Submitted photo / Don Mathews Photography The 2024 Ursuline High School football team.

YOUNGSTOWN — Ursuline’s identity in head coach Dan Reardon’s second stint with the Irish has largely been the same in each of his five years with the program.

The Irish have been known for their up-tempo, explosive, high-scoring offensive attack every season. But last year, Ursuline’s identity may have been more prominent on the defensive side of the ball for the first time.

The Irish gave up just 15.0 points per game last season, with Reardon calling it his “best” defensive unit since he returned to Youngstown.

As he enters the sixth year of his second stint at Ursuline, Reardon is hoping the Irish can continue to build on last season’s defensive success, while also maintaining their consistently explosive offense.

“I’m excited defensively. We do have a lot of experience back, but we need to go out and execute,” Reardon said. “Experience doesn’t mean anything if you don’t take care of things on game night.”

The Irish opened last season by holding on for a narrow victory over perennial powerhouse Steubenville, before running rampant through the rest of their schedule, winning every game the rest of the way by at least two touchdowns.

For the first time since 2010, Ursuline finished the regular season undefeated. The Irish would go on to defeat New Philadelphia, Canfield and Villa Angel-St. Joseph in the playoffs before falling to Chardon in the Division III regional final.

Repeating that feat and going undefeated again will prove difficult against this year’s daunting schedule, which includes opening against Walsh Jesuit, Bishop Hartley and Farrell (PA) during the first three weeks, as well as usual foes like Warren G. Harding, Austintown Fitch, Cardinal Mooney and St. Vincent-St. Mary.

However, change is looming on the horizon for the Irish schedule-wise. After five straight Steel Valley Conference championships, Ursuline’s days in the conference are numbered.

This summer, it was announced that Ursuline, along with rival Cardinal Mooney, would join the newly founded Ohio Catholic Athletic Conference, which would begin competition for its inaugural season in 2026.

Youngstown’s two Catholic schools would join up with Walsh Jesuit, Villa Angela-St. Joseph, St. Vincent-St. Mary, Bishop Hartley, Bishop Watterson and St. Francis DeSales and play seven conference games against those schools each season.

“We’re excited about it. If you look at our schedule, it makes sense. Before the conference realignment was talked about and all those things, we were already playing five of the seven other teams in the conference, so it’s not a whole lot different for us. We play a lot of those teams every year anyway,” Reardon said. “I think you have a bunch of like-minded schools, really good academic schools and really good football tradition at every school. I believe every team in the conference has won at least one state championship over the years, so it’s going to be a very competitive conference from an on-field perspective.”

OFFENSE

In the past offensively, Ursuline has primarily leaned on 10 personnel packages with four receivers and one running back.

However, Reardon says this year’s roster will allow the Irish to be more multiple with its personnel packages, meaning that Ursuline could feature more formations and sets with a tight end on the field.

Plus, with more of a running back-by-committee approach this season, Reardon hinted at the inclusion of two- and three-back sets, as well.

With last year’s quarterback Jack Ericson now at Youngstown State and running back Christian Lynch at Princeton, Ursuline will trot out a new backfield this season.

Under center, senior DC Ferrell will make the move from receiver to quarterback this season for the Irish. Ferrell was Ericson’s backup the last two seasons and played quarterback his freshman year when he was at Liberty. As a receiver, he led the team with 56 receptions for 838 yards last season, while hauling in seven touchdowns.

“He’s a kid who is just a really good football player — he can run it, throw it, catch it, play corner, kick returner, punt returner — all those things,” Reardon said. “So it’s going to be fun because he’s going to have the ball in his hands every single play. Anybody who’s come to any of our games over the past couple of years knows what he can do with the ball. It’s going to be interesting to see how people choose to try to defend us with him as that guy because he has that dynamic playmaking ability, and that’s very rare.”

Joining Ferrell in the backfield are the likes of Joe Balog, Kevin Boudrey, John Frangos and Vinny Fecko, who will give Ursuline more depth at running back than it has had in recent years, as the Irish previously leaned on featured backs Lynch and Demarcus McElroy on almost every snap.

