MASSILLON (AP) -- Austin Bruns and 22 other Coldwater High School seniors saved the best for last.
Bruns passed for 233 yards and one touchdown as the Cavaliers took the Division V state football championship away from Kirtland 10-9 Saturday in a rematch of the 2011 title game on the same field at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
"It's awesome to win our final game, something we will always remember," said Bruns, who also ran for 97 yards.
The Cavaliers (15-0), ranked No. 1 in the final Associated Press poll, earned their third title, and first since 2007. They had lost in the title game each of the three previous years and the graduating class became the first in Ohio to play 60 games. They finally won it all in No. 60.
"These 23 seniors won 18 playoff games," coach Chip Otten said. "Almost every high school team in every sport loses its final game somewhere along the line. These guys got their biggest win in their last chance."
They did it with defense, holding Damon Washington, the AP's co-offensive player of the year in the division to 39 yards on 11 carries. Though Adam Hess ran for 86 yards for Kirtland (14-1), the Hornets totaled only 25 yards passing.
"It's so very frustrating," Hornets coach Tiger LaVerde said. "Our defense came to play, did an outstanding job. But our offense never got into rhythm. I called a bad game. It is on me. I take the blame."
Coldwater's senior-laden defense had more than little to do with it. The Cavaliers held 13 of 15 opponents to single-digit scoring this year, racking up six shutouts.
"Our defense was the anchor," said Bruns, who passed 7 yards to Mitch Schoenherr for a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.
The Hornets (14-1) tied it on a 4-yard pass from Scott Eilerman to Matthew Finkler -- one of only four passes Kirtland completed in a paltry 11 attempts.
Kyle Bergman's 28-yard field on the first half's final play put Coldwater up 10-7.
"That won the game for us," Bruns said. "Kyle put in a lot of work on his kicking, and it is great to see guys who put in the work get the reward."
Kirtland got within 10-9 when Sam Skiljan tackled Brody Hoying in the end zone for a safety in the fourth.
Hoying intercepted a pass with 1:05 left to preserve the win.
"Words can't describe the feeling," Cavaliers senior receiver Caleb Siefring said. "Each championship loss was like a dagger. Finally, we won."
Kirtland now knows the feeling of despair in coming so close without winning.
"We lost one game in two years," LaVerde said. "It stinks that it had to be today."
Division I State Championship
Cinc. Moeller 20, Tol. Whitmer 12
CANTON -- Cincinnati Moeller now has a second generation of football heroes.
Spencer Iacavone's efficient passing and a stout defense helped the Crusaders (12-3) defeat Toledo Whitmer 20-12 for the Ohio Division I championship Saturday night at Fawcett Stadium. It was their seventh title -- but first since 1985.
"Some of our fathers were on those teams," Iacovone said of Moeller's string of six championships in eight years up until 1982. "I can't explain how much it means."
Iacovone went 15 of 19 for 161 yards and a 7-yard touchdown pass to Keith Watkins for Moeller, which used a high-powered offense to get to its 12th title game -- then won with defense.
Moeller came in allowing 25.3 points a game, but Whitmer's point total was the lowest by any Crusaders' opponent this year.
"We saved the best for last and that's just great," Crusaders coach John Rodenberg said. "We had a young defense that grew up. We got a little tougher. We bent a lot, but didn't break tonight."
Matt Reiniger kicked field goals of 20 and 22 yards, the last coming with 1:54 to play for Moeller.
The Panthers (14-1) got 288 total yards from quarterback Nick Holley, including 196 yards and two TDs in the air, in their first championship game.
"We had a good ride, but not good enough," said Holley, who hooked up with twin brother Nate for 8 receptions and 135 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown that got the Panthers within 17-12 in the third quarter.
The Panthers scored first, when Nick Holley found a wide-open Micha Dzikowski for a 37-yard TD pass.
"We wanted to take away their running game and so they hit a bunch of passes and scored anyway," Rodenberg said. "We made some adjustments and just worked hard on defense all night."
It frustrated the high-powered Panthers, who had reached the title game with a 62-34 win over Mentor in the semifinals.
"They took away our running game," Whitmer coach Jerry Bell said. "They did what we try to do, make a team one-dimensional. Then we made some penalties and turnovers, which is uncharacteristic."
Moeller scored 17 straight points and appeared ready to put the game away when Whitmer's Marcus Elliott scooped up a fumble by Watkins. He rumbled 15 yards into the end zone for an apparent score that was called back for a referee's inadvertent whistle.
After a false start penalty, Holley found brother Nate wide open in the left corner for the 20-yard score to get within five points.
"We still didn't get in rhythm on offense," Bell said. "Give them credit.
"We're extremely disappointed, but this senior class fulfilled its' legacy," Bell said.
