'Pressure of repeating' not a problem for Glenville in OHSAA football state finals rout

CANTON — What if Glenville had been where everyone thought it belonged (anywhere higher than Division IV)?

Would Canton South High School have been D4 state football champs?

The Wildcats might have had a great shot at it.

Glenville ran circles around Kettering Alter in Saturday night's OHSAA Division IV championship game, winning by knockout 38-3.

South arguably put up a better fight eight days earlier before falling 42-21 to Glenville in the state semifinals.

In that game, previously unbeaten South trailed just 14-7 and had the ball late in the second quarter. In this one, Glenville scored four first-half touchdowns while allowing none.

The Tarblooders had too much juice for Alter (12-4).

By halftime:

• Running back D'Shawntae Jones, whom head coach Ted Ginn thinks should be Ohio's Mr. Football, had 107 rushing yards.

• Quarterback Ruel Tomlinson had 62 running yards and was 8-for-12 passing.

• Ohio State commit Damarion Witten had touchdown catches of 38 and 17 yards.

• Glenville led 26-3.

Ginn is one of those coaches half the kids in the Cleveland area seem to want to play for. One new arrival in 2023 was the quarterback, Tomlinson, who spent the 2022 season at Walsh Jesuit.

One needn't go all the way back to Ginn's early days in a 26-year run to find the Tarblooders at the Division I level.

The last year for D1 was 2012. The Tarblooders were in Division II from  2013-16, in Division III from 2017-19, did not play in 2020 because of COVID-19, and have been in Division IV ever since.

A few miles south of Dayton, Kettering is far enough from Canton to be out of sight, out of mind.

Alter is a private school in a city of 58,000 whose public school, Division I Fairmont, beat Alter 24-21 in the season opener.

Flash forward to Game 15. Alter's 48-0 rout of Steubenville in the state semifinals got everyone's attention.

Glenville is much closer to Canton than Alter but is nearly as far off the local radar. The Tarblooders win over Canton South was their first game against a Stark County team since a win over Massillon in the 2009 playoffs.

Ginn has assembled the machinery to go at least as far as the state semifinals in 2004, 2009, 2013 and 2022. The '22 team was a 15-0 state champion.

The repeat in 2023 was in the bag when Jones blew through the middle for 18-yard touchdown and 32-3 lead. By the end of the third quarter, Glenville led 365 yards to 116.

Here’s a look at some of the key things to know about the game: 

Player of the Game: Ruel Tomlinson, quarterback, Glenville

The 6-foot-2, 215-pound senior was a force with his arm, his legs and his head. The lefty was at his best at the end of the first half when the Tarblooders took over with about a minute left, with pinpoint sideline completions gaining chunk yards and saving clock. He scored from the 2 with five seconds left in the half. He kept pouring it on, throwing a 78-yard TD pass to Quincy Rogers to make it a running clock with 8:41 left. Tomlinson was a backup QB at Walsh Jesuit in 2022 before transferring to Glenville.

Play of the Game: Ruel Tomlinson's 38-yard touchdown pass to Damarion Witten

Alter needed a stop to stay in the game midway through the second quarter. That seemed to mean stopping the run. Tomlinson's play-action fake got the secondary taking a step in. Witten broke wide open over the middle for a touchdown providing an 18-0 lead. Witten gave Canton South trouble eight days earlier, including a 19-yard TD catch as the first half expired. South was in the game up to that point. It remains to be seen whether the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Witten's position at Ohio State will be wideout or tight end.  

Three stats to an OHSAA football title

83: The number of yards Glenville was from the end zone when the Tarblooders went for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 17 on the opening series. For most of football history, no one would have gone for it in that situation. Now, it is almost as if it is not even rolling the dice, and instead is a dramatic but accepted option. The decision paid off. A short run got the first down. The Tarblooders used their speed to run the length of the field en route to a 20-yard TD keeper by Ruel Tomlinson.

92: The number of yards Ruel Tomlinson ran for an apparent touchdown on the second play of the game. The play was erased by a holding penalty, but it reflected the difference in speed that kept showing up throughout the game. On Glenville's first defensive snap, quick defensive tackle Philip Saines was in Alter's backfield just like that, causing a fumble

1,425-1,382: Glenville's advantage in pounds on the offensive line. Division IV is for medium-sized schools, but both teams played with big boys on their lines. Glenville had more classic size, including left tackle Freddie Johnson (6-5, 285), left guard Marquis Whipple (6-3, 290), center Matthew Gary (6-3, 295), right guard Isaiah Switzer (6-6, 305) and right tackle Jamar Bryant (6-1, 250). Glenville's quick ball carriers needed just a crease to be dangerous; this line kept providing that and more. Alter's line, left to right, was Noah Marquez (6-5, 262), Jackson Wright (5-10, 298), Jake Noga (6-0, 281), CJ Epps (6-2, 327) and Nathan Fussnecker (5-10, 214).

They said it

Glenville back D'Shawntae Jones on running 30 times for 161 yards: "They weren't stopping the run. If they can't stop the run, why stop running?"

Glenville head coach Ted Ginn after winning a second straight state championship: "The young people worked hard all year and set an example for all the inner city schools in all the country. I'm just happy to be in a position to do that. I'm proud of the children. I'm proud of the champions. We don't deal with the type of pressure of 'repeating.' We're here to develop young people to be ready for the world. We're teaching the game of life."

Coach Ginn on dominating to the tune of a 461-130 advantage in total yards and ending the game on a running clock: "I thought they were a good team and well coached. I really, really didn't expect this type of domination."

Ed Domisitz, 32-year Kettering Alter head coach, on getting blitzed a week after beating Steubenville 48-0: "It's tough when you know you are four quarters away from the gold and you fall off a cliff. I'm looking out there and Glenville looks like a D1 team. We've got no seniors who have been offered a D1 scholarship."

Alter captain Andy Duplain on rallying from a 2-2 start to the season: "No one expected us to make it here. I'm super proud of my team. It was a great season."

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Cleveland Glenville football wins OHSAA state championship