Week 4- Warren G. Harding (1-2) @ Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (0-3)

While Warren G. Harding is coming off their second loss in their first three games, their offense may have found the “green light” that they’ve been looking for.  

With 2:41 remaining in the fourth quarter, junior quarterback James Jones threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to senior Julius Ferrell against a stout Massillon Perry defense.  Then, with 1:08 remaining in regulation from their own 21-yard line, Jones threw a dart across the middle to senior Khi Blutcher.  After catching it at the Raiders’ 42-yard line, Blutcher cut to the outside and raced the final 58 yards for a 79-yard touchdown.  To date, it’s the longest score in the tenure of current Harding head coach Matt Richardson.

Harding quarterback James Jones with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Julius Ferrell against Massillon Perry.

Ultimately, Perry ended up leaving Mollenkopf Stadium with a 25-15 victory.  However, the Raiders’ offensive explosion over the course of the final moments of the contest proved that they’re capable of hitting home runs at any given time.  The much-needed confidence booster may prove to be vital for the locker room, who still have a stew of tough matchups ahead.

Warren G. Harding senior Ellis Daniels blocks a field goal in the fourth quarter against Massillon Perry.

Through three games, Jones is 27-of-49 for 335 yards while throwing three touchdowns and just one interception and again, about ⅓ of that yardage was covered in just two plays this past Friday night.  His favorite target has been Ferrell, who has hauled in 11 catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns.  Moving forward, it’s safe to assume that we can expect a bigger workload for Blutcher, who now has 100 receiving yards and one touchdown on just three catches.  

Jones with a career-long 79-yard touchdown pass to senior Khi Blutcher against Massillon Perry.

Meanwhile, Harding’s efforts on special teams have been solid as junior kicker Jaron Edmonds is 5-for-5 on his field goal attempts while nine of his fourteen kickoffs have gone for touchbacks.

Harding kicker Jaron Edmonds with his ninth touchback of the season against Massillon Perry.

As far as athletics go, you’d be hard pressed to find a more successful school than Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.  Of course, it’s nationally known for being the alma mater of LeBron James, who led them to state titles in boys basketball in 2000, 2001, and 2003.  That said, not only do the Fighting Irish have an additional eight state titles on the hardwood (1929, 1984, 2009, 2011, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022), but they have 23 more state crowns in other sports.  

Long before becoming (arguably) one of the greatest players in NBA history, LeBron James was also a star on the gridiron for St. Vincent-St. Mary. While he was widely considered a very highly ranked football prospect for the class of 2003, he opted to just focus on basketball after his junior season (2001).

In fact, not only is their football program responsible for six of those state championships (1972, 1981, 1982, 1988, 2012, 2013), but they’ve also produced six athletes who eventually made it to the NFL.  The latter is a box that’s checked by current Fighting Irish head football coach Doran Grant, who spent time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills, New York Giants, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Chicago Bears during his four-year stint in the NFL.

Then-Chicago Bear Doran Grant is congratulated by his teammates after intercepting a Lamar Jackson pass during the 2018 Hall of Fame game. Today, he's the head football coach of St. Vincent-St. Mary, where he graduated from in 2011.

Due to St. Vincent-St. Mary’s lengthy history of success on the gridiron, their program is now forced to play a grueling schedule as to date, their first three opponents have a combined record of 8-1.  As a result, the young Fighting Irish squad is now 0-3 as they’ve been outscored 127 to 0.  Their program is looking for answers against a slate that leaves no margin for error, but they do have a promising sophomore quarterback in Will Adamson and word is that their freshmen team is looking good.   While that bodes well for their future, their varsity squad is forced to figure it out against a slate that would give the majority of the teams in the entire state problems.

St. Vincent-St. Mary is led under center by sophomore quarterback Will Adamson.

However, at any given moment, that “light bulb” can light up for the Fighting Irish the way that it did for Harding late in the matchup with Perry.  In other words, we have yet to see the best that St. Vincent-St. Mary can offer, so it’s a bit early to judge them because of the growing pains that even a traditionally successful program like theirs can go through.