by CANTON, OHIO – The Pickerington Central Tigers overcame an early fourth quarter deficit to defeat the Elder Panthers 21-14 in dramatic fashion. The win secured the Tigers the OHSAA Division One State Championship.
It was a game that lived up to the billing as it was close the whole way and gave the fans in attendance their monies worth despite frigid temperatures.
Both teams were smart with the ball, limited the mistakes and it had that big fight feel because of it. The two very best in the state with the lights on bright.
Stealing the show was Tiger quarterback Demeatric Crenshaw who was brilliant tonight. He was a sharp 14 of 16 for 197 yards and 2 touchdowns. He didn’t try to do too much but only what was asked of him and it paid off. He was also the Tigers top rusher with 62 yards on 19 carries.
His main target on the evening was Lorenzo Styles Jr, who had 4 catches for 85 yards and a touchdown. That score from Styles Jr would prove to be the game winner late in the fourth quarter.
For Elder, their quarterback looked like a rushing machine at times as he never went down on first contact. Matthew Luebbe was the most impressive rusher on the field tonight and it showed early and often.
The mobile quarterback had no issues calling his own number and finished with 118 yards on 20 carries with a touchdown. It was the games first scoring play late in the first quarter.
The Tigers took awhile, but would answer the Panthers score with one of their own. They tied the game with 9:40 left in the half on a 19-yard Nick Mosely touchdown run. Mosely would go on to rush for 33 yards on 9 carries with that lone score. The game would remain 7-7 headed into the half.
Elder used the first 4:31 of the second half to put together a 10 play 93-yard drive to march down the field and score. The Joseph Catania 2-yard touchdown run capped of an impressive drive.
Numerous times he broke multiple tackles to keep plunging forward for yard after yard. It looked at that point with a 14-7 lead that it would be the Panthers night to capture their first state crown since 2003, it wasn’t!
The Tigers answered that opening drive of the half with one of their own that took even more time off the clock and looked unstoppable doing it. Down 7, they orchestrated an 18 play, 73-yard drive that took off a whopping 12 minutes off the clock. Pro offenses can’t even do that. Impressive!
They would cash it in with a Tyler Gillison 7-yard touchdown catch from the arm of Demeatric Crenshaw. At first glance it looked as though he may have dropped it in the corner of the endzone, but upon further review it was a catch and the game was tied with 10:16 left to play. One team would prosper, the other would wonder “what if”.
The Panthers couldn’t answer the Tiger score, which gave the ball back to Crenshaw and company ready to prowl. This time it was a much quicker 7 play 66-yard drive capped off by a Crenshaw to Lorenzo Styles 49-yard touchdown toss to put the Tigers ahead to stay!
Congrats to the Tigers on their 21-14 victory and Division One state championship.
Photo content credit OHSAA
