8B THE DAILY STANDARD, Celina, Ohio GOAL LINE€¦ · THE DAILY STANDARD, Celina, Ohio 7B Thursday...

CM YK

By GARY R. RASBERRYgrasberry@dailystandard.com

As well as Coldwater’s ChipOttenandCantonCentralCatho-lic’sJeffLindesmithhaveknowneachotherthelast twoyears, itwouldn’t be much of a surpriseto see Christmas cards beingexchanged. Forthethirdstraightseason,theCavaliersandCrusaderswillmeet for the Division V statefootball title when the teamstaketotheturfofOhioStadiumonSaturdaynightat8p.m. The first two meetings havebeen all Coldwater by a mar-ginof97-39,althoughlastyear’s35-18Coldwatervictorywasverycompetitive. “First thing I always noticeaboutColdwaterandwhatwetryto take from (watching them) istheireffortandexecution,”Lin-desmith said. “They don’t beatthemselves and play with greateffort.” Ottenis impressedwithCan-tonCentralCatholic. “Whatyousee isa teamthathasplayedalotofgoodteams,”Otten said. “It concerns youwhen theybeata teamthat’s inthe Division II state final (Mas-sillonPerry).”

The spark for the Crusaderson offense is Jack Murphy, whoplayed receiver in last season’stitle game but moved to quar-terback this season. Murphyhas thrown for 1,820 yards and16 touchdowns this season andleadstheteamwith644rushingyardsandseventouchdowns. “Jackwasalwaysinthemoldtobeournextquarterback,”Lin-desmithsaid.“Hewasspeedingthegameupearlierintheyear.

...Thelasttwogames,he’sslowedthegamedownandmadebetterdecisions.Hehasagraspofwhatopposing defenses are doing tous.” Five different receivers havetallied 246 or more yards thisseason. Tee Rupp leads theCrusaders with 629 yards on 37receptions and six touchdowns.BradyThompsonadds27catches

8B THE DAILY STANDARD, Celina, OhioThursday evening, December 1, 2016

GOAL LINE

Top-ranked Marion Local will line up against second-ranked Cuyahoga Heights in Columbus on Friday morning at 10 a.m. in the Division VI state title game.

Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

No. 1 Flyers battle No. 2 Redskins for titleBy COLIN FOSTER

cfoster@dailystandard.com

A program seeking its first statechampionship (Cuyahoga Heights)against a program in search of itsninthall-time(MarionLocal)—andsome redemption after a tough losstoKirtlandinthestatetitlegame. ThetoptwoteamsinDivisionVIthisseason—No.1MarionandNo.2CuyahogaHeights—willsaytopofthemorningtoeachotheronFridayat 10 a.m. in state title game at the‘Shoe. Through four playoff games, theRedskins have outscored the oppo-sition 105-21 and the Flyers 118-29,setting up what should be an excit-ingmatchupbetweentwoteamsthathavebeenhead-and-shouldersabovetherestinDivisionVI. Cuyahoga Heights has been suc-cessfulovertheyearsintheplayoffsbut it has never advanced to thestate titlegame.Alwaysstandinginthe way of the Redskins were thetraditionalpowersoftheNortheast,KirtlandandMogadore. Now standing in their way is aMarion Local program that has

reachedthestatetitlegamesixcon-secutiveyears. Whathappened in thepast,how-ever,isn’taconcernfortheRedskinsandcoachAlMartin. “It’s easy to get caught up in thehistory,tobealittleconcernedaboutwhattheresultsaregoingtobe,”saidMartin,“butatthesametime,whenwe played Kirtland, they had beeninthestatetitlegameforfiveyearsin a row. Newark Catholic has anincredible tradition. I think they’vewon eight state titles. I think know-ingthosetwothingsishelpfulforourkidstounderstandthatitreallywillcome down to what team plays bet-ter on Friday morning, rather thanwhat’sbeendoneinthepast.” The unbeaten Redskins ousteddefending state champion Kirtlandtwoweeksagowitha17-0victoryintheRegion21final.Lastweek,seniorBrett Lowther put the Redskins onthe scoreboard twice early with an11-yardtouchdownpasstoMattHar-risonthefirstdriveandthenaone-yardkeeperinthesecondquarter.A39-yardpick-6byLucasD’OrazioonNewark Catholic’s follow-up posses-sion gave Cuyahoga Heights a 20-0

