BEDFORD: The St. Vincent-St. Mary football team experienced euphoria last week on Bedford Stewart Field at Bearcat Stadium.
Friday night, the Fighting Irish had a nightmare there courtesy of five turnovers and an injury to senior starting quarterback Kevin Besser.
The turnovers and Besser’s absence in the second half were too much for St. V-M to overcome in a 30-12 loss to Chagrin Falls in a Division III regional final.
“We made two many mistakes and you can’t beat a team like that making mistakes,” Irish coach Dan Boarman said. “When you have five turnovers against that team you are going to lose.”
Chagrin Falls (13-0) advances to play Youngstown Cardinal Mooney on Friday in a state semifinal at a site to be determined after the Cardinals defeated the Dover Tornadoes 70-44.
St. V-M (10-3) lost three fumbles, threw an interception and botched a kickoff return for another turnover.
Junior running back Jack Campbell paced the Tigers offense with 118 rushing yards and one touchdown on 21 carries.
Besser shined last week in Bedford when St. V-M beat Mentor Lake Catholic 31-14 in a regional semifinal. Friday was a different story. He left the game with 7:53 to go in the second quarter after rushing for 5 yards on a play and getting bent awkwardly as he got tackled by two Tigers defenders.
Junior Clayton Uecker and sophomore Aaron Bushner filled in at quarterback for Besser, but Chagrin Falls’ defense was solid and opportunistic.
“That has been our deal all year long,” Tigers coach Mark Iammarino said. “Our defense has been strong. …. If you are going to advance in the tournament you have to have a standout defense.”
St. V-M led 12-9 at halftime, but Chagrin Falls rallied with 21 unanswered points in the second half.
When asked about what he thought about how the season ended, Irish senior Sae’Von Fitzgerald said: “Heartbroken.”
Irish senior Matt Matuska followed that by saying: “What could have been … ”
Senior Alex Hallwachs gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead with a 21-yard field goal with 6:39 remaining in the first quarter.
Two plays later, Fitzgerald cut to his right and then sprinted 78 yards untouched for a touchdown with 5:51 to go in the first quarter to give the Irish a 7-3 lead.
Hallwachs cut the Tigers’ deficit to 7-6 with a 28-yard field goal as time expired in the first quarter.
The Tigers got the ball back immediately when Hallwachs booted the ensuing kickoff into the wind and Tigers sophomore Michael Munday snagged the ball on the 18-yard after it bounced on the artificial surface and was not covered by the Irish.
Hallwachs converted a 31-yard field goal four plays later to give Chagrin Falls a 9-7 lead with 10:30 to go in the second quarter.
The Irish rallied to take a halftime lead.
Two points came with 4:54 to go in the second quarter when an errant snap over the punter’s head went out of the end zone for a safety. Senior kicker Antonio Manfut added a 27-yard field goal with 31 seconds to go in the half.
Senior running back Kurt Vidmer, Campbell and junior quarterback Tommy Iammarino each rushed for a touchdown in the second half for Chagrin Falls.
Tigers senior linemen Mike Tozzi and Dan O’Kane were disruptive and senior Anthony DeCamillo had an interception and recovered a fumble.
Senior Tyler Bischof had an interception and a fumble recovery for St. V-M. Senior Matt Olszewski forced a fumble and sophomore Aaron Adkins blocked a punt.
Fitzgerald finished with 115 yards on 11 carries.
“We fumbled down on the goal line once when we should have scored,” Boarman said. “We just had a lot of mistakes. That is still the bottom line. Those mistakes came back to haunt us.”
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