STEUBENVILLE — Reno Saccoccia will be looking to celebrate his 50th year of football coaching by guiding his Big Red to a 22nd-straight winning season and a 20th-consecutive berth in the Ohio playoffs.

“We’re planning on a season, and we’re ready to adjust to whatever they throw at us,” said Saccoccia, who is entering his 38th campaign as Steubenville’s grid boss. “Just like a batter in the box, we’ll sit on the fastball and adjust to the curve. That’s what we’re doing right now.”

With the offseason retirement of Akron Manchester’s Jim France, Saccoccia now stands as Ohio’s winningest active coach. The Hall of Famer has 387 victories. France recorded 401 during his career at Manchester and Akron Coventry.

In 2019, Big Red, which again will compete in Division III, Region 9, finished with a 6-4 mark, suffering a rare opening-round playoff loss to Aurora (27-21).

Saccoccia lost a boatload of talent from that squad, including All-Ohio tailback Tayveon Crawford, a two-time Eastern District player of the year selection. During his senior campaign, Crawford, who joined the football program at Idaho State, ran for 2,088 yards and 28 touchdowns. As a junior, he gained 1,756 yards and scored 18 times.

Also departing were linebacker David Tuttle, a first-team All-Ohioan, cornerback/quarterback Randy Mitchell, a first-team all-district defensive choice and defensive end Niko Kausky, also an Eastern District first teamer.

Mitchell, a three-year starter in the defensive backfield, has moved on to the University of Toledo. Tuttle will wrestle at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, while Kausky will continue his football career at the University of Charleston.

Noah Howarth (Fairmont State University) and Brayden Pearce (Frostburg State University) are other Big Red grads planning to play football at the next level.

“This is a new season with a new bunch of guys,” Saccoccia said. “Last year is over, and I hope we learned from the mistakes we made. I also hope we carry on with the good things we did in 2019.

“Looking back, we did do a lot of good things. Those need to carry over. We all really need to learn from our mistakes. If we do both, it definitely will help us this season.”

Other key contributors departing through graduation were Deombre Anderson, Luke Zorne, Stone Biacco (who led Big Red in receptions), JoJo Brown, Kaisean Wilson, Keith Bodnar, Ryan Burger, Emmanuel Ware and Johnny Nodianos.

Saccoccia entered two-a-days with 54 players (15 are seniors) on his roster. Roughly 20 earned letters a season ago, and several starters return on both sides of the ball.

“We have a lot of young players, but with youth comes enthusiasm,” Saccoccia said. “Even some of our seniors have very little playing time. Enthusiasm covers a lot of mistakes. And remember, nothing great was ever done without enthusiasm.”

Among the top returnees up front is senior center Eli Burgey, who was a first-team All-Eastern District choice as a junior and a third-team All-Ohioan.

“He took excellent care of the football,” Saccoccia said of Burgey. “He had a 91 percent blocking grade against some outstanding defenses. He recorded 47 pins and was an outstanding pass blocker for us.”

Seniors Caesen Sutton and Cian Montgomery also started in the offensive trenches a season ago. Juniors J.D. Ellis and Greg Mamula, along with sophomore Kellen Marshall, are candidates to back up Burgey.

Others looking for playing time on the offensive line are senior Raleem Brooks, juniors Peyton Tuttle, Davian Bulsar, Gaige Yelich, Jaylin Harris, Chad Gardner, Jaylin Gary and Blaze Wile, along with sophomores Camden Daley, David Thorn and Bryce Huff.

“We have 10 kids working at the varsity level right now, and the rest are vying for time on the reserves,” Saccoccia said. “Of the 10 we’re looking at, we need to find eight who can give us quality playing time.”

In his only season as Big Red’s starting quarterback, Mitchell threw for 1,100 yards and 12 touchdowns. Three players are in the mix to replace him.

The signal-caller candidates are senior Cade Kernahan, as well as sophomores Zach Smith and Phaeton Hill. Kernahan was pushing for playing time in 2019 but broke his left arm in the final preseason scrimmage.

“Those three guys all are working hard and looking to improve during each and every practice,” Saccoccia said.

Junior Rodney James has the most playing time of any of the Big Red tailback candidates. He rushed for 221 yards in 2019 and scored three times.

Players pushing for time at fullback are senior Kyjhoun Hopkins, junior Aizek Demitras, senior Isaiah McCartney, sophomore William Wade, senior Nathanial King and sophomore Dorian Thorn.

Tight end possibilities are senior Aaron Ferguson, junior Kye Fleming, sophomore Cooper Blackburn, junior Brandon Kinney, junior Caden Montgomery and senior Gaige Francis.

A host of players are working to earn time at receiver. In the mix are senior Nasari Jackson, junior Niko Suriano, junior Brenten Jones, senior Andrew Gresko, sophomore Hakim Edwards, sophomore Ivan Buggs, sophomore Ty Pierce, senior Jared Roberts, sophomore Gavin Bozica, sophomore Micah Mitchell and junior Andrew Snyder.

Listed as potential kickers are senior Mike Rook and sophomore Austyn Roberts.

“Offensively, our biggest challenge right now is to develop depth,” Saccoccia said. “That’s definitely our No. 1 goal during summer camp. We need depth at just about every position.”

McCartney, who started at defensive end in 2019, will move to the nose guard spot this season.

Vying for action along the defensive front are Ostovich, Fleming, Dorian Thorn, Sutton, Cian Montgomery, Harris, Brooks, Mamula, Marshall and Huff.

Kinney was a regular at linebacker in 2019. Looking to join him there are Hopkins, James, McShan, Bozica, Harris, senior Hunter Stoddard, Caden Montgomery and Wade.

Jackson returns to the Big Red secondary, as does Ferguson. Others looking for action there are Suriano, Jones, Gresko, Edwards, Smith, Buggs, Pierce, Sims, Boffman, J. Roberts, McShay, Mitchell, Snyder and junior Chris Schiappa.

“We’ll use the same scheme defensively,” Saccoccia said.

“We have six starters back when you add in Jackson, who was hurt most of last year. Defensively, we feel like we can pick it up a notch this year.”

The tradition-laden Big Red, which owns four state championships, five runner-ups and 18 regional championships since 1984, is scheduled to open its season Aug. 28 at Cardinal Mooney.

Saccoccia has made one change to his varsity coaching staff, as Brenton Colabella moved up from the junior-high level. The rest of the veteran staff includes Matt DeAngelis, Gus DiMarzio, Dan Filtz, Jason Kernahan, Todd Filtz, Anthony Pompa, Ian Whittington, Jo Jo Saccoccia, John Arlesic and Anthony Saccoccia.