CANTON — The clock struck midnight on Shelby’s storybook season early Friday afternoon.
Cleveland Glenville running back Chris Newell ran for 81 yards and two touchdowns and quarterback Arvell Nelson threw a pair of second-half TD passes as the Tarblooders thundered to a 45-7 win in the Division IV championship game inside frosty Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
The Tarblooders (12-3) won their third state championship in the past four years.
“I’m very proud of the young people I coach,” legendary Glenville coach Ted Ginn said. “To bring a state title three out of four years is huge.”
Below are video highlights from Friday’s game.
Trench warfare favored Glenville
Glenville dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. The Tarblooders rushed for 291 yards and limited the Whippets (14-1) to minus-11 yards rushing on 24 carries.
“Everything started in the trenches,” said two-way lineman Jamir Perez (6-4, 321), who signed with Ohio State earlier this week. “We might not get much love, but we did our job and we see the result.”
It was a defensive slugfest for the first quarter before Jaquan Gibson lit the fuse for the Tarblooders.
The shifty sophomore fielded a Michael Shepherd punt inside his own 10-yard line and weaved his way through Shelby’s coverage team for a 92-yard touchdown. It was the longest punt return in state championship game history.
Shelby answered when Shepherd lined up under center and scored on a 1-yard keeper to tie the score at 7-7 early in the second.
It was all Glenville after that.
Newell scored on runs of 14 and 6 yards as the Tarblooders built a 24-7 halftime lead.
“Glenville is a really good football team and they kind of overwhelmed us at the point of attack,” Shelby coach Rob Mahaney said. “The way they matched up to us kind of took away some of the things that we’ve done all year.”
The Tarblooders rushed for 162 yards on 15 carries in the second quarter alone.
“Football is football. You can’t be cute in football,” Ginn said. “You’ve got to run the rock, play hard-nosed defense and be excellent on special teams.”
The Tarblooders added three second-half scores to win going away. Nelson threw TD passes of 5 and 31 yards in the third.
Tarblooders defense stout
Glenville’s stout defense limited Shelby to 27 yards of total offense. Senior quarterback Brayden DeVito was thrown for 22 yards of losses.
“Our coaches put together a great defensive plan,” Ohio State-bound linebacker Cincere Johnson said. “(DeVito) led his team all the way here undefeated. We just knew we had to stop him.”
DeVito was under duress all afternoon. The Air Force-bound senior completed three of 18 passes for 38 yards.
“With how big and fast and physical they are … they were just able to shut some of the things down we had,” DeVito said. “They got a lot of big hits and they take a toll, especially those hits where I don’t see them coming.”
Sensational season historic for Shelby
The loss put a damper on a historic season for the Whippets (14-1). Shelby played in a state championship game for the first time in program history.
“Our goal was to leave this program better than we found it,” DeVito said. “I feel like we can say we’ve done that and left it in good hands.”
Photos below are by Zac Hiser:
Photos below are by Brittany Schock:
