CLEVELAND — For the second year in a row, the St. Edward Eagles are the state champions in Division I high school football in Ohio. And for the second year in a row, they powered past the Springfield Wildcats to claim their crown.
St. Edward used their combination of power running and stingy defense to beat Springfield by the final of 28-14 on Friday evening at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton. The Eagles have now won six OHSAA state titles in Division I, all since 2010.
The Wildcats struck first on a 1-yard touchdown run by Jayvin Norman with 5:58 to play in the opening quarter. That would be Springfield's only lead of the game.
St. Ed struck back, moving 65 yards in six plays and capping off the drive with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Casey Bullock to Kyan Mason. Bullock would give the Eagles the lead for good on a 3-yard TD run with 10:28 to go in the 2nd quarter. Marvin Bell would score the first of his two touchdowns with just over a minute left in the first half, taking it in from a yard out to send the Eagles to the half with a 21-7 lead.
Bell finished the game with 170 yards on 24 carries, while Bullock rushed for 101 yards and threw for another 102. As a team, the Eagles ran the ball 47 times for 296 yards, a 6.3 yard average per carry.
The relentless Eagle defense pressured Springfield quarterback Bryce Schondelmyer all evening long, sacking him nine times. St. Ed also had 11 tackles for loss on the night. Future Coastal Carolina product Wyatt Gedeon accounted for 3.5 sacks, while his fellow defensive end Michael Kilbane, a Northwestern commit, added three sacks of his own. Both players finished the season with an incredible 19 sacks each.
Schondelmyer, who finished the game with 206 yards passing, drew Springfield to within a touchdown at 21-14 late in the 3rd quarter on a 17-yard scoring pass to Daylen Bradley. The Wildcats got the touchdown after a marathon 18 play, 70-yard drive that took just over eight minutes off the clock. The Eagles responded with a 70-yard drive of their own, capped off by Bell's second touchdown to close the scoring for the night.
Two more Northeast Ohio teams will take the field at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on Saturday to try to bring home more championship hardware.
On Saturday morning, Kirtland will face Marion Local in the Division VI state championship game. Tiger LaVerde's Hornets have at least played for a state championship in 10 of the past 11 seasons and won six.
Saturday night, Glenville will go in search of their first-ever state crown as they'll take on Wyoming in D-IV play. Glenville remains the only Cleveland public school to play in a state title game in the playoff era, and is seeking to become the first CMSD squad to win a championship of any kind since East Tech way back in 1920.
Archbishop Hoban's quest for a Division II championship fell short on Thursday night in a 28-21 loss at the hands of Toledo Central Catholic.