Magistro Falls One Game Shy
By JOSH STROPE
During Friday?s Ohio Division IV semifinal game against Youngstown Cardinal Mooney, Bellaire coach John Magistro came to grips with a stern realization ? his coaching career with the Big Reds was coming to an end.
The Cardinals dominated from the outset and turned three Big Reds mistakes into touchdowns as Youngstown Cardinal Mooney cruised to a 49-7 victory against Bellaire at Harding Stadium in Steubenville.
?I was coming to terms with it as the game was progressing,? Magistro said. ?I?m sure it will hurt a lot worse here in a couple of days.?
The bigger, faster Cardinals used plenty of blitzes to frustrate Bellaire senior quarterback Nick Rocchio.
Rocchio had little time to set his feet and throw, and when he did complete a pass, the Bellaire receiver was met with a hit as soon as he touched the ball.
One of those hits led to the game?s first score.
On the first play after Bellaire recovered a Cardinals fumble, Rocchio hit Jayson Keyser across the middle with a 4-yard completion, but Keyser was hit from behind and dropped the ball.
Mooney?s Brandon Beachum scooped it up and dashed 45 yards to score. A fake field goal run by Dom Scarnecchia made the game 8-0 in favor of the Cardinals.
In just a matter of moments, all the wind was knocked out of Bellaire.
On the second play of the ensuing possession, Rocchio tried a shovel pass to Keyser, but the pass was intercepted by Taylor Hill at the 38-yard line and returned to the end zone for a 14-0 lead.
?That really took it away from us,? Magistro said. ?In all honesty, that was just a great team that has a wonderful chance to win the state championship next week.?
Even when Bellaire didn?t turn the ball over, it couldn?t mount any offense. Without the help of kicker Nick Perko, out due to a knee injury, the kicking game suffered.
Rocchio became the designated punter and had his first attempt blocked by Hill at the Bellaire 5. The next play saw Mike Zordich run the ball into the end zone for a three-touchdown lead.
Jamelle Bowers added a 52-yard run on a draw play to extend the Mooney lead to 28-0 before halftime.
After Bellaire forced the Cardinals to a three-and-out on the opening possession of the half, the Big Reds seemed to have new life.
The Big Reds completed a fourth down in their territory and marched down the field in 9-play, 75-yard drive that culminated with a Rocchio touchdown pass to Aaron Crow.
But that was as close at it got as Mooney answered right back as quarterback Dan McCarthy juked two Bellaire defenders and raced down the sideline 66 yards to end the Bellaire comeback hopes.
Zordich returned a Rocchio interception 50 yards and Mike Cylar ran for a 6-yard touchdown on his only carry to complete the scoring.
?I told the kids to take a few days to lick their wounds, but then to be proud of what they accomplished,? Magistro said. ?Everybody counted us out earlier in the year and we showed what our kids are about, our coaching staff was about, and what Bellaire was about.
?Our defense did a good job, but once we gave up that touchdown in the third quarter, things snowballed from there.?
Rocchio, playing with a hip pointer, finished his final Bellaire game with 220 yards passing with a touchdown and four interceptions.
?Nick had a hard time out there, but he sucked it up until he couldn?t do it anymore,? Magistro said.
As for ending his career on lopsided loss, Magistro couldn?t stop glowing about his final team.
?I wanted to end on a good note, and while this hurts, we showed what Bellaire football was all about,? Magistro said. ?We weren?t very big in size, but we played the game like it?s supposed to be played.
?Most of them apologized to me and I told them it was me who should be apologizing to them. That?s what kind of kids they are. They were more worried about winning this game for me and thinking about me.?
After 23 years on the Bellaire sidelines, Magistro ended his Big Reds career with a record of 181-76, was a state runner-up twice (1996, 95), and four-time state semifinalist (2006, 2005, 2003, 1997).
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