Massillon wins first OHSAA football playoff state title: Ohio high school football 2023 rewind

Massillon defeated Archbishop Hoban for the 2023 OHSAA Division II football state championship, bringing home the first state title in the Ohio playoff era

Massillon head coach Nate Moore and players look on during the postgame trophy presentations after winning the 2023 OHSAA Division II state championship with a 7-2 win over Archbishop Hoban. / Jeff Harwell, SBLive Sports

As we get ready for the beginning of the 2024 Ohio high school football season, we wanted to take a look back at 2023 to see how the season ended in each of the state’s seven divisions with a rewind recap of the state championship game.

In this edition, we will take a look at the 2023 OHSAA Division II state championship game, which saw Massillon defeat Archbishop Hoban, 7-2.

Massillon 7, Archbishop Hoban 2

Prior to the 2023 football season Massillon's Paul Brown Tiger Stadium was home to 24 state championship banners. But none had come since 1970, two seasons before championships in Ohio were determined through the playoffs.

The wait for a playoff title came to an end on December 1, 2023, as the Tigers took down Archbishop Hoban 7-2 in a defensive slugfest for the Division II state championship.

The only touchdown of the game came midway through the second quarter, as running back Mylen Lenix broke through for a 6-yard touchdown run to give massillon a 7-0 lead after the PAT by Vinny Keller.

The touchdown was set up by the special teams of Massillon, who blocked a punt by Hoban to give the tIgers the ball at the Hoban 28.

Hoban got on the board with 1:40 left in the second quarter as Tanner Mintz tackled Massillon quarterback DaOne Owens in the end zone for a safety. As witht he Massillon touchdown, special teams played a factor in this score as the Hoban punt coverage team downed a punt at the 1-yard-line.

The teams traded scoreless possessions the rest of the way, with Hoban getting one final good chance in the fourth quarter after another play by the special teams when Massillon faced a fourth down at its own 40 with just over 7:30 left in the game and tried a fake punt. Hoban sniffed it out and made a stop to take over on downs.

Hoban took over possession and moved the ball to the Massillon 10, facing a 3rd-and-1. But the next snap went over the head of quarterback Tylan Boykin and Hoban recovered it for a loss of seven yards to set up a 4th-and-8 from the 17 with the game on the line.

Boykin rolled to his right and launched a ball near the end zone to Jackson Callaway, but the ball was behind Callaway, who was covered by Dorian Pringle, and the ball fell incomplete to effectively end the game with just 1:22 left.

Pringle had missed the previous several games with an injury but came back to play one final game and led the Tigers with 14 tackles.

“It was pretty important to me (to play),” Pringle said. “I just wanted to suit up again with my brothers for one last time and try to bring something else to the team like energy.”

With the Tigers in victory formation, the orange-and-black clad home stands erupted with cheers that may have been loud enough to hear at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, less than eight miles from where the games were played at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.

“They showed up tonight, but they showed up all year," Massillon head coach Nate Moore said. “There are people in the city of Massillon who scrape their pennies together to come to our games and to come to this game tonight and we couldn’t be more appreciative of them. And we're so honored to be able to bring a gold trophy home to the city of Massillon tonight.”

The defenses were the story on this night, as Hoban had 179 total yards of offense and Massillon had just 120.

2023 OHSAA Division II state semifinals

Massillon 55, Cincinnati Anderson 7
Archbishop Hoban 17, Avon 14

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