National Game of the Week: St. Xavier hopes to turn off the lights on No. 18 Colerain

Video: Deshaunte Jones' highlights vs. Oak Hills High

St. Xavier (Cincinnati) football coach Steve Specht said there's only one way to slow Colerain (Cincinnati) quarterback Deshaunte Jones.

Pull the plug out.

"He's electrifying," Specht said. "He's absolutely electrifying. I mean, he's really special. We need to find a way to contain him because you can't shut him down."

Specht spoke with a noticeable fervor when talking about Jones, a 5-foot-10, 170-pounder who likely won't be playing quarterback in college. It wasn't so much that his Bombers (7-4) are up against Jones in a Division I playoff game. It's that they are playing against 18th-ranked Colerain (10-1) and his old coaching comrade Tom Bolden.

The two were on the same staff for USA Football in 2012 and they've been facing off since 2007 in one of Ohio's best rivalry games.

Saturday night will be the 16th meeting overall between these teams in the last 15 years and their eighth postseason collision. St. Xavier has a 9-6 advantage in those games and an even more impressive 5-2 edge in playoff meetings.

The Cardinals and Bombers have ended each other's season four of the last five years.

Saturday's game is even more special to the coaches because their sons are in the fray. Senior defensive back Hayden Specht and sophomore running back Cameron Specht sport the St. X blue and white, while Kyle Bolden, a starting junior linebacker, wears the Cardinals' red and white. Coach Bolden's nephew Dan Bolden (6-1, 218) is a promising sophomore linebacker.

"We have a neat and unique friendship," Specht said of Bolden. "We hate each other for two-and-a-half hours a couple Fridays out of the year, otherwise we're great friends. It's a great, healthy rivalry. We fight our tails off during the game, but then shake hands after. There's a lot of respect there."

It's unique too, Specht said, because it's a private versus public matchup.

The St. Xavier coach said he can barely schedule a game against public school teams around Cincinnati. That's a big reason why the Bombers have had to travel so much. This season alone they've traveled to Kentucky twice, Indianapolis once and made the 250-mile trek to Cleveland to face St. Ignatius.

"Colerain is one of the few public schools that will play us," Specht said. "It's adds a little luster to the game. We think it's great for high school football and the local community. Besides the game itself, there's a lot of money to be made at the gate."

More than 10,000 fans are expected for Saturday's game at Mason High School. About that many attended Colerain's 13-10 overtime home win over St. Xavier in Week 2. Missed field goals at the end of regulation and overtime did in St. X, which lost in double overtime to Elder and a 24-17 game to Warren Central (Indianapolis).

Specht said the earlier defeat to Colerain should fuel the Bombers. He made his team feel the narrow loss in Week 2, knowing the two teams could face off again.

"I told them to watch all their celebration," Specht said. "I wanted it to sink in. It was good for their growth. We played well that game. It was a great game overall. But it was a long time ago. We're each different teams."

Even though Specht has four-star Penn State-bound junior quarterback Sean Clifford in his backfield, the Bombers plan to run the ball first and foremost. They have a number of strong running threats in Sean Prophit, Quinn Earley and Clifford.

"The strength of our team is our offensive line and we're going to hang our hat on that," Specht said. "We want to run that clock and keep DeShaunte off the field."

And the electric show to a minimum.