think this year's team MAY be more explosive and more talented.

You are right, though. The really scary thing is how young this team is and how great we MAY end up being in the next couple of years. Jesse Birden and Shaq Pettaway are going to be absolutely dominant at the linebacking spot in their junior and senior years.... then we have virtually all of our skill guys coming back, plus some really good ones that will be breaking out next year that people have not even heard of yet.

We are in a true 'Golden Era' for Big Red football right now. It doesn't look like it will end any time soon.

Roll Red Roll

[ohiomrfootball]

THis is a good team, but not the best Big Red has ever had.

[MountaineerManiac7]

IMO i thought that 2006 steubenville was pretty good but that was my first year of playing varsity football so i wasn't really caught up in 2005 with them..but i remember watching collaros at quarterback, the running back was huge, and maurice bogard was the fastest kid i've ever seen, i remember when they played park they scored three times on one drive but kept being called back for penalties..it seemed like they could score at any second they wanted..didn't they said 4 or 5 kids D-1 that year?

[Loc dawg]

IMO i thought that 2006 steubenville was pretty good but that was my first year of playing varsity football so i wasn't really caught up in 2005 with them..but i remember watching collaros at quarterback, the running back was huge, and maurice bogard was the fastest kid i've ever seen, i remember when they played park they scored three times on one drive but kept being called back for penalties..it seemed like they could score at any second they wanted..didn't they said 4 or 5 kids D-1 that year?

yeah they sent collaros,bougard,mcghee, pree, but idk what happened with bougard or mcghee but collaros is at cincy and pree is a starting inside linebacker at toledo

[SkeMeTeAam]

yea when they had collaros and bougard i would say

[sirswish]

i think next year will be one of the best teams theyve ever had

[RBA]

The 2005 team was the best I have seen in my 29 years following Big Red football. We had everything... from special teams to a GREAT defensive line to a GREAT offensive line to GREAT players at the skill positions. We weren't even challenged in the playoffs and we dismantled a very good Columbus DeSales team in the state championship, 28-7.

There were seven players off of that team that signed Division I-A scholarships:

Angelo Magnone (DT/OT) - Bowling Green
Demetrius Benjamin (LB) - Akron
Zach Collaros (QB/CB) - Cincinnati
Maurice Bougard (WR) - Toledo
Tamawi McGhee (RB/LB) - Toledo
Dreylon Pree (DE) - Toledo
Andrew Radakovich (OT) - Penn State

Of those seven players, two are now starting for their respective schools... Dreylon Pree at Toledo as a sophomore and Angelo Magnone at Bowling Green as a redshirt sophomore. Zach is the backup quarterback as a redshirt freshman on a Top 20 college in the country.

That is some serious talent.

[big_red_drummer]

I know the 2005 defense was mentioned by several on here as the best defense they've ever seen in the Ohio Valley.

Special teams were out of this world. Blocked punts, blocked field goals, fake punts, fake PAT's, kickoffs continuously reaching the end zone for touchbacks, excellent coverage of kickoffs and punts, etc. That team didn't look to get great returns on punts because it was clear their goal on every punt was to get in there and get the block. It was fitting for Big Red to block a field goal, block a punt, and convert a fake PAT in the title game against DeSales.

[secretstud96]

Steubenville has run of GREAT Teams running now.

[ohiomrfootball]

Not the best Big Red team ever, they are down 21-6 right now.