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Canton, OH – The Winton Woods Warriors played lights out defense and ran the ball very well to earn themselves a 21-10 State Championship victory over Archbishop Hoban in Division II. They overcame three turnovers and a botched punt attempt to lockdown the Knights attack. In fact the Knights only points came off of a field goal when they got the ball inside of the Warriors 10 yard line, and a defensive strip six.
The Warriors were paced on the speed and elusiveness of a three-prong running attack. Starting tailback Tyrek Spikes ran for 168 yards on 22 attempts while scoring once. Quarterback Austin “Buddy” Ellery ran for 92 yards on 10 attempts with a touchdown. Backup tailback KC Spears got in on the action with a 53-yard touchdown run as well.
The Hoban Knights couldn’t get much going outside of their workhorse Lamar Sperling who was dynamite as usual. He finished with 121 yards on the ground on 24 carries.
The Hoban Knights started with the ball and had a rare three and out. The Winton Woods Warriors moved the ball well with their first possession thanks to Ellery ripping off runs of 14 and 21. They also moved the ball well in the air, but the drive was snuffed out inside the Hoban 20 with a fumble from Tyrek Spikes to give the Knights the ball back.
A few possessions later, Hoban caught a massive break as the Warriors punter KC Spears accidentally let his knee touch the ground when he bent down to catch the snap at his own 10. This allowed the Knights to take over in excellent field position after the second big Warriors mistake of the quarter. The Knights would have to settle for a Field Goal however, as Charlie Durken put in from 20 out, to start the second quarter with the games first points.
Down 3-0, Winton Woods got things moving quickly with their feet as Tyrek Spikes ripped off runs of 13 and 44 yards with blazing speed. The Warriors would finish the drive with a 4-yard run by Ellery, who also had a 10-yard run on the drive as well. This blitzkrieg of speed put the Warriors in front 7-3 with 9:25 to go in the first half.
After a Hoban missed 49-yard Field Goal gave the ball back to Winton Woods with 2:59 to go, the Warriors immediately got it going with a 44-yard run by Tyrek Spikes. James Minor would follow it up with a 13-yard run and put the Warriors in prime scoring position inside the Hoban 8. A few plays later it was Spikes taking it in to make it 14-3 with 46 seconds left in the first half. The half would end by that same score. Spikes had 104 yards on just 8 carries in the first half.
Hoban trailed to open the second half and it didn’t take long for them to find a spark. On the halves very first play from scrimmage, it was Caleb Kepler stripping Spikes of the ball and running it back 25 yards for Hoban’s first touchdown of the game, making 14-10.
Winton Woods wasted no time answering a few plays into their next drive when KC Spears took off for a 53-yard touchdown run with would be tacklers bouncing off of him to increase the lead back to 21-10. A 4 play 80-yard drive that took less than a minute, put Hoban in a serious hole down 21-10.
However, there was still plenty of time with 10:20 to go in the third quarter. The first 100 seconds of the second half saw two touchdowns. No one would score again in the quarter however, and the Warriors would take the 21-10 lead into the final 12 minutes.
Following another Winton Woods turnover on a fumble, Hoban started the fourth quarter with the ball near midfield in comeback mode. The Hoban Knights were unable to get a first down on the drive and turned it over on downs. They simply couldn’t get the offense moving tonight as they never scored an offensive touchdown.
Attendance 5,440
Hoban 0 3 7 0 = 10
Winton Woods 0 14 7 0 = 21
This article will be updated soon with the postgame press conference which will be linked on page two.
See y’all next year LSPERLING #32 Hoban🔥💪🏾🔥