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CANTON, OH – The Kirtland Hornets defeated the Versailles Tigers 32-15 to capture their seventh State Championship. The Hornets used a tried-and-true ground game that once again did not fail them. They managed to rack up 311 rushing yards on 50 attempts.
The main producers for the Hornets were Jake LaVerde with 124 yards on 8 carries, including a 73-yard jaunt. Rocco Alfieri picked up 94 yards on 23 carries with a score. Will Beers was everywhere today and tallied 85 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown.
The Tigers tried to mix it up and had some success with that attack as well. Quarterback Michael Osborne went 10 of 23 for 124 yards with a touchdown, while also being sacked once. He also did damage with his legs as he tallied 144 yards on 25 carries with a touchdown. The top threats for Osborne were Lance Bergman with 70 yards on 4 catches while AJ Griesdorn picked up 42 yards on 4 catches.
After forcing a punt on the first Tigers drive, the Hornets saw paydirt on their first drive with the ball. Gino Blasini fell on a Jake Laverde fumble in the endzone, to strike first with 8 minutes to play in the first. The drive had begun at midfield, and the Hornets moved quickly to obtain the early lead.
The Hornets forced another three and out, and went right back to work from midfield yet again. The ground and pound getting cashed in this time by Will Beers from 6 yards out. The lead stayed at 13-0 however as the extra point was missed. All of this giving the Hornets a two-score advantage with still 3 plus minutes to play in the first quarter. The first ended by the same score.
The second quarter began with the Tigers on the move into Hornet territory. After converting a fourth and one, the Tigers went for it all with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Michael Osborne to AJ Griesdorn to get them on the board and cut into the lead. The Tiger fun didn’t last long however as Will Beers took a kickoff 90 yards to the house for the Hornets. It was the longest kick return in Division II history. The two-point conversion failed, and the score remained 19-7 with 10:41 to go in the first half.
Things went from bad to worse for the Tigers as they muffed a punt on their own 34-yard line that Kirtland recovered. The Hornets ground the clock with the run gam again, getting the ball down to the Tigers 3 with 7 seconds to go. The Tigers got the stop, and the game went to half with the Hornets up 19-7.
The Tigers had a nice chance to cut into the drive with a lengthy drive midway through the third quarter but a fourth and 13 came up empty, handing the ball back to the Hornets with 5:52 to go in the third quarter. A 73-yard run by Jake Laverde allowed the Hornets to set up shop at the Tiger 2-yard line. One play later, Rocco Alfieri blasted it in for the touchdown. This latest scoring strike made it 25-7 with 4:23 to go in the third.
The Hornets tacked one more score late into the fourth quarter as Will Sayle recovered a Beers fumble, once again, in the endzone to make it 32-7 with a little over 4 minutes to play. The Hornets went on to win 32-15.
Congrats to the Hornets!
