Remembering the Youngstown City Series and Steel Valley Conference
- Thread starter coldshoulder
- Start date
It was against the Mooney 1st team defense. In fact it was on their opening series of the game (and may have been their first play from scrimmage). The Generals QB Kevin Meager, who was excellent btw, ran option right and after a short gain pitched the ball to his trailing RB Bill Robinson? who ran about 45 yards for the TD.
It was a controversial TD because the replay clearly showed Meager’s knees down before he pitched it. I think the Mooney players kind of gave up on the play too. Anyway, there was no replay so the score tied the game. The Generals only threatened one other time in the game - they drove in Mooney’s red zone right before the half but the Mooney D stood strong and had a big sack to end the threat.
YTOWN
Well-known member
Yes he was a great athlete. Not many sophs. even made the field back in the day. To my knowledge Ted Bell was the first SVC player to make the 1st team All-SVC team as a sophomore back in 1971. Then Joe Croft of Mooney did it in 74 and then Mr. Anderson in 88. Of course Ted Bell went on to make the Parade All-American team as a senior, as did Mr. Anderson in his senior season. Craig Powell of Rayen joined Deollo Anderson on the the Parade All-American team that year so two YTOWN guys made it that season.
In the D3 title game Mooney received the opening KO and thanks to about a 40-yard return by Marcus Coleman the Cardinals went down and scored to take a 7-0 lead. Sheridan returned the ensuing KO to about their 45-yard line. I'm pretty sure it was the first offensive play they ran when their QB, Kevin Meger, ran an option play for about 10 yards before getting tackled and then right as he was hitting the ground pitched to his trailing RB, a kid named Robinson, and he took it to the house to tie the game at 7. It stayed that way at halftime but Mooney had to come up with a big defensive stand right before the half to keep it at 7. Mr. Meger was an All-State DB but he was an excellent option QB as well. He went on to Toledo. That Sheridan team was 13-0 and averaging over 38 PPG. They were a good football team. Mooney just wore them out in the 2nd half and ended up with an almost 2:1 time of possession in the game controlling the ball for over 31 minutes to 16 minutes for the Generals.
I always thought that Struthers would have beaten Wickliffe and Elyria Catholic, the teams Mooney beat in the 1st and semifinal rounds respectively, but I'm not sure about Sheridan. That would have been a good game.
Story I heard about the Mooney-Fitch game in 1988 is the following. Fitch has the ball inside the five yard line with like 10 seconds to go in the game down by 7. Fitch throws a pass that is incomplete and there were like 3 seconds left on the clock and the cheating YSU Mooney officials along with a the clock operator run the last 3 seconds on a incomplete pass and then ran off the field. Hartman was so furious that he started talking about leaving the conference right then. Who knew that they would end up in the Fed conference down the road. I don't know how officials were assigned back then, but they cheated like heck for the cardinals there. It was like going to Massillon. You had to be 10 point better just to compete.
falcons53
Well-known member
LOL, easy now.
YTOWN knows my frustrations with that game. Yes, the video of the game shows the YSU scoreboard as it was that end of the field. As the ball landed incomplete in the field of play, and not out of bounds, the clock should have stopped when it was signaled incomplete. There should have been at least 1 second, perhaps 2 left in the game. There is no guarantee the Falcons score. The next play could still have gone either way.
That 1988 game was as tight as any game between the 2 teams. Even battle that anyone in the stands or on the field could not say either team was "clearly" better. Each team scored 1 offensive TD on drives and realistically should have been a 7-7 tie late and Fitch kicking a potential game winning FG in those last few seconds. Unfortunately, a punt snap sailed over the Fitch punters head and gave Mooney the eventual game winning TD in the second half. The 14-7 final score was a sour taste that Fitch would avenge in 89, but that is for another day.
