CANTON — Mitch Hewitt was quick to admit he made a mistake, but Chardon’s veteran coach doesn’t plan to repeat it.
The top-ranked Hilltoppers defended their Division III state title with a 21-14 win over No. 2 Hamilton Badin on Friday at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, completing an surprising perfect season with the third state title in program history.
Not many people expected Chardon to repeat after losing all but two starters on offense and three on defense. Hewitt was among them.
“I probably set the bar too low and we don’t usually do that at Chardon,” Hewitt said. “When I say we set the bar low, it’s still pretty high.
“I’ll never do that again. I underestimated our kids this year. Maybe they sensed that with me.”
The Hilltoppers (16-0) and Rams (14-1) traded body shots for three-plus quarters before Chardon landed the knockout blow late in the fourth. It began when Chardon’s stout defense forced a Badin punt from its own end zone with just over three minutes remaining. The short punt was downed at the Badin 29-yard line with 3:13 remaining.
Sophomore running back Andrew Bruce ran for 18 yards on first down, moving the ball to the Badin 11. From there, senior running back Sean Carr carried three times and capped the abbreviated drive with a 2-yard touchdown run with 1:05 remaining.
Badin’s desperation drive ended with an interception by Chardon linebacker Heath Fetchik.
“That’s what you would expect from the No. 1 team and the No. 2 team in the state of Ohio in Division III,” Badin coach Nick Yordy said. “In a big game like that it comes down to a handful of plays. There were a handful of plays that could have really flipped that game either way.”
Chardon scored on its second offensive play from scrimmage when quarterback Alex Henry hooked up with Nathanael Sulka on a 36 yard scoring strike with 9:11 remaining in the first quarter. Badin tied it at 7-7 late in the second on Jack Walsh’s 2 yard touchdown run.
Chardon reclaimed the lead on Bruce’s 27 -ard run early in the third but Badin again had the answer, pulling even at 14-14 on Carter Russo’s 6 yard-dash.
That’s how it would stand until Carr’s fateful run.
“We knew, in that situation, we had worked hard enough to succeed. Just to be able to do it is awesome,” Carr said. “The line blocked amazing on that play.”
Bruce led Chardon with 88 yards rushing. Henry rushed for 54 yards and completed 2-of-5 passes for 41 yards.
Carr, who rushed for 33 yards, was one of the few Hilltoppers to play in last year’s dramatic 31-28 double overtime victory over Columbus DeSales in the state final. That experience served him well.
“For the couple of us who played in that, we were calm the whole time,” Carr said. “Being in that situation last year definitely helped us a ton.”
Sulka agreed.
“The feeling is probably a little better just because there were a lot of people who doubted us,” Sulka said. “Just proving everyone wrong and proving to ourselves that we could do it was an amazing moment.”
