The Daily Standard
Sports Preview
It's been 19 years since St. Henry last hoisted a state football championship.
The Redskins will get their chance to make it back to Stark County on Friday at Troy Memorial Stadium in the Division VII state semifinals against Columbus Grove.
St. Henry enters the game having ended Marion Local's 76-game winning streak with a dominating 24-7 win at Wapakoneta. The Redskins would vie for the program's seventh state title with the win.
It's been 30 years since the Redskins and Bulldogs have played each other. St. Henry won 21-0 in the 1995 Division VI regional semifinals en route to advancing to win the program's fourth state title.
The Northwest Conference champions are making their sixth straight playoff appearance and have reached the final four the previous three seasons. The lone state final appearance came in 2003, when Ryan Maag rushed for 287 yards and four touchdowns in a 28-26 win over Marion Local, a game made memorable in the final moments when then-Bulldogs coach Jerry Cooper chose to take a knee at the goal line at the end of the game rather than have Maag score what would have been a state final record fifth touchdown.
Andy Schaefer's squad started out the season 0-3, losing to Pandora-Gilboa, Liberty-Benton and Patrick Henry in non-conference play. Things turned around once Northwest Conference play began as Grove ran the table with four shutouts to claim the fourth seed in Region 26 and a first-round bye. The Bulldogs beat Gibsonburg 28-8, then picked up a second win over NWC rival Lima Central Catholic 28-6 before beating Leipsic 31-6 last week.
The Bulldogs rely on the arm of quarterback Landon Best. Best has thrown for 2,255 yards and 31 touchdowns this season while completing 70.9% of his passes. Trevon Baxter has 77 receptions for 1,052 yards and 12 touchdowns with Gavin Barraza adding 543 yards on 47 catches and six scores.
When the Bulldogs run, Brody McCluer gets the bulk of the carries. McCluer has rushed for 793 yards and seven touchdowns this season. Best adds 297 yards and six scores.
The Grove defense has allowed just 13.8 points per game this season. NWC and District co-Defensive Player of the Year Brady Basinger has 127 tackles, three fumble recoveries and an interception. Baxter adds 102 tackles and a team-high four interceptions. Barraza and Best each have three picks with Barraza adding 10 deflections.
St. Henry's Charlie Werling scored all four touchowns in the Redskins' win over Marion Local in the regional finals last Friday.
The classic jingle for Good & Plenty candy had the line "Charlie Says: 'Love My Good & Plenty!' "
St. Henry's Charlie Werling has had plenty of good touchdowns this season, as the Redskin quarterback passed two legendary running backs to set a career rushing touchdown record in his four-touchdown performance in the win over Marion Local last week.
When the smoke cleared, Werling had 61 career touchdowns, passing backs Doug Speck (58) and Jon Hemmelgarn (59) on the all-time list.
Werling, the MAC and Northwest District Offensive Player of the Year, is up to 1,672 yards this season with 32 touchdowns. His primary back is Will Speck (548 yards, two touchdowns), Doug's son. Will Speck had 109 yards on 15 carries to go with Werling's 135 yards against Marion.
St. Henry's Anderson Kramer (71) closes in on Marion Local's Kamden Eifert.
The Redskins have been on a tear after losing the regular season meeting to Marion Local. After allowing 13 points the next week to Fort Recovery, the St. Henry defense allowed just 34 points over the final six games of the regular season, 20 of those points coming against Versailles. In the postseason, St. Henry has allowed 26 points in three games, seven each to New Bremen and Marion and 12 to Cedarville.
Last week, St. Henry held Marion Local to just 162 yards of offense, with just 45 yards coming on the ground.
The St. Henry secondary has been potent against passing games, recording 26 interceptions. Jack Huelsman shares the team lead with Landon Schwartz with five, with Huelsman returning two picks for touchdowns. Linebacker Anderson Kramer (117 tackles) also has a pick-six.
The Redskin defense will look to put pressure on Best in the backfield. The team has a total of 24 sacks with Owen Zimmerman (60 tackles) leading with 5 ½.
It's not how you start, but how you finish, the old saying goes.
Right now, Coldwater is finishing strong.
After losing four regular games, the most since going 4-6 in 1994, the Cavaliers have won four straight in the postseason and will look for a fifth straight this Friday at Mercy Health/VFW Post 8445 Field in Wapakoneta, with the hope of playing for a sixth game next week in Canton and the program's ninth state championship and defense of last year's Division VI state title.
The challenge this week is a tough Hopewell-Loudon squad that enters at 12-1 after shutting out Carey 35-0 last week.
It will be the first-ever meeting between the Cavaliers and Chieftains, but Coldwater has a history against teams from the Sandusky Bay Conference over the years.
The Cavaliers are 7-2 against SBC schools (current and former), including going 5-0 against Huron, the last being a 14-3 win in the regional semifinals in 2022. Coldwater holds single wins over Sandusky Perkins (2000 regional semifinals) and Milan Edison (2023 regional semifinals). The lone losses have come to former SBC member Oak Harbor in the playoffs. The Cavaliers also have a 1995 playoff win over current SBC member Woodmore when the Wildcats were members of the Suburban Lakes League
Coldwater's Josh Schroer (88) and Collin Westgerdes (63) bring down Anna quarterback Logan Ziegenbusch.