The Crusaders restablished theirs.
"We've put Moeller back on the map," Watkins said. "It's been a long time and it is a real honor to do it."
Division III State Championship
Akron St. V.-St. M. 42, Bellevue 21
CANTON -- After Parris Campbell Jr. ran for 165 yards and three touchdowns, the precocious 15-year-old was more in awe of Newman Williams' scintillating scoring run.
Williams' spectacular 41-yard effort helped Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary beat Bellevue, 42-21 Saturday for the Division III state football championship.
"I didn't think he was going to score," Campbell said. "He had guys hanging on and he just chucked them all into the end zone."
Williams' run came on a fake punt. The 215-pound junior rumbled 20 yards around left end, broke three tackles, bowled over a defender, then dragged another along the final 5 yards to score.
It helped the Fighting Irish (13-2) win their fifth title, first since 1988, and pleased their most famous alum, LeBron James. The basketball star tweeted his approval and the message was quickly relayed to Williams on the bench.
"I was excited, but not too much because I had to finish the game," Williams said.
Fighting Irish coach Dan Boarman marveled at the effort.
"He was just hungry for the goal line," Boarman said. "I had to laugh because in the old days, I used to call a fake punt all the time, maybe 14 or 15 a year. This one was worth it."
Seconds later, Williams intercepted a pass at his own 47. Five plays later, he scored from 5 yards to make it 35-14. He appeared stopped at the 2 before bowling over a defender to score.
Jalen Santoro had TD passes of 27, 13 and 27 yards for Bellevue (13-2), in its first title game.
The Redmen came out with emotion, led by linebacker Dalton Jarvis making key stops.
"The effort was there all day," Redman coach Ed Nasonti said. "Their hearts are torn right now, but they should be proud of what they accomplished this season.
Bellevue trailed at halftime 21-14 against the swift Irish and Nasonti didn't consider that all that bad.
"I felt good being down by seven, but the margin for error was small against a team like that and we made a couple of mistakes," he said.
Irish quarterback Clayton Uecker went 11 for 19 for 154 yards and one touchdown, an 11-yard pass to 5-foot-6 Fransohn Bickley, a senior who also plays on defense.
"He's fearless and typifies the program," Boarman said. "In practice, he'll even go up against Williams."
Bickley laughed as he confirmed his willingness to go up against his big teammate.
"I tried it once," he said. "Once. I'm not saying I brought him down, but I hit him."
Friday's Games
Division II State Championship
TCC 16, Trotwood-Madison 12
MASSILLON -- After rushing for 185 yards and two touchdowns, Amir Edwards wanted to talk about defense.
Toledo Central Catholic won its second Division II state football championship by beating defending champion Trotwood-Madison 16-12 on Friday night on the strength of Edwards' running and a stout defensive effort.
"Staying focused on both sides of the ball was key," Edwards said. "We knew they were good. We had to match them, and we did."
The Fighting Irish (14-1) held Trotwood-Madison running back Israel Green to 56 yards on 14 carries. A year ago, Green had 326 yards and six touchdowns when the Rams won the title.
Coach Greg Dempsey praised the defense, saying it "rose up."
"To hold (Green) back the way we did is spectacular," Dempsey said. "Trotwood-Madison made plays, but our kids were in the right place every time."
The biggest was a fourth-down stop with 1:39 left in the first half. Central Catholic stopped the Rams from getting the 2 yards they needed and took over at the Trotwood-Madison 42. Edwards scored from 8 yards just five plays later for a 14-0 lead.
"That one's on me," Rams coach Maurice Douglass said. "We should have punted, and I'll take responsibility. We can man up and do that."
Dempsey said it was the turning point.
"It was beyond huge," he said. "You look back, and that was the game."
Irish tackle Jon Perrin Jr. didn't second-guess the Rams' decision.
"I wasn't surprised they went for it," said the 305-pound senior. "It's the state championship, so why not go? But we made a real big play."
Trotwood-Madison (12-3) got a pair of touchdown passes from Messiah Deweaver in the fourth quarter. He hit Ryon Lucas from 13 yards with 9:20 to play and connected with Demarcus Wilson from 24 yards with 2:38 left.
Dempsey fretted about nearly blowing the lead.
"I was extremely worried that I would not be allowed on the bus," Dempsey said. "It was as nerve-racking as it could be."
Toledo Central Catholic's only loss this season was a 42-0 rout by Toledo Whitmer on the final week of the regular season. Whitmer (14-0) will play for the Division I title Saturday night in Canton.
Junior quarterback DeShone Kizer called the loss "the most important thing that happened all season."
"We knew we had to step it up in the playoffs, that we were not invincible like maybe we thought," he said.
