MASSILLON — All year long, the St. John’s football team had a lot of doubters: they were too young, they were a year away, on and on.
The team motto was “Leave No Doubt.”
When push came to shove, the doubters were proven wrong one final time in 2008.
The Blue Jays scored the final 27 points Friday morning/afternoon at Massillon’s Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, besting previously-unbeaten Hopewell-Loudon 34-14 to win “One for the Thumb” — title No. 5 Div. VI — in the program’s history.
“We fed on all those doubters. We heard it all about how we shouldn’t be here; every time, we used it as motivation,” St. John’s coach Todd Schulte began. “I think that’s why this one is so sweet. We were crying after the game because it was so overwhelming. This is a great lesson for these kids throughout life: work your butt off, no matter what others say. A lot of people wanted to play St. John’s in the playoffs; be careful what you ask for.”
The Chieftains (14-1) had no answer for Ulm running the triple option or middle option; he amassed 198 yards on 24 carries. Overall, the Blue and Gold (13-2) ran 54 times for 299 yards en route to 389 yards of total offense.
“We saw on film that Ulm was a load; we saw it live today. He’s very slippery; we missed some tackles and at times we weren’t where we were supposed to be,” Hopewell-Loudon coach Brian Colatruglio said. “We tried to make our adjustments and they adjusted; it was a chess match. I told everyone who asked what were the keys: turnovers, field position and getting off the field on third downs. They won all three and you won’t be a great team like if you don’t win two of them.”
The Jays struck first — after an HL 3-and-out — with a 5-play, 50-yard assault. Lest no one forget, sophomore tailback Jordan Leininger (18 rushes, 58 yards) took a “O” pitch off left tackle, immediately cut inside and found paydirt. Rode made it 7-0 with 9:44 showing in the opener.
After the kickoff out of bounds set the Chieftains at the 35, they replied with a 6-play scoring drive. At the St. John’s 9, Aaron Kapelka (14 totes, 58 yards) took a handoff to the right and cut back quickly on a zone play to find the end zone. Jay Yost’s conversion made it 7-7 at the 7:40 mark.
Sophomore A.J. Klausing returned the kickoff 28 yards to the 42. However, on 4th-and-inches at the Hopewell 48, Leininger was dropped short of the first down. Eight plays later at the Blue Jay 12, Tyler Brown (14-of-27 passing, 182 yards) hit Jay Yost (8 grabs, 105 yards) on a quick slant — despite close coverage — on the right side for the score. Yost extended the margin to 14-7 with 33 ticks to go in the quarter.
The Jays turned it over on a Justin Hohman pick at the Hopewell 47. However, the Jays stopped Brown on a 4th-and-3 at the Blue and Gold 40.
It was all Jays after that, with the option attack becoming almost their exclusive offense. With Hopewell choosing to take away Leininger and senior fullback Matt Brinkman (10 totes, 48 yards), that left openings galore for Ulm. Like on play five at the Hopewell 26. He ran an option to the right, literally found the hashmark and soon the end zone. Rode’s kick tied it at 14 with 7:16 left in the half.
The Jays reached Hopewell’s 37 on the next possession but sophomore punter Alex Recker pinned HL at the 4.
An 11-yard shanked punt set the Jays up at their foe’s 31. Ulm ran an option for five, then dropped and found senior wideout Jay Leininger on  a  beautiful   throw  to   the right pylon for the TD with 50 seconds left. Rode made the halftime score 21-14.
“We’d have been content to go in tied at 14 but that shanked punt gave us a great opportunity, especially considering we were getting the ball to start the second half,” Schulte said.
To open the second half, the Jays went on a back-breaking, soul-stealing 16-play, 77-yard sojourn that chewed up 8:55 of the third. It included a rambling, scrambling, defense-sapping 24-yard run by Ulm. On 4th-and-5 at the HL 6, after a timeout, Jo. Leininger plowed right behind an unbalanced power-I set and simply would not be denied the end zone. Rode’s point-after was blocked by Matt Brickner for 27-14 lead with 3:05 showing.
“Hopewell did a great job on the ‘O.’ We just figured that we’d put the ball in Wes’s hands and run two basic plays: the triple and middle options; and let them guess,” Schulte noted. “They were bound and determined to take Matt and Jordan away. Then, our line did a great job of getting to their linebackers . Defensively, (defensive coordinator) Coach (Steve) Recker talked about adjusting some coverages. I let him take care of that.”
Hopewell tried to retaliate and got to the Jays’ 35. Brown tried  to  go  deep  down  the middle; sophomore safety Tyler Bergfeld tipped it and senior Brad Hoffman grabbed it at the 1 with 21 ticks left in the period.
“I felt we had controlled the first half but that late touchdown hurt us. Then when they take 3/4 of the clock off of the third and score, that allowed them to pin their ears back and ignore the running game,” Colatruglio added. “We never had the ball the second half; for us to only give up 13 points was amazing. I’m as proud as I can be of these kids. These seniors have played 56 games in four years: they have only lost two times in 30 games the last two years, both in the finals.”
Recker’s 46-yard punt got the Jays out of trouble and an illegal block on the Chieftains — the only penalty of the game — pushed them back to their own 41. On the second play, Brown threw into double coverage and was picked by A.J. Klausing at the Jays’ 46.
Two plays later at the 47, Ulm rolled right on a play-action pass; right before getting belted, he threw back to Jo. Leininger on the left hash. He grabbed it at the 35 and was gone. Rode’s kick made it 34-14 with 8:08 to go.
The final nail in the HL coffin was a Yost fumble recovered  by  junior  linebacker Joel Pohlman at the 42 with 7:03 to go.
The Jays ran off the rest of the clock, with Ulm taking a knee on the last two plays to finish it off.
“Everyone talks about the sophomores but it was the 12 seniors that were a huge part of their development. The sophomores got stronger because the seniors led them,” Schulte added.