After losing in the regular season to Anna 14-7 in Week Four, Coldwater took charge early in last Friday's regional final at Piqua. It was a far cry from the first meeting, when neither team scored until the third quarter. Nolan Gruss scored a safety on Anna's second possession of the game, then Bryce Couchot booted two long field goals to make it 8-0 before Anna got a score. Coldwater sealed the win with Karsyn Homan hitting Cadin Obringer on a 70-yard pitch-and-catch on the second play of the second half, then outlasted the Rockets for the 14-12 win.
Brian Colatruglio's squad is making its sixth straight trip to the playoffs, but the first trip to the final four since 2021. H-L has been state runner-up twice, losing to Newark Catholic in the Division VI final in 2007, then falling to Delphos St. John's in the 2008 Division VI final.
The Chieftains lost just once, falling 29-26 to SBC River Division rival Margaretta on Oct. 3. The Polar Bears lost to Carey in the second round of the playoffs.
The offense is balanced with the team rushing for 2,510 yards and 37 touchdowns while occasionally working out of a wildcat set where running back Kellen Frankart takes the direct snap. Brody Brickman leads the team in rushing with 759 yards with 16 touchdowns. Frankart adds 739 yards and 10 scores to go along with 13-of-15 passing for 167 yards and a touchdown. Jaysin Cramer has rushed for 761 yards and two scores.
Quarterback Jacoby Ellis has thrown for 1,593 yards (118-of-171 passing) with 23 touchdowns and just six interceptions. Jack Colatruglio has 45 receptions for 675 yards and eight scores with Brickman coming out of the backfield for 45 catches and 628 yards and 12 touchdowns.
The Chieftains' line is stout, using Coldwater coach Chip Otten's favorite term. Junior Joe Ewald is 6-4 and 220 pounds while brother Aiden Ewald, the Northwest District's co-Lineman of the Year, comes in at 255 pounds.
Aiden Ewald has nine sacks on the season to go with 91 tackles. Linebacker Mason Reinhart leads the team with 103 tackles with Eli Benner adding 72 tackles. Brickman has four interceptions.
Coldwater's Derek Dues runs up the middle during last Friday's regional final with Anna at Piqua.
Coldwater has been a dominating running team in the postseason, rushing for 931 yards in four playoff games after last week's 191 yards on the ground on a rainy night in Piqua.
Homan rushed for 99 yards last week to become the 11th Cavalier in program history to reach 1,000 yards. Homan also threw for 142 yards and a score, raising his season total of 1,889 with 16 touchdowns.
Derek Dues, who took over the main back spot in the Cav-Gun offense after Braxton Taylor was injured in the first Anna game, added 71 yards to raise his season total to 747 with 13 touchdowns. Karter Freed also provides a threat to run.
The passing game has been mainly to Cadin Obringer, who has 734 yards receiing and six scores with Caleb Schroer adding 439 yards and six touchdowns. Obringer also leads the team with 105 tackles while Dues adds 87 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and eight sacks.
Will Speck, RB, St. Henry
Nolan Gruss, DE, Coldwater
Middletown (11-2) vs. Cincinnati St. Xavier (10-2) at Dayton Welcome Stadium
Lakewood St. Edward (11-2) vs. Olentangy Orange (13-0) at Mansfield Arlin Field
State Championship: Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m.
Avon (12-1) vs. Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit (11-1) at University of Akron InfoCision Stadium
Cincinnati Anderson (13-0) vs. Big Walnut (12-1) at Historic Crew Stadium, Columbus
State Championship: Dec. 4, 7 p.m.
Toledo Central Catholic (10-4) vs. Cuyahoga Falls CVCA (12-0) at Fostoria Memorial Stadium
Tippecanoe (13-0) vs. Columbus Watterson (12-0) at Mason Tri-Health/Beacon Stadium
State Championship: Dec. 5, 3 p.m.
Indian Valley (12-0) vs. Cleveland Glenville (10-3) at Minerva High School
Shelby (13-0) vs. Indian Hill (13-0) at Sidney Memorial Stadium
State Championship: Dec. 5, 10:30 a.m.
Wheelersburg (13-0) vs. Youngstown Mooney (10-2) at Westerville Central High School
Liberty Center (13-0) vs. Indian Lake (11-2) at Lima Spartan Stadium
State Championship: Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m.
Colonel Crawford (13-1) vs. Kirtland (13-0) at Parma Byers Field at Robert Boulton Stadium
Hopewell-Loudon (12-1) vs. Coldwater (10-4) at Wapakoneta Mercy Health Wapak VFW Field
State Championship: Dec. 6, 3 p.m.
Columbus Grove (10-3) vs. St. Henry (12-1) at Troy Memorial Stadium
McDonald (13-0) vs. Jeromesville Hillsdale (12-1) at New Philadelphia Quaker Stadium
State Championship: Dec. 6, 10:30 a.m.
