Crescent-News.com - Defiance earns share of first WBL title since 2000

By TIM McDONOUGH
mcdonough@crescent-news.com
The Western Buckeye League title was on the line Friday night when Defiance hosted Celina in the regular-season finale for both teams at Fred J. Brown Stadium. Behind a huge rushing effort by senior Travis Spitnale and solid defensive play, Defiance earned a share of its first WBL title since 2000 with a 35-14 win over the Mercer County Bulldogs.

Spitnale ran for 378 yards on 43 carries with three touchdowns on Senior Night, helping Defiance (8-2, 7-2 WBL) to a share the league crown with St. Marys, Lima Shawnee and Kenton. Spitnale's 43 carries are tied for the second most in a game (Josh Hacker, 1998 vs. St. Marys), while his 378 yards left him 62 short of tying the DHS single-game record of 440 set by Dick Osborn in 1929 against Van Wert.

"I knew we were going to run the ball a lot ... wow," stated Spitnale who finished the regular season with 1,557 yards on 268 carries with 16 touchdowns, the third most yards ever in a season at DHS. "In the first half we were trying to see what would work, but we figured out the trap was working so we ran it a lot in the second half.

"The offensive line was awesome, they executed tonight like the way you run it against air, they blocked perfectly," added Spitnale. "With them giving me those big holes, I just tried to finish off my runs hard, especially on the wet field."

Defiance mentor Jerry Buti was thrilled for a lot of reasons following the home victory over Celina (2-8, 2-7 WBL).

Said Buti: "We always expect to be a good, but to win a league title ... we knew it was going to be tough even though it's always one of our goals. For these kids to hang in there when everything looked bleak after we lost to St. Marys and Kenton, and then win their last three games and get it done says a lot.

"We reached three of our four goals, and right now the playoffs are still a possibility," added Buti. "We beat Napoleon, we won more than six games and we won a league title. All that happened because the kids believed."

Buti was also pleased with the performance of Spitnale and the Defiance offensive line.
"Our offensive line has been doing what they did tonight all year, but they still had something to prove," said Buti. "The last time we played on mud, we couldn't push St. Marys out of the way, but tonight they got it done. I know Travis had a huge amount of yards, he runs hard and always keeps his feet moving, but there were some pretty gaping holes up there."

Celina mentor Jared Rolfes admitted following the contest the DHS offensive line and Spitnale were the story of the game.

"The Defiance offensive line really moved us around, and that's a testament to their strength," said Rolfes. "Our defensive line was getting shoved around and our linebackers had offensive tackles in their face all night. Our technique was good, but when you're not physically stronger than someone across from you, you can only do so much."

Defiance jumped out a 21-0 lead late into the second quarter, of course grinding it out on the ground.
The home team took the opening kickoff and drove 50 yards on 10 plays, with senior Mark Sebring capping the drive with a 4-yard run to paydirt at the 7:06 mark of the opening stanza. Sebring also finished with 1 1/2 sacks on Celina QB Derek Gagle.

Said Sebring: "It feels great to go out there and win a WBL title for the first time in a long time here. To do it here at home on Senior Night was so big too. We went out there to win it and we got it done."
Defiance struck again with 7:59 to go in the second quarter when quarterback Sean Murray connected on a 21-yard scoring pass to Alex Nofziger. The junior wideout caught the ball at the Celina seven before breaking tackles to reach the end zone for a 14-0 Defiance lead.

Spitnale, who ran for 176 of his 378 yards in the first half, got into the scoring act with 3:23 to play in the first half when he broke free for a 38-yard scoring run to give Defiance a 21-0 lead.

Senior offensive lineman Glenn Ward was happy to be blocking for his fellow senior.

"The coaches this week kept telling us to work on the trap, work on the trap ... we ran it so much it was crazy," said Ward. "After running it as many times as we did tonight, I can see why we worked on it so much because it worked great. It was a great game for Travis, it was a great game for the offensive line, I just hope we get to play again."

Celina made a game of it, cutting Defiance's lead to 21-14 in the third quarter after finishing the first half with a late score.

Facing a fourth-and-14 at the Defiance 45, Celina went into the "lonesome pullcat" formation, keeping just the center and quarterback at the ball and sending the rest of the team out to the left. After snapping it, Gagle threw a 44-yard pass to Caleb Fickert, who finished with five catches for 127 yards and a score.

Gagle then snuck it in from the DHS one, cutting the deficit to 21-14 with 5:58 to go in the third quarter.

"We knew we had to get after Gagle, he's a good player and he made some plays tonight," stated DHS defensive lineman Zack Dempsey. "We kept getting after him though and we made plays when we needed to tonight."

From there Spitnale and the DHS offense took over, with Spitnale scoring on a 13-yard TD scamper and a big 54-yard run to the end zone to give Defiance a 35-14 lead with 11:49 to play in the game. The DHS defense also did its job, finishing with four sacks.

Now Defiance will wait and see if Week 11 is a possibility.

According to www.joeeitel.com, Defiance and Urbana are presently tied for the No. 8 spot in Region 10 with 19.0000 points, meaning the bid for the playoff spot will come down to third-level points. Unofficially according to the website, Defiance has 420 third-level points to 388 for Urbana. If that holds true Defiance will play at No. 1 seed Avon on Saturday at 7 p.m.

However, the official pairings will come out today (Sunday).

"A playoff berth would be icing on the cake, but if it doesn't happen I told the kids to enjoy this championship," concluded Buti. "If it happens, we'll get ready to play and see what happens."

CELINA DEFIANCE
First Downs 10 17
Rushing Yards 26-45 53-444
Passing Yards 167 35
Total Yards 212 479
Passing 9-21-1 3-8-1
Fumbles 0 0
Fumbles Lost 0 0
Penalties 1-5 5-40

Celina 0 7 7 0 -- 14
Defiance 7 14 7 7 -- 35

Defiance - Sebring 4-yard run (Sebring kick).
Defiance - Nofziger 21-yard pass from Murray (Sebring kick).
Defiance - Spitnale 38-yard run (Sebring kick).
Celina - Fickert 23-yard pass from Gagle (Wlodarczyk kick).
Celina - Gagle 1-yard run (Wlodarczyk kick).
Defiance - Spitnale 13-yard run (Sebring kick).
Defiance - Spitnale 54-yard run (Sebring kick).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Celina - Dues 12-39; Knapke 3-10; Braun 3-5; Paulus 1-2; Gagle 7-(-11). Defiance - Spitnale 43-378; Stuck 3-49; Sebring 2-8; Murray 2-5; Nofizger 1-2; Pritchett 2-2.
PASSING: Celina - Gagle 9-20-167-1; Paulus 0-1-0-0. Defiance - Murray 3-8-35-1.
RECEIVING: Celina - Fickert 5-127; Wilson 1-20; Moran 2-15; Braun 1-5. Defiance - Nofziger 3-35.