Trotwood-Madison failed to cross midfield until the fourth quarter.
"I'm sad for my seniors because I felt we deserved to win," Douglass said.
Toledo Central Catholic also won the title in 2005.
Division IV State Championship
Clinton-Massie 46, St.Clairsville 36
CANTON -- Bayle Wolf's biggest play wasn't one of his five touchdowns.
Wolf ran for 220 yards and all those scores, but his interception with 1:30 left helped preserve Clinton-Massie's 46-36 win over St. Clairsville on Friday for the Falcons' first state Division IV football championship.
"It was huge," Wolf said. "They had some momentum. I was just so happy. I had some green ahead of me, but I just slid down so that I didn't make a mistake and just win the game."
Wolf scored on a 9-yard run and 36-yard pass from Tyler Uetrecht in the first three minutes for the Falcons (15-0). They totaled 822 points this year, a state record for any level.
"That's just an overwhelming feat," coach Dan McSurley said. "You don't go into a season thinking you can do that."
St. Clairsville (14-1) rallied from a 19-0 deficit in its first title game. The Red Devils got within 39-36 as Matt Kinnick passed for 437 yards. The senior quarterback had scoring throws of 7, 76, 9 yards and 46 yards to Jerrid Marhefka.
"It was as we expected, a lot of emotion and both teams showed some of the fireworks that people thought would happen," Red Devils coach Brett McLean said. "We couldn't quite claw all the way back."
Marhefka had nine receptions and a title-game record 272 yards. Kinnick finished 21 of 39 for 437 yards, two shy of the state title game mark in the division.
"We played well, got into our offense, but they are so tough to stop," Kinnick said. "They just overwhelmed us in blocking."
Clinton-Massie totaled 408 yards on 60 carries. Wyatt Running added 101 yards, including a 6-yard touchdown.
Yet it was the Falcons' unheralded defense that came through in the fourth quarter. They held St. Clairsville to its' lowest point total of the season -- helped by stopping the Red Devils on four downs inside the 2.
"That was the game right there, actually," McSurley said.
McLean agreed: "We needed that one more score right there, and then one more stop. We were confident we could score and we put up some points. We lived on speed all season, but they matched it."
Still, St. Clairsville kept moving the ball on offense, just about matching the Falcons' potent attack.
"I was on pins and needles all the time," McSurley said. "That it came down to Bayle's interception to win it shows how close it really was. That was the play of the game."
Division VI State Championship
M.Stein M. Local 28, N. Catholic 21
MASSILLON -- Hunter Wilker had not practiced even one play at running back all year.
Pressed into service due to injuries, the freshman wide receiver ran for three touchdowns to lead Maria Stein Marion Local to its sixth state football championship, a 28-21 win over Newark Catholic on Friday.
Wilker scored on a 1-yard run with 21 seconds left to put the Flyers (13-2) ahead.
Newark Catholic (12-3), seeking its ninth state title, incredibly drove into position to tie it, but Nate Nagel broke up a potential touchdown at the goal line with no time left.
"This is the toughest game I've ever coached," said Tim Goodwin, whose record at the small school from western Ohio improved to 154-40. "Of all the championships, this was the hardest, without a doubt."
The Flyers repeated as champions despite losing starting tailback Jacy Goettemoeller to a leg injury on the first drive of the game and his replacement Aaron Nietfeld with a shoulder problem in the third quarter.
"Losing Jacy took the wind out of our sails, but the kids stayed focused, worked hard, and did the job," Goodwin said.
"Hunter was a running back in junior high. We played him at wide receiver because we had other runners ahead of him. He hadn't practiced at tailback all year, but came in and didn't miss a beat.
"And what can I say about Nate? He had not played much at all, and they went at him with the game on the line. He made the play. That's not coaching. That's character."
Chayce Croch threw two TD passes and had a 5-yard TD run for Newark Catholic.
"We didn't win, but we gave every fiber that we possess," Green Wave coach Bill Franks said.
Franks was choked with emotion as he spoke of Newark Catholic's first run to the title game since winning its eighth championship in 2007.
"I love these kids," Franks said, fighting back tears. "To get here was a wonderful ride."
Marion Local has won all six of its championships since 2000. Newark Catholic dominated in the 1980s, winning five titles and getting three runner-up finishes in that decade.
"These guys are the new giants and we're the old giants," Franks said. "But we haven't gone away."
Wilker scored from 6 yards 19 seconds left in the first half. Moved to running back after Nietfeld went down, Wilker picked his way through the right side for an 11-yard TD with 18 seconds left in the third quarter for a 21-14 lead.
Newark Catholic tied it at 21 on a 20-yard pass from Croch to Kevin Bourne, who finished with 121 yards on seven receptions overall.
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