Having started as a player in the 70s and still coaching today, games like this happen in both directions. I have won big, lost big, won close, and lost close. I can assure you that yes, Coach Hartman was frustrated and furious about the loss. There would never have been talk from him about leaving the SVC in those days. Dave was well respected by all of the SVC coaches and great rapport with all of them. On the field, Fitch, Mooney, Boardman, and Ursuline always had clean, had fought games. Nasty stuff happens on the field every year, fights , etc. Rarely did you see that in that SVC era. As a player, I hated them all, LOL, but respected them. To this day, when one of the area teams is in the play-offs I root like crazy for them to win it all.
Maxie
🏈 2023 State Champions——16-0
Your team wasn’t good enough to compete.
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Spoken from the team with the infamous extra 2 minute game cheating against Harding. Everyone know Massillon is great but you did have those hometown officials back in the day and the old school fitch teams had no problem competing with you.
Maxie
🏈 2023 State Champions——16-0
Excuses are for losers!
so having officials that cheat is ok as long as you win. ok. Well you an and old school mooney have something in common.
falcons53
Well-known member
The 21-20 OT loss to WWR was even more frustrating for Fitch that year because the Falcons controlled the game, but miscues kept the Raiders in the game. It had rained all day and throughout the game, causing a muddy field for everyone. Late 4th quarter tied at 14-14, the Falcons returned a punt to the Warren 11 yard line. With Jeff Wilkins kicking, the assumption was no matter whether the Falcons got in the endzone or not, the game was well within grasp. With less than a minute left, and easy sweep to set up field position ended in a fumble recovered by the Raiders.
In OT, the Raiders scored first to take a 21-14 lead. After scoring a TD on their possession, the Falcons went for the 2 pt conversion and QB Fletcher was tackled short ending the game. Had Fitch kicked the FG at the end of regulation, the Falcons would have finished 9-1 and been in the playoffs. Instead, they finished 8-2 and in the 5th spot, one short of qualifying.
In OT, the Raiders scored first to take a 21-14 lead. After scoring a TD on their possession, the Falcons went for the 2 pt conversion and QB Fletcher was tackled short ending the game. Had Fitch kicked the FG at the end of regulation, the Falcons would have finished 9-1 and been in the playoffs. Instead, they finished 8-2 and in the 5th spot, one short of qualifying.
From a state perspective, probably from 1962-75 sems like the golden era of Youngstown-Warren area. Youngstown only would be 1980-92 with Mooney being the standard while Ursuline, Boardman , and Fitch could play with anybody in the state at the highest levels. All the teams in the SVC beat state powers during that era.
coldshoulder
Well-known member
Piggybacking off the Youngstown City Series basketball thread which I "took over" about a year ago and kept rolling, I then started this thread and provided the first 10 to 15 years of Youngstown City Series All-City football teams...but then YTOWN graciously took over and "brought it home" with his usual class, thoroughness, and incredible memory, which was showcased by his unsurpassed knowledge and actual paper copies (which he had kept, and now scanned) of the various All-City teams. He then took a turn and began highlighting the Steel Valley Conference All-League teams from the 60's, 70's, and 80's, supplemented once again with his fantastic recall of game details, college choices, and other nuggets of long-forgotten (by us "ordinary" folks!) information.Outstanding thread. 25 years worth of good stuff, all while going back 60+. Thanks.
So Gardens35, I second your motion; and I salute the master, YTOWN ! Thank you, sir.
Scipio
Well-known member
I don’t care what the people in his neighborhood say about him, he’s alright.
YTOWN
Well-known member
You are welcome gentlemen, and I use that term very loosely when applied to you Scipio!
I have been working on something but I do want to say one thing about the 1988 Mooney-Fitch game before moving on to 1989.
I probably should just let it go but I want to address "the story I heard" comment. I mean no disrespect here but obviously that means that the individual that posted it did not actually see the game, they were only told about it. I am willing to bet they were never told the following about the game.
Here is the problem with "the story I heard." That story NEVER includes the fact that the same thing happened to Mooney on the last play of the 1st half. Mooney led 14-7 and they were attempting a FG on 2nd down with about 10 seconds left. Fitch blocked the attempt which Mooney recovered and actually advanced a few yards with 3 seconds left on the clock. Mooney also should have been given another play but time was allowed to expire instead of granting the TO. If Fitch was cheated on that last play of the game Mooney was also cheated on the last play of the 1st half. Coach Bucci talked about it in the post game interview.
