OHSAA Division V: Kirtland Routes Ironton 38-0 To Capture State Title

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Kirtland ran their winning steak to 41 straight games and captured their 3^rd straight Division V Title with a 38-0 victory over Ironton.  This is the second straight season the Hornets have knocked out Ironton and their 6^th state title in 10 years. While people talk about the Nate Moore’s, Tom Lombardo’s, Tim Tyrell’s and Chuck Kyles of the world, they need to throw Tiger Laverde at the head of that list as well!

The Hornet defense was incredible today, holding the Ironton offense to only 3 first downs and 58 total yards.  That is unheard of!  In fact, the total difference was 408 to 58.  That has to be a record.

The Hornets put up 245 of those yards on the ground. Their leading rusher once again was Mason Sullivan who went for 129 yards on 19 attempts while scoring once.  He also threw a touchdown pass to his brother Gage.

Adding to that rushing total was the second half of the one two punch Anthony DeMarco.  He piled up 83 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown.  Both young men had tremendous seasons.

Liam Powers was never asked to do much, but when he was called upon he responded very well!  Powers went 9 of 14 passing with a touchdown while only taking one sack.  He also connected with 4 different wideouts amongst the game.  Powers also ran the ball 11 times for 35 yards and a touchdown.

After a slow start to the game saw only 3 Kirtland points, the Hornets finally found the endzone in the late moments of the second quarter with a Liam Powers touchdown run from one yard out.  The run came with 3:34 left on the clock, and gave the Hornets a two-score lead that they would never surrender.

Starting in the second half, the Hornets stopped messing around and began the avalanche on points and offense. Mason Sullivan used some extremely good blocking to get loose and move the ball down the field in chunks.  It would pay off as he went in from 17 yards out to push the lead to 17-0 and sting Ironton with 9:09 left in the third quarter.

Less than the a minute later, Kirtland would deliver the dagger and get cute doing it too.  This time it was Mason Sullivan finding his brother Gage on a halfback pass from 50 yards out to put the game away for good at 24-0 with still 8:18 to play in the third quarter.  Despite more than a quarter and a half remaining, it was clear that this one was over!

On their next drive, after the Mason Sullivan show once again got the Hornets inside of the 10-yard line, it was Anthony Demarco finishing the drive from 8 yards out with 4:55 left in the quarter making it 31-0 and starting the running clock. Liam Powers finished the scoring with an 18-yard touchdown toss to Danny Davidson to hand the Hornets the title at 38-0.