Photo by Nick Henthorn St. Clairsville’s Dino Burk breaks the plane into the end zone for a touchdown Friday against the Norwayne Bobcats.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Taking to Red Devil Stadium on Friday for the first game of their fresh new season, the St. Clairsville Red Devils showed little nervousness at the start of their opening outing against the Norwayne Bobcats from Creston, Ohio.

St. Clairsville dominated the ball and shut out the Bobcats going into halftime ahead 14-0. But things got interesting in the second half.

“We were a tale of two teams,” St. Clairsville head coach Brett McLean said after the game. “Our third quarter, I’d like to forget. They took control and they’re a good team. They came out in the second half and were firing like we were in the first quarter.”

The Bobcats scored 21 points in the third quarter and took a 21-14 lead into the fourth, but after taking Norwayne’s counter-assault, St. Clairsville weathered the storm and made big plays down the stretch to secure a 28-21 week one victory.

“That’s what you’ve got to expect against a really good opponent and a quality coaching staff,” McLean said of Norwayne. “I’m really proud of the character our kids showed.”

All-State senior tailback Dino Burk was a workhorse for the Red Devils in their opener, rushing 26 times for 141 yards and a pair of touchdowns, both in the first half as St. Clairsville saw their star rusher score from five and 18-yards out in the first and second quarter, respectively.

“We had a great start,” McLean said.

Time of possession favored St. Clairsville heavily in the first half, and the Red Devils went into halftime having run 34 plays on offense, as opposed to Norwayne’s 15.

The game script was flipped from the first drive of the second half though, as Norwayne’s Logan Hackworth ripped off a 20-yard run and Mason Moyer followed with a 22-yard rush out of the gate. The chunk plays were capped by a 17-yard touchdown run on a read option by Bobcat quarterback Dylan Smith. The lightning-fast drive had Norwayne on the board with 10:30 to play in the third.

Reeling from the blink-and-you’d-miss-it blitz, St. Clairsville went out for the kickoff return- and were entreated to a surprise onside kick by the Bobcats. Senior placekicker Parker Metsker booted it straightway and fell on it himself for the recovery.

Smith found Hackworth for a streak down the middle of the field, a 37-yard game-tying touchdown reception with 10 minutes to go in the third.

Norwayne took the lead with 5:30 to play in the quarter, Moyer grabbing a pass in the flats before turning upfield for an eventual 38-yard score.

Penalties were a problem for St. Clairsville all night, the Red Devils being sent back 60 yards over the course of Friday’s game, and more importantly, two touchdowns being wiped away by flags.

A 25-yard touchdown catch on fourth and 10 in the first quarter was called back because of an illegal shift, and in the third, a 52-yard touchdown sprint by Burk came back for a holding call.

“We had a few self-induced errors, we had other opportunities to put points on the board in the second half, we’ve got to clean that up,” McLean said. “But that’s great news, because you can clean those things up.

By the fourth quarter, there were frequent injury stoppages from both sides with players cramping, including Burk, who was limited by multiple stops on the sideline. St. Clairsville senior Gavin Schoolcraft came through in the fourth quarter with two touchdown runs, the first of which a 10-yard gash with just over a minute gone in the fourth quarter. The touchdown tied things up 21-21.

He was not the only Red Devil to rise to the occasion in the game’s final frame.

After Schoolcraft’s score, St. Clairsville’s defense forced a punt in short order, and Ollie Muhly scampered down the sideline 20+ yards on the punt return all the way to Norwayne’s 43.

The Red Devils made their way down the red zone and were eventually faced with a fourth and four at the Bobcat 17. Quarterback Brady Schafer took the shotgun snap and maneuvered to his right. A Norwayned defender got his hands on Schafer, who desperately threw across his body downfield to receiver Gage Wolfe, who was shoulder-to-shoulder with a Bobcat DB. The 5-foot-6 Wolfe leapt up and came down with the jump ball- despite a size discrepancy- for a nine-yard, chain-moving catch, the biggest play of the game to that point.

“We want to see the ball spread around, and kids made plays when they got their opportunities,” McLean said. “That was a huge return from Ollie to set up that drive. Then oh my gosh, Gage coming down with that jump ball, one-on-one, it was a 50-50 job and he won. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be 1-0 and I’m excited to be moving on.”

Schoolcraft finished off the drive with a four-yard touchdown dive, 5:13 showing on the clock.

Schoolcraft finished with 44 rushing yards on seven attempts.

St. Clairsville’s defense got two more stops the rest of the way. Brody Saunders came up big in the first of the two defensive stands, recording a tackle-for-loss and sack on back-to-back plays.

Schafer finished 8-18 for 87 yards through the air and an interception. His statline was affected by a trio of drops in the first quarter. His top target was Tyson Pastor, who had three catches for 48 yards.

“It was a miserable, sticky-hot night down here the whole game, both teams had everybody cramping up,” McLean said. “These kids lay it on the line for our entertainment and I love my kids man, they just kept battling. We got some kids time tonight who we probably otherwise didn’t expect to, and that can only pay off in the future. Just real excited to be 1-0 to start the season. We’ll find out- you can get better from week one to week two, or you can get worse. We have to make a decision on how we want to practice and work this week.”