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Canton, OH – It was a game where points were hard to come by, but in the end, the Chardon Hilltoppers put together a last second drive to capture a Division III State Championship with a 21-14 victory over the Badin Rams.
Chardon used a multipurpose attack to pick up their points tonight. Quarterback Alex Henry ran 19 times for 54 yards. He was only asked to pass 5 times where he completed 2 for 41 yards. One of which was a 37-yard touchdown strike to Nathanial Sulka. The Hilltoppers main threat was Andrew Bruce who compiled 88 yards on 7 carries. The game winning touchdown run was by Sean Carr who had 33 rushing yards on the night.
For the Rams, it was a steady diet of Jack Walsh running the ball. He finished the game with 96 yards on 27 carries, scoring one time. Backup Quarterback Alex Ritzie wasn’t asked to do much with his arm, only throwing 16 times, completing 7 for 62 yards.
Chardon took over at the Badin 39-yard line to start their first possession after forcing a three and out and a bad punt by the Rams. On third and long, the Hilltoppers struck on an Alex Henry 36-yard touchdown pass to Nathanael Sulka to draw first blood with 9:11 to go in the first. It turned out to be the only points of the first quarter as neither team could move the ball outside of that drive.
With a little under 5 minutes to go in the second quarter, the Rams Braedyn Moore made a beautiful catch on the sidelines, just barely getting his toes down to complete the play. It was a 25-yard catch that puts the Rams in striking position. They then converted a fourth and short a few plays later followed by a 20 yard run from Jack Walsh to set up a 1rst and goal from the 3 yard line of Chardon. Jack Walsh would pound it in, and the Rams tied it up at 7 with 2:17 left in the half. Walsh had 18 carries in the first half for 44 yards and then score. The game would then go to half by that same score of 7-7.
The Hilltoppers started the second half with the ball and went right to work. They used a 7 play, 74-yard drive to find paydirt. All 7 plays were rush plays and capped off by a 27-yard Andrew Bruce touchdown scamper to make it 14-7 with 8:52 to go.
The Rams answered with Jack Walsh, first with a 35 yard run to break things open. Then, he caught an 11-yard pass from Ritzie, and just like that, the Rams were inside the redzone. The next play was more Jack Walsh as he sprinted for 12 more yards to get a first down and goal to go from the Chardon 6. It was Carter Russo to finish it off and score as both teams put up points with their first possessions of the half. The quarter would end by that same mark as we headed to the final 12 minutes of regulation.
After several drives stalled out on both sides, the Rams began a drive on their own 19 with 4 minutes to go. They proceeded to move backwards 13 yards and ended up having to punt it from their own endzone allowing Chardon to take over at the Rams 29 with a little over 3 minutes to go.
An Andrew Bruce run of 18 yards brought it to the 11 and gave the Hilltoppers prime real estate. Sean Carr would cash it in with 1:05 left in the game to put Chardon ahead for the 21-14 win.