lead and it never looked back in a30-14win. Lowther, a dual-threat quarter-back, has been in that position forthebetterpartofthreeseasons.He’shadsomebiggames,too,includingathree-TDperformanceinawinoverKirtlandduringtheregularseason,which ended the Hornets’ 51-gamewin streak in the Chagrin ValleyConference. D’Orazio is the team’sgo-torunningbackandDylanDrum-mondtheplay-makeratreceiver. “We’ve played flex-bone teamsin the past,” Marion Local coachTimGoodwinsaid.“Covingtonranitreallywellacoupleyearsagoandinyears past. But we don’t recall everseeing a base-option team that candosomanythingsanddothemwell.Iwaswatchingtheoffensiveline,andusuallyifyou’reveerblocking,man,you’vegotyourweightgoingforwardand you’re just ripping people allgame long. Those kids don’t typi-cally pass block very well, but theydo such a good job of pass block-ingandeverything.They’rejustveryfundamental.

Dylan Thobe will look to help Coldwater defeat Canton Central Catholic for the Division V state title for the third straight season.

Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard

Cavaliers, Crusaders meet once again

Minster, JFK face off for goldBy COLIN FOSTER

cfoster@dailystandard.com

Minster hasn’t always beenthe most talented squad everytime its stepped onto thegridiron. However, theWildcats—andthis may be cliche to say butthere’s truth behind it — havedisplayedaheartofachampioneversinceearlyOctober. On Saturday at 10 a.m., thatgroup gets to play for the Divi-sion VII state championshipwhentheymeetWarrenJohnF.KennedyinColumbus. Minster (10-4) is going forits second state title in threeyears against a JFK team thatwas ranked fourth in the finalAssociatedPressstatepoll.Overthelasttwoweeks,theWildcatshaveknockedoffdefendingstatechampion Fort Recovery (35-33)and third-ranked McComb (27-23)toextendtheirwinstreaktoeightgames. “We haven’t seen anybodythatplaysthegamethewaytheydo fundamentally,” JFK coachJeffBayuksaid.“I thinkmaybeMogadore might be the closestteamthatwehaveplayed.(Min-ster) resembles them in a lot ofways,but inotherways, they’resomuchbetter.” Bayuk’s Eagles (13-1) havebeen the real deal this season—outscoringopponentsonaver-age32-6. Points could come at a pre-mium against a Warren JFKdefense that has held 13 of its14opponentsto14pointsorless

andacombined23pointsinfourplayoffgames. The most impressive perfor-mancebythatdefensecamelastweek when it did what no oth-er team had done this season:shut down Harvest Prep DanielBangura — who entered withOhio single-rushing and scor-

ingrecordswith4,061yards(312ypg.) and 56 touchdowns. Ban-gurawaslimitedto84yardson24 carries and one touchdown,andaHarvestPrepoffensethatwas scoring 45 points per gamewas limited to just seven in a

Minster’s Alex Lehmkuhl, 8, reacts after an interception during last week’s game with McComb. Bryce Schmiesing comes in to celebrate.

Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

See MINSTER, page 7BSee COLDWATER, page 7B

See MARION, page 7B

THEDAILYSTANDARD,Celina,Ohio 7BThursday evening, December 1, 2016

Players of the WeekOFFENSE DEFENSE

Nate Moeller, RBMarion Local

———215 rushing yards, 100 receiving yards, 3 TDs in last week’s win

over Patrick Henry.