The story also never includes the fact that Fitch ran 7 plays in Mooney's red zone in the waning minutes of the game and didn't score. Mooney stopped them on downs on the 12-yard line with about 1:00 left and then fumbled it back to Fitch two plays later on the 10 yard line. There were 44 seconds on the clock. Mooney sacked Mr. Fletcher on first down at about the 16-yard line. He then completed a pass to the 4-yard line on second down setting up the last play.
IMO the story should also include that the last play Fitch ran was at least questionable given the situation. There were 5 seconds left when Fitch snapped the ball. That pass HAS to go into the end zone, again IMO. Instead it was thrown to a receiver out of the backfield at the 2 yard line. I completely agree that Fitch should have had one more play, no question in my mind about that. I looked at the clock after I saw the Fitch receiver trap the ball and there were 2 seconds left. When the time ran off I wondered if the officials had called it a completed pass because the closest official to the play was blocked by the receiver going to the ground to try to catch the ball. I never saw a signal as I immediately looked at the clock. I thought they would put time back on the clock but they didn't. They messed up on both of those plays IMO. Who knows what would have happened had both teams been given one more play like they should have been. There are a myriad of possibilities.
Anyway, moving on to 1989 the Falcons won the outright SVC title with a 3-0 league mark. Unfortunately for the Falcons, just like in 1988, a loss to WWR kept them out of the playoffs. IIRC WWR's Hank Powell rushed for about 250 yards in that game. WWR finished undefeated at 8-0, they missed two games due to a teacher's strike. They qualified for the playoffs and drew defending D1 champions Cleveland St. Ignatius in round one. The Wildcats were on a 25-game winning streak coming into the game. I attended that game at Baldwin-Wallace and the Raiders played the champs tough, they physically pounded Ignatius QB Joe Pickens, before losing 16-7. Of course Ignatius went on to repeat as D1 champions. That was the last game WWR ever played as the school closed the following spring.
While I was watching Fitch kick Mooney's backside, 23-0 in 1989, I missed seeing Ursuline RB Kevin Ellerbe's SVC record 379-yard rushing performance against Boardman that same night. He also rushed for 5 TDs. I did see films of the performance which broke Ted Bell's SVC record 360 yards vs. Fitch in 1973.
For the first time in school history Mooney finished last in the SVC with an 0-3 record but qualified for the D3 playoffs with a 5-4 record thanks to wins over Stow, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary and Canton McKinley. Ursuline also qualified in D3 with a 9-1 record, the loss to Fitch, 13-10. However, Campbell Memorial knocked off both of them in rounds one & two respectively and advanced all the way to the D3 title game where they lost to Ironton. Warren JFK & McDonald also made the finals in D4 & D5 but unfortunately like the Red Devils both lost in the title game. Berlin Center Western Reserve qualified for the playoffs for the 1st time and defeated Mingo Junction in round one before losing to McDonald, a team they had defeated in the regular season, in the regional final.
College players I know of:
The SVC only published a first team in 1989 in the Vindicator. I did see a few picks for 2nd team including Fitch's Chuck Wesson and Boardman's Jamie Frommelt in other places but the rest of the 2nd team was not published in the Vindy, at least I never saw it if it was. Mr. Frommelt was named to the D1 1st team All-State team as an OL but only the 2nd team All-SVC. Mooney's Sean Flynn was named D3 2nd team All-State at OE.