When Lynch was hurt in the playoffs last season, Balog filled in admirably against VASJ, running for over 100 yards. He finished with 360 yards and six touchdowns on 67 carries last year, while Boudrey had 109 yards on 25 carries.

“We feel like right now we have four guys who could go in and give us good reps at running back,” Reardon said. “A lot of them are going to be playing defense, (too), so we need to keep their legs fresh so they’re effective on offense. I think it’s going to be a three- or four-headed monster between those guys. We’re excited because we can play all those guys and I don’t think there’s much of a drop off, if any, from one guy to the next.”

Out wide, Ferrell has plenty of talent and returning experience to throw to with both Devonte Taylor and Tairan Davis returning.

Taylor proved to be a deep ball threat last season for the Irish, hauling in 40 receptions for 679 yards and eight touchdowns, while Davis had success over the middle of the field catching short and intermediate passes for 408 yards and four touchdowns.

“Anytime you have returning experience, the expectations are higher for that guy or that position. You expect him to take a step from one year to the next,” Reardon said. “Devonte had a great sophomore year for us, and we expect him to be better this year. Same thing with Tairan He made a bigger mark on defense, but he was very solid for us on offense as well, so we expect his role to increase.”

Jy’Quise Liason, who made a splash on special teams as a return man last year, figures to see his role increase at receiver this year, as well. Amire Brown, Ray Javey and Todd White are also some names who will get an increased number of snaps at receiver.

Up front Phil Bowser and Bryce Crofford are back at tackle to anchor the offensive line. But elsewhere, Ursuline has five or six players in the mix for the three remaining spots on the line.

“(Crofford and Bowser) basically played every meaningful rep in games last year, so it’s nice to have those two guys back,” Reardon said. “We feel like we have enough skill talent to bring those interior guys along. But our tackles have to be really good from day one. … It’ll sort itself out when we get through our scrimmages, but I think there’s good competition there. They’re coming along and we gotta bring them along, but it’s going to be fun to see who rises to the top out of that group.”

DEFENSE

With nine starters returning, Ursuline has plenty back from last year on defense, as the Irish continue to build on their best defensive season under Reardon.

But replacing Division III All-Ohio Co-Defensive Player of the Year Ty’Req Donlow and his production won’t be easy.

Still, Reardon feels like Ursuline has the personnel to do it by committee on the defensive line, and it starts with juniors Israel Davis, AJ Snyder and Karter Rudzik. Snyder and Rudzik each had 86 tackles last season, while Snyder had 15 tackles for loss and six sacks.

“We’re excited about those three coming back,” Reardon said. “I don’t know that you replace Ty’Req Donlow, but between the three of them, we need to replace his production and figure that out.”

At linebacker, Frangos is Ursuline’s leading returning tackler after amassing 119 last season. It’ll be his third season as a starter, and the Irish will need him to take charge of the defensive unit this year with Donlow gone.

Joining Frangos in the second level are Boudrey and Fecko, who each saw considerable playing time last year.

But Ursuline’s most experienced unit might be the secondary, where the Irish have three returning cornerbacks, along with plenty of experience at safety.

Ferrell, Liason and Javey were each part of a three-man rotation at corner last season that played the bulk of the snaps. Ferrell led the team with five interceptions, while Liason had two.

“They all played a ton,” Reardon said. “I call them all starters.”

Then at safety, the Irish will have Davis, Marquaias Patterson and Luke Kollar. Davis is Ursuline’s second leading returning tackler (101), and he also hauled in two interceptions. Kollar finished with three interceptions last season.

“They all need to have a great season for us,” Reardon said.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Like on defense, Ursuline has no shortage of returning talent on special teams.

Both Ferrell and Liason returned kickoffs last season for the Irish, with the duo combining for three kicks returned for touchdowns. Ferrell also returned punts for Ursuline, where he averaged 19.4 yards per return. But with him playing quarterback, the coaches may opt to protect him and take return duties off his plate.

Placekicker Anthony Tabak is also back after going 34-for-37 on PATs and 2-for-2 on field goals last season. But the Irish will have to figure out who will take over punting duties with no one on the returning roster having previously punted before in a varsity game.

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