FairwoodKing;1384152 wrote:I'm from Steubenville Big Red. I would like to share a story. You won't like it, but you will find it to be interesting. About 15 years ago, Campbell and Big Red signed a two-year contract, home and home. But the two coaches made a gentlemen's agreement to play both games in Steubenville and that Campbell would get a nice paycheck for coming here. The first game was played in Steubenville. Then the Campbell coach was fired. His replacement refused to go along with the tacit agreement and insisted that the second game be played at Campbell. Our coach agreed but with one stipulation. He insisted that we keep all the money for tickets that we sold at our school for the game. The Campbell coach agreed and Big Red played up there that year. The Campbell coach thought that we would bring about 300 fans for a total payout of $1500. Instead we brought 3000. There were only about 2000 people on the Campbell side. We not only won the game but we took home a check for $15,000. It was the biggest payout we ever got for an away game. Campbell hasn't scheduled us since.
I remember those two games. They were in '94 and '95. The first game was at Harding. The second was indeed at Campbell. I remember talking to Big Red fans at the game in Campbell and they were stating that Memorial Stadium was quite similar to Harding and they loved the setting. Little did they know but the stadium was in the process of falling apart. It has since been renovated and is now one of the better stadiums in the Youngstown area, although 7,200 seats is far too many. The late Mickey Soroka was the Campbell coach in 1994, which was his only season as a head coach. Mickey was a long time assistant to Ed Rozum, who had built the Campbell program into a state power in the 1980's and early 1990's. When Rozum resigned following the 1993 season, Soroka took over. Soroka did not get fired. He resigned on his own. Campbell traveled to Steubenville in '94 with several starters injured and/or not permitted to play because of a violation of team rules. What was supposed to be a big game that season was an embarrassment for Campbell and its fans. Big Red won 36-6. Reno called the dogs off at the end of three quarters or it might have been worse. A circus clown of a coach named Mark McCann took over at Campbell in 1995. I recall McCann stating at the gridiron meeting prior to the Big Red game that Campbell had no business playing Steubenville. What a vote of confidence that was for his players. I believe Big Red won that game by a very similar score to '94. While his players ran gassers during practice, McCann would smoke cigarettes while watching them. In my opinion, the biggest reason why Campbell and Big Red do not play each other is because of the two embarrassing losses Campbell suffered in those two years. Big Red's program has flourished. Steubenville plays disciplined and physical football. Campbell did, once upon a time. Campbell's program was a joke for quite some time, although there have been some good strides made in recent years. I am a longtime Campbell fan from way back. And despite the program being on what many consider a pace to being one of the best small public school programs in the Youngstown area, I disagree. The league Campbell is a member of is mediocre. Despite winning or sharing three conference championships in recent years, the Red Devils have not made it past week two of the state playoffs. I believe if Campbell and Big Red had played games in the mid 1980's to early 1990's, there would have been very entertaining and close games between the two schools. Both programs were very similar back in those days. Campbell has quite a bit of work to do if it expects to get on the field with Steubenville in the future. Campbell is a small D-5 school these days. Big Red would not have much to gain by beating Campbell anyway.