Alex Lehmkuhl, DB Minster

———10 tackles, one interception in Minster’s win over McComb.

48-7 loss. “We have a lot of respect for his (Ban-gura’s) ability to run the ball, but it seemed as though he did most of his damage when he got out in the open and there was some grass for him to make his moves and use his illusiveness,” Bayuk said. “Our plan was just to try to get him before he got going. We wanted to try to smother him at the line of scrimmage and continue to push the line of scrimmage in our favor.” The stars of the show offensively for the Eagles last week were quarterback Gregory Valent (three rushing TDs, one passing) and RB Evan Boyd (103 yards). JFK’s lone loss was to Division V Villa Angela-St. Joseph, 14-10, on Oct. 22. During the playoff run, the Eagles defeated Toronto (38-0), last year’s state finalist Mogadore (16-3) and Norwalk St. Paul (48-13) before last week’s win over Harvest Prep. “They’re as good as we’ve seen,” Minster coach Geron Stokes said. “I love the way they play. Their kids are fast and aggressive. They fly to the football. They go out and make plays. You’re in the state finals, man. You have to do everything — you have to play a complete game of football. You have to be sharp fundamentally. Your effort is going to have to be on another level. “You can’t have a weak spot Saturday morning or you’ll get exposed. Our kids are jacked up about that opportunity. That’s where you want to be. It’s why you do the work that you do to play teams on this level. We’re excited as heck.” Last week, Wildcat quarterback Jared

Huelsman capped a game-winning, 84-yard touchdown drive with a three-yard TD run late in the fourth quarter, and Alex Lehm-kuhl had a late interception to lift them past McComb, 27-23. Minster improved to 5-0 this season in games decided by five points or fewer. The Eagles are far from Midwest Athletic Conference country — 237 miles separate the high schools of JFK and Minster. The Eagles,

however, have experienced a state title game with a MAC team once before. They met St. Henry in the 2006 Division V title game and were handed a 28-7 loss. JFK is 1-3 all-time in state title games, its lone victory coming in 1991 over Springfield Central Catholic. Minster is 2-0 all-time in state title games. Two years ago, the Wildcats left the ‘Shoe with gold after defeating Kirtland 46-42.

(Continued from page 8B)

Minster

for 358 yards and three scores and Jaret Cummins has 296 yards and four scores. “The offense is similar (to Coldwater’s). They do some things with what we call Fly that others call the jet sweep,” Otten said. “What it does is when the jet sweep goes by, you have to ask who has the ball. Did the quar-terback have (the ball)? Did he give it to someone else? Is there a play-action pass off of it? You get a lot of different looks off the jet sweep. That’s what they do very well.” The most potent threat to score for the Crusaders is kicker Dan Mills. The senior is 40-of-41 on point-after attempts and 11-of-15 on field goals this season for 73 kicking points. His longest field goal of the season is 47 yards. “He has unlimited range. He’s made 58- and 59-yarders in prac-tice,” Lindesmith said. “If we can get inside the 40, we feel confident kicking (for) three.” CCC defends the pass well, recording 19 interceptions as a team. Rupp has eight picks and Luke Ezzo has six interceptions. “The thing that stands out the most is the physicalness of their defense,” Otten said. “Just getting off the ball and making tackles, they’re physical. That’s a good challenge for us. We play like we’re physical and big, but we’re not very stout, but we’ve done that for years.” Lindesmith respects the Cold-water defense, which features three players with 119 or more tackles this season and four more (three of whom are active after Patrick Klosterman was

