ORRVILLE – The Hillsdale football players ruined their Thanksgiving meals.
It’s hard to load up on turkey and stuffing when you have a Final Four game to play the next night.
Dealt frigid, misty and sometimes windy conditions Friday night, Coach Trevor Cline’s club ripped off 21 first-quarter points on the way to throttling Cuyahoga Heights 44-14 for the Division VII, Region 25 championship.
The runaway victory at Orrville’s Red Rider Stadium sends Hillsdale (13-1) into its first-ever state semifinal next week, a Division VII showdown with Danville (12-2) at a site to be determined.
“We might have to go with a little lighter portions this year,” Falcons linebacker Brady Heller said with a laugh when asked if he had to change his Thanksgiving plans.
(These photos are courtesy of Tom Theodore)
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Thedore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore 
Credit: Tom Theodore
Hillsdale is just the second Ashland-area team to reach the state semifinals since 1991, joining the 2007 Ashland Arrows. The only team from the area ever to make a state championship game was Loudonville in 1990.
“It’s pretty crazy – I was crying when the clock ticked down,” said Falcons lineman Bradey Krichbaum, one of just six seniors on the team. “I don’t think it’s fully hit yet, but just to know that we’re going to be in the record books forever is crazy.”
It didn’t take Hillsdale long to establish itself as the alpha dog when pitted with Cuyahoga Heights (8-5).
After punting on their opening drive, the Falcons scored touchdowns on three of their next seven plays to make it 21-0 less than 10 minutes after kickoff.
Sophomore quarterback Kael Lewis hit junior receiver Hayden McFadden deep downfield despite double coverage for a 36-yard scoring strike to crack the scoreboard. Junior running back Owen Sloan followed with touchdown runs of 3 and 31 yards.
Despite the gusty, misty conditions, Lewis completed his first seven passes for 99 yards, and with the Red Wolves punting twice and losing a fumble on their first three drives, the winning stage was quickly set for Hillsdale.
“Our line blocked very, very well in the pass and run,” said Lewis (who finished 11-of-19 passing for 153 yards and three touchdowns). “We knew the game was going to be decided at the line of scrimmage and we just outmuscled them, in my opinion.”
Cline couldn’t contain the pride in his squad.
“To get to a regional title game is impressive in itself, but then to come out here for four quarters – other than a few minutes in the second quarter – to take it to the opposing team, that’s pretty cool,” the coach said.
“It was definitely a statement win for our program.”
After building the huge lead, things did get a little dicey in the second quarter for the Falcons.
Cuyahoga Heights scratched across its first points early in the second period with a nine-play drive capped by a Gavin Chamberlin’s 2-yard touchdown run to make it 21-7.
The teams then traded interceptions, with McFadden nabbing his fourth of the season. But a bad snap on a punt attempt gave the Red Wolves the ball at Hillsdale’s 18-yard line with 4:55 showing in the half.
A touchdown there would have cut the lead to 21-14, but Krichbaum and Heller helped force back-to-back defensive stops – the second on fourth-and-1 from the Hillsdale 9 – and the Falcons got the ball right back.
“That was a big play,” 28th-year Cuyahoga Heights head coach Al Martin said. “I feel like if we could have scored there, at least you’ve got a little bit of the momentum.”
Instead, Hillsdale smartly marched 91 yards on 12 plays and Lewis found junior receiver Brock Bower for an 11-yard touchdown with 7.4 seconds left in the half.
Sloan made it 29-7 on a two-point run after the Red Wolves were called for encroachment, and the Falcons were in prime position.
“When we stopped them (at the 9-yard line),” McFadden said, “I was just thinking, ‘All right, let’s get this done.’”
Running just two more plays than the Red Wolves in the first half (32-30), the Falcons had nearly twice as many yards at intermission (278-140).
Sloan (15 carries, 148 yards) set a new single-season school record for rushing yards, going over 1,600 to surpass the mark held by Corbin Mager (1,574 yards in 2012).
The junior sustained a foot injury in Hillsdale’s 50-48 regional semifinal win over Malvern and was forced to come out of Friday’s game early in the third quarter.
“That was definitely a gutsy performance for him,” Cline said. “He didn’t practice all week and he showed up, played the first half and played extremely well.”
“Sloan did an amazing job running the ball tonight,” added McFadden (five catches, 83 yards). “He kept our team moving.”
Hillsdale’s defense stiffened again to start the third quarter when freshman lineman Carston Stephens got a fourth-down stop near midfield.
The Red Wolves had entered the game as a run-first team, with Chamberlin gathering nearly 800 yards on the ground in nine games during the regular season.
But he managed just 12 yards on nine carries against the Falcons, and sophomore quarterback Zach Shafer (12 carries, 54 yards rushing; 8-of-17, 109 yards passing) could never get into a rhythm, either.
“We knew they were going to run the ball,” Krichbaum said, “so the whole week we were going over our assignments and were focused on taking care of the run game.”
Hillsdale used its first drive of the second half to score again and set off a running clock. Lewis connected with McFadden from 18 yards, then hit Holland Young for a two-point pass to make it 37-7.
Cuyahoga Heights answered with a score when Shafer found Kurtis Van Divner on a fourth-down, 4-yard TD strike early in the fourth quarter to cut it to 37-14.
But that 11-play drive drained more than nine minutes off the clock and the Falcons answered with their own 11-play scoring drive.
Running back Reed Twining plunged in from a yard out and A.J. Brown’s fourth PAT of the game made the final count 44-14.
“We knew they were really good throwing it, we knew they were really good running it and we were concerned about both,” Martin said. “They were so balanced offensively with talented people that you couldn’t focus on one thing.
“They were better in that regard than anyone we played all year.”
Meanwhile, the Hillsdale defense returned to dominating its foe. After an uncharacteristic near-collapse against Malvern a week earlier, the Falcons limited their opponent to fewer than 15 points for the 11th time this season.
Heller, Krichbaum, Jake Haven and Landon Thomas were all in on sacks as the Red Wolves were limited to less than 200 yards of offense.
Cuyahoga Heights had knocked off three higher-seeded teams on its way to Friday night’s contest – something Martin said the program has never done – but Hillsdale never gave the Red Wolves a chance at an upset in Orrville.
“We learned a lot as a team (in the game against Malvern) and we learned that we need to stick together,” Heller said. “When we stick together, good things happen.”
The win gave Hillsdale the second-largest margin of victory ever for an Ashland-area team in a regional title game. Only the 1983 Loudonville squad won by more in the Elite Eight (49-8 over Margaretta).
Now, the Falcons will face Danville, a team that has been on cruise-control during its nine-game winning streak. The Blue Devils annihilated previously unbeaten Beaver Eastern on Friday, 40-6, and have outscored their four playoff opponents by a staggering 200-14 total.
It will be Ashland County vs. Knox County with a trip to the state championship on the line.
“It’s neat getting to see the team accomplish something like this and, in my opinion, become the best team to ever come through here,” Cline said. “They’ve definitely earned it.”
“It feels amazing,” Lewis said. “We’re just thinking the job’s not finished. We want to play in Canton (for the state title) so bad. For our whole lives, we’ve been talking about this.”
The other Division VII semifinal next week will pit No. 1-ranked Marion Local (14-0) against No. 2-ranked Columbus Grove (14-0).
On Friday, Columbus Grove beat Delphos St. John’s, 14-0, while defending state champion Marion Local was a 21-7 winner over Minster. The Flyers have won 62 consecutive games and are shooting for a fourth straight state title.