From The Portsmouth Community Common, Wednesday 8 Nov 2000, pg. 5B
"Notre Dame Moves On
"By Richard Bussa, The Community Common
"Portsmouth Notre Dame's next opponent will be Toronto in the Division VI Regional Football Semifinals to be played at Pickerington's Tiger Stadium with kickoff beginning at 7:30 Friday, November 10.
"The Titans earned its spot in Lancaster [??] by a total-team effort from both the offensive and defensive team.
"Add to that, Scott Chatfield, having the best game of his career, then include Notre Dame's defense taking the ball away from Leetonia on each important drive of the night.
"Leetonia committed two interceptions and had one fumble.
"Once occurred on the 10-yard line of the Titans after a 59-yard run by Leetonia's Luke Stouffer. Taylor Newman caught him at the ten, not only making the tackle[], but causing a fumble which Newman recovered.
"Add all that together and you have a 21-0 victory for the Notre Dame Titans, and an 11-0 perfect season through regional quarterfinals.
"'Scott did a great job for us in all phases of the ball game, I can't say enough about him. We (coaches) were talking on the sidelines that if he is not the MVP and winner of a game ball, something is wrong,' Titan coach Bob Ashley said.
"Leetonia was a big and talented ball team. Its star was senior fullback, six-foot-one-inch, 220 pound fullback, Scott Kyser. In nine games this season, Kyser had gained 1201 yards.
"'We couldn't just sit there and take on what they had to bring. We felt like we had to mix things up,' Ashley said.
"Mix things up they did as they held the big fullback to only 15 carries and 58-yards. He caught two passes but both totaled six-yards in losses.
"Chatfield was fantastic. He had two sacks, made tackles all evening and at least two of those tackles were drive ending, forcing Leetonia to punt.
"Offensively, Chatfield had 38-yard[s] in receptions and ran the ball for 34-yards. Taylor Newman rushed for 46-yards and Andrew Graf for 51-yards.
"On a punt return, Chatfield came downfield and completely wiped-out the punt returner. Only problem was Chatfield was about two-seconds early, not giving the receiver time to catch the punt. But the hit caused each receiver to call for a fair-catch, the balance of the evening.
"Quarterback Nick Rutman threw seven times and completed five for 73-yards.
"Touchdowns were scored by Taylor Newman on a five-yard run in the first quarter. With 7:06 remaining, Rutman threw a perfectly thrown pass to Brett Pierron. Pierron went high in the air and brought it down in the end zone to put the Titans (11-0) up 13-0.
"Graf scored the final touchdown on a two-yard plunge close to the 12 minute mark remaining.
"The Toronto Red Knights [10-1] have been in the state tournament four times and have won one and lost three. This is the Knights['] second appearance in two years.
"Ashley said you win championships with defense and they were well prepared defensively, giving credit to his assistant coaches.
"'Bubba Webb and Dan Schmidt did a nice job adjusting at half-time. We were concerned about it, but we knew if we could stop the big fullback, we had a chance,' Ashley said. 'We were out manned by about 40-to-60 pounds per man, it was a team effort.'"
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