lost for the season in the CHCA game with a broken ankle) with 91 or more tackles. The defen-sive end, the Division V district Defensive Player of the year, leads the team with 137 tack-les and 14 sacks. The Cavaliers have combined for 35 sacks this season. “I’ve been impressed with their second-level tackling. Their linebackers tackle with great speed and the secondary don’t miss tackles,” Lindesmith said. “They don’t give up big plays.” After seeing what Brody Hoy-ing (236 rushing yards, four total touchdowns) and Jack Hemmel-garn (287 yards passing, two touchdowns) have done against them the past two state finals, the Crusaders get a look at a third Coldwater quarterback in Dylan Thobe. The senior has thrown for 2,359 yards and 21 touchdowns and is closing in on 1,000-rushing yards with 967 yards and 18 touchdowns. Add in Neal Muhlenkamp (1,351 total yards of offense and 13 touchdowns), Brad Giere (389 rushing yards, six touchdowns) and tight end Zach Klosterman (878 receiving yards, eight touch-downs) and the Cavaliers remain potent in all aspects of the game. “They’re so sound,” Lin-desmith said of the Cavalier offense. “This year, they add-ed a few wrinkles with the jet sweep. I don’t know if coach Otten listened to me at the (state coaches’) clinic last season, but I remember talking to Chip about some things. They are so sound, so well-coached. Kids expect to play well.” One area that might be to CCC’s favor was a Week 10 bye

week due to a cancellation that allowed the Crusaders a week to rest up before starting the postseason. “I think that helped us. It’s a different aspect when you ask your kids for a 10-week commit-

ment and didn’t have the oppor-tunity,” Lindesmith said. “Luck-ily we were already set for the playoffs. It was an advantage health-wise. Routine-wise, it was a bit different.”

(Continued from page 8B)

Coldwater

“Their quarterback really makes them go,” he continued. “I mean, they’ve got some great kids at fullback and receiver, but that quarterback is the key.” The offense of the Redskins has scored 30 points or more in 11 games while the defense has limited opponents to single digits nine times. They will be the third straight unbeaten team Marion Local has faced — but the Flyer defense shut down the previous two. “We’re going to have to run the ball a little bit and we’re going to have to find a way to pass protect against all their pressure,” Martin said. Marion enters fresh off victo-ries over fifth-ranked Mechan-icsburg (26-15) and third-ranked Patrick Henry (36-7). Quarterback Duane Leugers, wide receiver Ryan Thobe and the defense highlighted Mari-on’s win over Kaleb Romero and the Mechanicsburg Indians in the regional final. Last week, it was Nate Moeller taking the spotlight, rushing for 215 yards, racking up 100 receiving yards and three TDs in the dominating victory. Over the last two weeks, the Flyers have outgained oppo-nents 817-449. “They really throw the ball

down the field well,” Martin said. “They have two receivers who really catch the ball well. We have a very experienced, veteran group in the backfield. We’re not overly big back there. They have some tall kids with good range who are long and can catch the ball outside their frame, so that’s a major challenge. Obviously, we’re going to try to take away the big plays. “But their bread and butter is running the ball. If you don’t stop the run or slow down the run to a certain extent, that’s going to set up everything for them. We’ve got to be physical up front. They’re a really physi-cal, athletic, big football team. They’re going to outsize us in a lot of different areas.” The 20 seniors on Marion Local’s roster hope to go out win-ners on Saturday. Goodwin talk-ed about the sting of last year’s state-final loss to Kirtland dur-ing Monday’s state teleconfer-ence. Though the veteran coach said his team would have wel-comed the idea of a rematch with Kirtland, they are excited for the challenge that awaits with Cuyahoga Heights in Columbus. “Obviously, Cuyahoga Heights beat Kirtland twice this year pretty soundly,” Goodwin said. “That certainly has our attention.”

(Continued from page 8B)

Marion

Minster’s Jon Niemeyer is tackled after making a catch against McComb during last Saturday’s state semifinal game in Wapakoneta.

Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

Coldwater’s Neal Muhlenkamp tries to make a play during last week’s game with Coshocton at Olentangy High School.

Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

Nate Moeller runs away from the Patrick Henry defense during last week’s game in Lima.

Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard