BY RAY SCHAEFER
Enquirer contributor
Beechwood senior running backs Justin O'Brien and Noah Schachter and Dayton senior running back Charlie Young were friends and opponents as grade-schoolers.
They'll meet one last time tonight. The Greendevils and two-time defending state champion Beechwood decide the Class A, Region 3 title at 7:30 p.m. at Beechwood's Edgar McNabb Field.
"They've improved a lot since the last time we played them," Schachter said of the Greendevils. "(But) there's no doubt in my mind if we do what we should do, we should come out winners."
Said Dayton coach Dan Ridder: "We've got a major task."
When Beechwood won the 1991 state title, the first of six in the last seven years, Young and O'Brien were fifth-grade classmates in Dayton before O'Brien left for Beechwood in sixth grade. Young and Schachter were youth football foes, Young with the Greendevils and Schachter with the Fort Mitchell Spartans.
The three have comparable statistics in 1998.
The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Young is the leader - 142 carries for 1,108 yards, 15 touchdowns and a 7.8-yard average per carry. Schachter is next with 141 carries for 904 yards and 13 TDs and a 6.4-yard average, and O'Brien has 143 carries for 865 yards with 16 TDs and a 6.0 average per carry.
"A reporter asked me if I thought I would get a 1,000-yard season," Young said. "I said if my line keeps blocking the way it was, I would be able to get it."
Beechwood coach Mike Yeagle said it's not a big deal that Schachter and O'Brien don't have 1,000 yards, but he knew they both were going to be good running backs.
"It was just a matter of time, getting enough carries under their belt," Yeagle said. "They're starting to complement each other. They're completely different kids. I think they've both have figured it out that they need each other and that they feed off each other."
The Tigers have benefited as a result. An example was Beechwood's 24-21 overtime victory Sept. 19 at Covington Catholic.
Schachter's 4-yard pass for from senior quarterback Derek Estep gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead six minutes into the game, and his runs of 5 and 7 yards tied the score at 21-21. O'Brien carried 15 times for 91 yards with a broken thumb.
The 6-1, 211-pound Schachter is the more enthusiastic of the two. He said it's a family trait.
"I don't know, I think I get it from my mom," Schachter said. "She's the wild one of the crowd."
The 6-1, 214-pound O'Brien is quieter. He prefers to talk about how he improved his blocking by using his hips, and it's fine with him that senior receiver Jordan Jobe has assumed stardom with his 1,157 yards receiving and 15 TDs.
"I've haven't really been one to say much in the games," O'Brien said. "I just do what I have to do and get back to the huddle."
Young has especially been a force the last three weeks. His 86 yards and two TDs helped Dayton to a 23-15 victory over Bellevue to get into the playoffs. He followed that with 228 yards and three scores in a 27-8 win our Bath County in the first round and one more TD in last week's 31-6 win over Bellevue.
"We needed those games to make the playoffs and to get where we are," Young said.
Schachter and O'Brien helped Beechwood to a 48-0 beating of Dayton Sept. 25. The Tigers gained 240 yards on the ground, led by Schachter's 16 carries for 76 yards and a touchdown and O'Brien's 11 carries for 65 and a TD.
For Young, who didn't play against Beechwood that night, tonight is the last chance to give Dayton its first victory over the Tigers and erase Beechwood's 37-game winning streak. He might be thinking about the 1996 regional finals, when he stood on the sidelines and watched Beechwood escape with a 23-20 win when Dayton missed on a potential 5-yard TD pass with a minute to go in the game.
"They'll be a tough team," Young said.