Offense:
End - Deollo Anderson - Ursuline - Jr. (Parade All-American the next season) - Michigan
OL - Matt DeVicchio - Ursuline (D3 2nd team All-State) - YSU
OL - Sam Mosca - Ursuline - YSU
QB - Lance Ferkula - Ursuline (led the SVC in Passing Efficiency) - Ga. Tech
RB - Jason Sutton - Boardman - Army
RB - Kevin Ellerbe - Ursuline (led the SVC in rushing, All-Purpose running, scoring and punt return avg. D3 1st team All-State) - (Miami (O))
PK - Jeff Wilkins - Fitch - YSU (Member of two YSU National Championship teams, his clutch FG to beat Villanova in round one of the 1991 playoffs keyed the Guins to that first Championship) - 14-year NFL career with the Eagles, 49ers and Rams. Won a Super Bowl with the Rams in 1999 and led the NFL in scoring in 2003.
Defense:
DL - Bill Aaron - Mooney (led the SVC in QB sacks, D3 2nd team All-State) - YSU
LB - Jeff Powers - Fitch (D1 1st team All-State) - YSU
LB - Blair Detelich - Ursuline - Kansas St. & YSU
DB - Ramon Amil - Mooney - YSU
I have been working on something but I do want to say one thing about the 1988 Mooney-Fitch game before moving on to 1989.
I probably should just let it go but I want to address "the story I heard" comment. I mean no disrespect here but obviously that means that the individual that posted it did not actually see the game, they were only told about it. I am willing to bet they were never told the following about the game.
Here is the problem with "the story I heard." That story NEVER includes the fact that the same thing happened to Mooney on the last play of the 1st half. Mooney led 14-7 and they were attempting a FG on 2nd down with about 10 seconds left. Fitch blocked the attempt which Mooney recovered and actually advanced a few yards with 3 seconds left on the clock. Mooney also should have been given another play but time was allowed to expire instead of granting the TO. If Fitch was cheated on that last play of the game Mooney was also cheated on the last play of the 1st half. Coach Bucci talked about it in the post game interview.
The story also never includes the fact that Fitch ran 7 plays in Mooney's red zone in the waning minutes of the game and didn't score. Mooney stopped them on downs on the 12-yard line with about 1:00 left and then fumbled it back to Fitch two plays later on the 10 yard line. There were 44 seconds on the clock. Mooney sacked Mr. Fletcher on first down at about the 16-yard line. He then completed a pass to the 4-yard line on second down setting up the last play.
IMO the story should also include that the last play Fitch ran was at least questionable given the situation. There were 5 seconds left when Fitch snapped the ball. That pass HAS to go into the end zone, again IMO. Instead it was thrown to a receiver out of the backfield at the 2 yard line. I completely agree that Fitch should have had one more play, no question in my mind about that. I looked at the clock after I saw the Fitch receiver trap the ball and there were 2 seconds left. When the time ran off I wondered if the officials had called it a completed pass because the closest official to the play was blocked by the receiver going to the ground to try to catch the ball. I never saw a signal as I immediately looked at the clock. I thought they would put time back on the clock but they didn't. They messed up on both of those plays IMO. Who knows what would have happened had both teams been given one more play like they should have been. There are a myriad of possibilities.
Anyway, moving on to 1989 the Falcons won the outright SVC title with a 3-0 league mark. Unfortunately for the Falcons, just like in 1988, a loss to WWR kept them out of the playoffs. IIRC WWR's Hank Powell rushed for about 250 yards in that game. WWR finished undefeated at 8-0, they missed two games due to a teacher's strike. They qualified for the playoffs and drew defending D1 champions Cleveland St. Ignatius in round one. The Wildcats were on a 25-game winning streak coming into the game. I attended that game at Baldwin-Wallace and the Raiders played the champs tough, they physically pounded Ignatius QB Joe Pickens, before losing 16-7. Of course Ignatius went on to repeat as D1 champions. That was the last game WWR ever played as the school closed the following spring.
While I was watching Fitch kick Mooney's backside, 23-0 in 1989, I missed seeing Ursuline RB Kevin Ellerbe's SVC record 379-yard rushing performance against Boardman that same night. He also rushed for 5 TDs. I did see films of the performance which broke Ted Bell's SVC record 360 yards vs. Fitch in 1973.
