The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Kirtland got its wish, made it count
Be careful what you wish for, they say — you just might get it.
The Kirtland football team took that notion, crumpled it into a wad and chucked it into the nearest garbage can at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on Nov. 30.
Motivated by anger and fueled by the embarrassment from a 34-11 piledriving at the hands of Marion Local in the 2017 Division VI state championship game, Kirtland got the rematch it wanted — and virtually begged for — all season long, and dominated the tradition-rich power from western Ohio, 16-7, in the 2018 state final on the last day of November.
Yeah, Kirtland would have been glad to face and beat - anyone this year for its fourth state championship.
That it came against the team that beat them last year wasn’t just special. It was important. Borderline imperative. “After last year, they got us good,” said senior running back/linebacker Jake Neibecker. “(The series) was tied 1-1. We knew this year if we got back, we wanted the tiebreaker. “We got it.” And did so with an emphatic exclamation point.
The vaunted Kirtland rushing game not only chewed up 303 yards rushing, but maybe more importantly dominated the time of possession in giving the Hornets a 35:23-to18:37 advantage.
The beleaguered defense that struggled to stop Mogadore and Fort Frye came up with its best performance of the season in holding the Flyers to 228 yards, but more importantly a minuscule rushing performance (21 carries, 41 yards).
And special teams shined, with Mario Rodin’s third-quarter field goal making it a two-score game and senior Jack Bailey blocking a late field goal that kept it a twoscore game.
“We saved the best for last,” said Kirtland defensive coordinator Ryan Beeler.
Kirtland coach Tiger LaVerde, whose career record after the win ballooned to 159-17 (.903), said multiple times in the postgame news conference the importance of making the sport fun.
For instance, the team came to Canton the night before the game, had pizza and took in a movie together. Memories were being made to last a lifetime.
But before coming to Canton, the team took one last look at a sign in the weight room that reads “34-11,” the score of last year’s “whipping” — as LaVerde put it — at the hands of Marion Local.
That sign has been hanging in the weight room since the day after last year’s state final.
“Mad. Angry. Pissed,” said Bailey of his mood, as well as that of his team, all offseason and all season. “We knew we had unfinished business to do. We knew they’d be good again, and if we wanted another shot, we had work to do.”
Bailey was critical of of his team’s performance the past two weeks in closer-than-expected wins over Mogadore and Fort Frye.
“If we play like this next week,” he said after the win over Fort Frye, “we’re gonna get killed.”
Kirtland made sure it played its best when it needed it.
The Hornets repeatedly went for it on fourthand-short, including on the game’s first drive deep in their own territory, and also late when they wanted to run out the clock.
They physically dominated the line of scrimmage but running the ball right through the heart of the Marion Local defense.
And their defense shut down everything, limiting 6-foot-6 QB Nathan Bruns to 11 yards per completion and holding the Flyers to 41 yards rushing on 21 carries.
“How many rushing yards did we have,” Marion Local coach Tim Goodwin asked, then looking down at his stat sheet. “Forty-one? I didn’t know it was that bad.
“That was the difference of the game. We could not rush the ball and did not feel confident in our rushing.”
When a year earlier the Flyers did whatever they wanted in a 34-11 win in which they had a running clock going on the Hornets for a good portion of the second half.
When Kirtland got the last first down it needed in order to run out the clock LaVerde — a handful of feet onto the field— pumped his fist twice toward the ground.
Even before the clock hit zero, the players were running onto the field to celebrate the victory they had worked so hard for against the opponent they yearned to see again.
In this case, getting exactly what you wish for was a good thing.
It brought out the best in the Hornets on the grandest of stages.
“No doubt,” Bailey said, “I’d say this definitely makes up for last year.”
Kampf can be reached via email at JKampf@NewsHerald.com; On Twitter: @JKBuckeyes and @NHPreps