CANTON – When the heartbroken Kirtland football team walked off the field last season on the short end of a 10-9 score in the Division V state championship game, the players made a secret pact with each other.
Never again would they feel that way, they vowed.
Because of their dominating performance on Friday, they won’t have to.
Kirtland piled up 588 yards of offense and shut down Haviland Wayne Trace’s vaunted passing game in a demonstrative 44-16 victory in the Division VI state championship game at Fawcett Stadium in Canton.
‘It’s incredible,’ senior Sam Kukura said. ‘After last year, we all got together and (said,) ‘We’re not going to have that feeling ever again.’
‘We wanted to go out with a bang.’
Between the offensive and defensive dominance, the performance might have been more like a sonic boom than a bang.
Kukura ran for 196 yards and a touchdown and junior running mate Adam Hess ran for 177 yards and two scores, as part of a 588-yard effort that is the fourth most-productive offensive performance in an Ohio state championship game.
Couple that with a defensive effort that recorded five sacks, forced two turnovers and held Wayne Trace 38 points shy of its season average, and it spelled blowout. Kirtland (15-0) wrapped up an undefeated season for the second time in three seasons and has a 44-1 record over that span.
‘Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of kids,’ said Kirtland coach Tiger LaVerde, still soaked from the water-bucket dousing he absorbed late in the game. ‘I’m very happy we can have a fun bus ride home because they deserve it.’
The game was close for a while. After Wayne Trace (13-2) answered a short touchdown run by Kirtland’s Sam Skiljan and ensuing two-point conversion run with a score and conversion pass of its own, the game was tied, 8-8, early in the second quarter.
From there, it was all Kirtland, which bludgeoned the Raiders with its punishing running game and unleashed a ferocious pass rush that kept quarterback Colby Speice on the run.
Kirtland scored five straight touchdowns before Wayne Trace scored its second – and final – touchdown.
By then, the game was, for all intents and purposes, over.
A big turning point came late in the half, with Kirtland holding a slim 15-8 lead. Kirtland marched 92 yards on seven plays, capping the drive with a 9-yard run by Hess for a touchdown. Then after a three-and-out, Kukura went 68 yards for a touchdown on the very next play after a Raiders punt.
In a matter of 3 minutes and 3 seconds, a tight 15-8 game had turned into a 30-8 blowout.
‘It was 22-8 and then 30-8,’ LaVerde said. ‘That was a big one. That last touchdown kind of broke their spirit a little bit.’
By the half, Kirtland had more than 300 yards rushing, and it was apparent Wayne Trace was having trouble on defense.
‘That seemed to take the wind out of our sails a little bit,’ Wayne Trace coach Bill Speller said.
If that didn’t, then the beginning portions of the third quarter did. With Wayne Trace jamming the line of scrimmage in an attempt to take away Kirtland’s running game, the Hornets tacked on two touchdown passes that were set up by play-action passes.
The first, a 24-yard pass from Skiljan to Ryan Loncar, made it 37-8. The second, a 51-yarder from Skiljan to Matthew Finkler, made it 44-8.
Wayne Trace answered with a 16-play drive that ended on Speice’s second touchdown pass of the game, but the outcome of the game had already been cemented.
‘I told the guys we were going to pop some long (plays),’ LaVerde said. ‘The first quarter it didn’t happen, but we were patient and got the big plays we thought would eventually come.’
Kirtland harassed Spiece, the co-offensive player of the year in Ohio, into an 18-for-44 performance and 262 yards, but most of it came in the second half with Kirtland way out in front.
‘We watched film and saw they hit a lot of deep balls,’ said Loncar, who set a state record with his 58th straight start at free safety. ‘Overall, we did a good job of keeping the ball in front of us.’
Finkler had a game-high 12.5 tackles and two sacks at linebacker, while three-time All-Ohioan Canon Schroeder had seven tackles and 4.5 tackles for loss.
‘Their pass rush did a nice job of putting pressure on Colby and making him move in the pocket and throw some untimely passes,’ Speller said. ‘Hats off to them for their relentless rush up the field.’
Kirtland finished the game like they did in 14 of their 15 games this season – with the starters on the sidelines watching the reserves finish up the game. When the final seconds ticked off the clock, just after LaVerde was drenched with the water bucket, the players spilled onto the field in euphoria.
One year after heartache, they made good on their sacred pact.
This feeling was far better than the one they swallowed the year before as they watched Coldwater celebrate a one-point victory in the Division V title game.
‘Every day in practice, that (heartbreak) is what we went off of,’ Hess said. ‘I don’t know if words describe this feeling. We worked hard all season to get here, so it feels great to be here enjoying this moment.’
