The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
St. Paul advances to state finals
Flyers to make fifth appearance in title game
MOUNT VERNON — For the first time since winning it all in 2009 and for the fifth time in program history, St. Paul will play for a football state title.
St. Paul (13-1) earned the opportunity to play for its second state championship via a 41-13 statement against Glouster Trimble (13-1) on Nov. 29 at Mount Vernon Yellow Jacket Stadium.
“I think anytime you can come away with a Football win in Week 14, you’ve
got to be happy,” St. Paul coach John Livengood said. “Our kids played great tonight. It was a special effort.”
The Flyers can thank a potent combination of a strong run game coupled with stout defense for their trip to Columbus to play Marion Local in the Division VII championship game at 10 a.m. Dec. 6 at Ohio Stadium.
St. Paul racked up 337 yards on the ground while forcing the Tomcats to turn the ball over seven times — six interceptions and a fumble — en route to its dominant victory over previously undefeated Trimble.
“Defensively, I thought we played very, very well,” Livengood said. “We got a lot of turnovers, and I thought we ran the ball well. It’s just great to get the win and go on to play another week.”
The players are excited for the chance to play another week as well.
“It’s going to be great,” St. Paul senior lineman Kyle Rospert, who had two interceptions and a fumble recovery for a touchdown, said. “Every kid that has ever played has this dream. I don’t know.”
“We get to live our dream, I guess. It’s going to be a blast,” Rospert sasid.
That the game is at the legendary Horseshoe is only the icing on the cake.
“Every kid that’s grown up in Ohio wants to play at the ’Shoe,” Rospert said. “They all want to play at Ohio State. They all want to play for Ohio State. Not all of us get that opportunity, be we get the opportunity to play there. It’s unreal.”
Getting to play there is one thing. Getting to Columbus is another.
The Flyers started off strong against Trimble, taking their first drive 53 yards in 11 plays — all rushes — capped by Brad Smith’s 1-yard plunge to up St. Paul up, 7-0, 4:30 into the game.
After that, though, St. Paul had issues finding the end zone.
Following a big red-zone stand in which the Tomcats failed to punch it in despite first-and-goal from the St. Paul 10 — including a fourthand-1 stop of a diving Justice Jenkins inches short of the goal line — the Flyers drove 93 yards before a holding call and a false start forced the Flyers into a fourth-and-long they could not convert to give the Tomcats the ball back with 2:19 remaining in the half.
Three plays later, Trimble punted back to the Flyers, with a strong return by Wes Fritz giving the Flyers the ball inside the Tomcats’ 10.
Once again, though, the Flyers couldn’t punch it in, as a fumble on a handoff with 47 seconds remaining gave Trim- ble the ball on its own 3 yard line.
Rather than kneel out the clock, the Tomcats tried to make a play before the end of the half. That decision haunted Trimble, as a fumble was recovered by Rospert and run 5 yards into the end zone to put St. Paul up, 14-0, heading into the break.
“It was huge,” Livengood said of the touchdown. “We had been on the edge of a 98-yard drive. It stalled out and for us to come up with a big defensive play with Kyle scoring to go up two scores going into the half, that was big.”
The Tomcat offense showed a bit of life in the second half, taking the opening drive 61 yards to cut the St. Paul lead to 14-7, but three straight interceptions allowed St. Paul to put up 21 unanswered points and go up, 35-7, heading into the fourth quarter.
“Things kind of opened up for us there,” Livengood said. “It’s all the kids. The kids just played their tails off, and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
A 71-yard punt return for a touchdown by Austin Downs temporarily stopped the bleeding for Trimble, but Jim Easler opened the gap back up with a 40-yard pick-six with 3:40 remaining in the game to put St. Paul up, 41-13.
It was the sixth and final St. Paul interception on the night, with Rospert grabbing two, Easler one, and Grant Dilger a single-game record tying three.
“I’m excited for this opportunity and to be in the record books,” Dilger said. “But I’m more excited to be in the state championship with a special team.”