St. Edward knocks out Springfield for third straight year to win Division I state title

St. Edward scored 10 points in the second half to win the game

CANTON, Ohio - St. Edward and Springfield met in a heavyweight bout for the third straight season in the OHSAA Division I state championship game. And just like the last two times, it was St. Edward landing the hardest punches, this year coming away with a 31-21 win.

"It's a four quarter game, a 15-round fight," St. Edward head coach Tom Lombardo said. "Those middle rounds sometimes go back and forth and they certainly went probably more their way in the middle rounds, and then we were able to finish it."

The Eagles finished it with 10 points in the fourth quarter after the teams went to halftime tied 21-21 and neither team scored in the third quarter.

Kellen Moyer hit a 36-yard field goal with 6:54 left to make it 24-21 and then Brandon White iced it with a 3-yard touchdown run with 1:27 remaining. 

The offense leaned heavily on the run game as usual, behind Ohio State commit Ben Roebuck on the left side and Ohio State commits Devontae and Deontae Armstrong on the right side. With most of the run plays going to the left in the fourth, St. edward ran for 111 yards in that quarter alone. 

"Throughout all of our games so far, we just keep pounding on the D line until they start to give up," Roebuck said. "And then we feel that and it gives us the supreme confidence that they haven't been able to stop the run all day so why would they be able to once they get tired and from that point, that's where we dominate our games. And that's why we hold up the fours because the fourth quarter is when they're getting tired."

The beneficiary of that offensive line was once again White,  who ran for 235 yards and three touchdowns on 32 carries. It was the third game in a row that the 5-foot-8 sophomore had run for more than 200 yards. Not bad for a kid who didn;t see much action through the first five games.

"First of all, (Brandon) is a humble kid," Lombardo said. "I had him in class for math freshman year. I got to know him really well that way. And he did all his homework, which I was proud of. But anyway, the thing about it is vision in the hole. He sees the cut, sets up his box and he accelerates. And a lot of that is that is not kind of teachable."

Those middle rounds Lombardo talked about came after St. Edward had taken a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on touchdown runs by quarterback Casey Bullock and White.

Springfield battled back when Da'Shawn Martin recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown and Jayvin "Bay Bay" Norman each had a rushing touchdown with 3:48 left in the second quarter to tie the game.

St. Edward head coach Tom Lombardo is carried off by his players after winning the Division I state title on December 1, 2023. Photo credit: Jeff Harwell, SBLive Sports / Jeff Harwell, SBLive Ohio

After White scored his second touchdown just two minutes later, Norman returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown to tie the game again.

Springfield then recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and had the chance to take its first lead of the game as the second quarter ended, but quarterback Brent Upshaw was tackled at the 1-yard-line as time expired.

"We told our quarterback that if we didn't have the opportunity to make the pass, just throw it in the dirt so we could get a field goal," Springfield head coach Moe Douglass said. "And he thought he could get it in by running it and we missed out on an opportunity." 

The St. Edward defense came out in the second half and held Springfield to just 74 yards of offense with 35 of those yards coming after the White touchdown gave the Eagles a 10-point cushion.

"It's kind of like that classic saying of you come out and it's 0-0," St. Edward defensive lineman Troy Regovich said. "You start like it's the first quarter, you have toi come out thumping, you have to come out hitting. So we came out, reset our minds and stuck it to them."

While it is the third time in a row that St. Edward has beaten Springfield in the final game of the season, there was a difference between the last two and this one.

"I just think what distinguishes this is we did it with all the pressure on us," Lombardo said. "I'll be honest, I feel a little bit of relief, more than joy in some ways. I mean, don't get me wrong, I feel joy. But I also feel relief because I couldn't I wouldn't be able to handle the feeling of not getting the last one done for these guys and we got together and we found a way to do it under tough circumstances."

But Lombardo is not yet ready to talk about winning four in a row.

"Well, I'll tell you what, I'm not even going to think about four," Lombardo said. "I'm gonna get on this bus on the way home and I'm going to enjoy tonight. You're only as good as your last game and I'll tell you I'm going to enjoy my last game for a while."

- Ryan Isley | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveoh

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