CANTON — Hillsdale’s remarkable high school football odyssey encompassed more than a season.
The Falcons 2025 campaign ended with a Division VII state runner-up trophy, just like the 2024 season. This one came after Saturday’s 37-3 loss to St. Henry on Saturday before 3,912 fans at Canton’s Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
Therein lies the astonishing aspect.
(These seniors have) turned dreams in our community into a reality.
Hillsdale football coach Trevor Cline
Coach Trevor Cline’s squad has achieved something no team in north central Ohio has ever accomplished — making back-to-back runs to the state football finals.
“I’m extremely proud of our players and the season that they were able to put together,” Cline said. “For this group of guys to be able to be a part of a team that went to back-to-back state championships says a lot about them.
“It’s been something that hasn’t been done in our area.”
It’s a staggering feat, and one that will be long remembered in the region.
The senior-dominated Falcons carried an open wound all fall after finishing 2024 with a humbling, 74-0 loss to perennial powerhouse Marion Local in the championship game.
Still, with a veteran cast returning this autumn, the stated goal became a shot at redemption in the finals. That’s a ridiculously high bar to set, but this Hillsdale team was up to it.
“Last year we flew underneath the radar to get to this point,” Cline said. “This year the target was on our back throughout the year, which makes that road back even tougher.”
Whether it was Kael Lewis passing, Owen Sloan running, Hayden McFadden catching, Brady Heller leading the defense, or Brock Bower doing a little bit of everything, the Falcons took flight — and brought a lot of us along with them.
Cline’s club roared through a 9-1 regular season, spoiled only by a 24-17 defeat at Norwayne in the Wayne County Athletic League title tilt.
The Falcons manhandled Conotton Valley 63-6 and Symmes Valley 48-7, then overcame a second-half deficit to beat Danville 25-20 in the regional championship contest.
Hillsdale may have played its best game of the season in a 41-14 state semifinal dismantling of McDonald.
When the beast that is Marion Local was stopped 24-7 by St. Henry in the Elite Eight, the foe was altered in the Falcons’ quest. Unfortunately, the name changed, but the task remained the same.
Hillsdale ran headlong into a Midwest Athletic Conference lodge member, the league that has absolutely dominated this division for decades. This was the seventh straight MAC title at the Division VII level, and the conference has won 44 state football titles across all divisions.
“We knew coming into this game, you’re going up against a team from the MAC and anyone that knows anything about football in Ohio knows the MAC is the best league in small-school football,” Cline said.
“It was going to take our best game to date to be able to beat them.”
The Falcons made some plays, and indeed Bower’s field goal drew Hillsdale within an 8-3 deficit in the second quarter.
But St. Henry quarterback Charlie Werling, the game’s MVP, showed quickly the Redskins (14-1) were more than capable of carrying their league’s banner for yet another season.
Werling set a Division VII state championship game record with a 70-yard touchdown bolt in the second quarter that triggered the avalanche.
Yet it didn’t dampen the Falcons’ spirit, or their bond.
“I just love this group,” Heller said. “We’ve been close since we were 5 years old for pretty much all of us, and it’s just a fun thing to get to do with them.”
Alas the final result was a rerun, but Hillsdale’s 31-game story, featuring a 27-4 record with two trips to Canton is a fresh standard the community can point to with pride for years to come.
“The last two years to be able to get to the state championship, 20 years ago that was an impossible task. Heck, 15 years ago that was an impossible task, even though we started making it to the playoffs,” Cline said.
He noted that this senior class averaged better than 10 wins per season over their four years in the program, and won the school’s first two regional football crowns.
“(These seniors have) turned dreams in our community into a reality and I’m extremely appreciative of that — and their impact that they’ve had within our program is going to be there for many years to come.”
(Photo gallery by Brittany Schock)