For the first time in school history Mooney finished last in the SVC with an 0-3 record but qualified for the D3 playoffs with a 5-4 record thanks to wins over Stow, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary and Canton McKinley. Ursuline also qualified in D3 with a 9-1 record, the loss to Fitch, 13-10. However, Campbell Memorial knocked off both of them in rounds one & two respectively and advanced all the way to the D3 title game where they lost to Ironton. Warren JFK & McDonald also made the finals in D4 & D5 but unfortunately like the Red Devils both lost in the title game. Berlin Center Western Reserve qualified for the playoffs for the 1st time and defeated Mingo Junction in round one before losing to McDonald, a team they had defeated in the regular season, in the regional final.
| 1989 FITCH | |||
| CHANEY W 44-13 | |||
| MENTOR W 22-13 | |||
| EAST W 40-0 | |||
| CLEVELAND GLENVILLE W 46-12 | |||
| Massillon L 13-24 | |||
| SOUTH W 44-6 | |||
| URSULINE W 13-10 | |||
| MOONEY W 23-0 | |||
| WARREN WESTERN RESERVE L 14-19 | |||
| BOARDMAN W 30-0 | |||
| 8-2 | 3-0 SVC |
College players I know of:
The SVC only published a first team in 1989 in the Vindicator. I did see a few picks for 2nd team including Fitch's Chuck Wesson and Boardman's Jamie Frommelt in other places but the rest of the 2nd team was not published in the Vindy, at least I never saw it if it was. Mr. Frommelt was named to the D1 1st team All-State team as an OL but only the 2nd team All-SVC. Mooney's Sean Flynn was named D3 2nd team All-State at OE.
Offense:
End - Deollo Anderson - Ursuline - Jr. (Parade All-American the next season) - Michigan
OL - Matt DeVicchio - Ursuline (D3 2nd team All-State) - YSU
OL - Sam Mosca - Ursuline - YSU
QB - Lance Ferkula - Ursuline (led the SVC in Passing Efficiency) - Ga. Tech
RB - Jason Sutton - Boardman - Army
RB - Kevin Ellerbe - Ursuline (led the SVC in rushing, All-Purpose running, scoring and punt return avg. D3 1st team All-State) - (Miami (O))
PK - Jeff Wilkins - Fitch - YSU (Member of two YSU National Championship teams, his clutch FG to beat Villanova in round one of the 1991 playoffs keyed the Guins to that first Championship) - 14-year NFL career with the Eagles, 49ers and Rams. Won a Super Bowl with the Rams in 1999 and led the NFL in scoring in 2003.
Defense:
DL - Bill Aaron - Mooney (led the SVC in QB sacks, D3 2nd team All-State) - YSU
LB - Jeff Powers - Fitch (D1 1st team All-State) - YSU
LB - Blair Detelich - Ursuline - Kansas St. & YSU
DB - Ramon Amil - Mooney - YSU
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Fitch should have had one more play in the game and that is a fact. Ask any team who played Mooney at YSU back then and see what they have to say about sketchy officiating. You do a great job putting up these all svc teams but that game was the beginning of the end of the svc.
YTOWN
Well-known member
Maybe that's true but if so why did it take Fitch an additional 15 years and 3 head coaches to finally leave the SVC?
I said that Fitch absolutely should have had one more play and Mooney should have also. The point is I would bet my house that you were never told about the last play of the first half because that doesn't fit the narrative. I don't know if Mooney was given preferential treatment at YSU or not. Maybe they were, maybe they were not. I don't know. I have seen them get the benefit of some calls there and I have seen some very questionable calls against them there also. Obviously from your perspective they were always given preferential treatment by the officials. That's your opinion and you are entitled to it.
For most of the last 50 years, very few local teams have been able to consistently beat Mooney. That has to be officiating.
I never said officiating was only reason mooney won. Obviously the best team in the conference by far. I just said going to play at YSU was like playing at Massillon. You had to be 10 points better to win there. They had one crew that did all there games and the 88 season was a perfect example of the shady things the stripes did there. They ran the clock on a incomplete pass and ran off the field.