HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SPOTLIGHT
Division III state championship Desales (9-1) vs. Chardon (11-0), 6:15 p.m. Saturday at Massillon Paul Brown Tiger Stadium
An observer might scan Chardon’s schedule and come to the conclusion that its ride to the state title game has perhaps been too easy. The topranked Hilltoppers come in having outscored their opposition 476-81. Not one game was closer than 21 points.
“It kind of blows your mind when you look at their scores,” Desales coach Ryan Wiggins said. “They haven’t allowed anybody anything. Nobody’s held them below 31 points. While they might not have faced the type of competition we have over the past 10 weeks, the bottom line is they’re really, really impressive.”
Chardon leans on a dominant run game, with running back James Pettyjohn and quarterback Drew Fetchik doing the heavy lifting. Pettyjohn has rushed for 1,559 yards, on a hefty 12.2 yards per carry, with 21 touchdowns. Fetchik has run for 664 yards and 10 TDS while passing for 840 yards and 10 scores.
“They run a well-schemed wing-t with a lot of jet sweeps and quick hitters,” Wiggins said. “They’re really good up front as well.
“Ultimately, the key for us will be to establish the line of scrimmage, attack them and try to keep their offense off the field. We need to tackle well. We may go about things a little differently, but both teams basically have the same philosophy in terms of running the ball, controlling the line of scrimmage and playing solid defense.” Desales is averaging 272.8 yards per game on the ground. Ohio Universitybound Senior Quintell Quinn has rushed for 1,350 yards and 24 TDS.
On defense, Jonathan Thompson (26 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, five interceptions) and Quinn (82 tackles, 10 for loss) lead a stellar group of linebackers. Chardon has four players with at least 13 tackles for loss.
Desales will be shooting for its fourth state title. In seven final four appearances, Chardon owns one title (1994) and one runner-up (1998).
The Stallions faced only two teams with a losing record this season, and one of them was 2019 state runner-up Mansfield Senior.
Wiggins said the uncertain season has developed exactly has he hoped it would.
“Going back through our season, we weren’t always perfect against a lot of good teams, but in our playoff run, we’ve played by far our best football,” he said. “Just staying together as a group through mid-november has been the most satisfying thing. But to come out and play our best football one more time and beat a very, very good team would rank us among the greatest teams in program history and that’s our ultimate objective.”
Steve Blackledge sblackledge@dispatch.com @Blackiepreps