Auroraadvocate.com - Tigers hoping to follow in Aurora's shoes, grab title

by Ken Lahmers

Editor

For the second straight year, a Chagrin Valley Conference football team will be battling for a state championship.

Last year, it was Aurora, which won the Division III title over Columbus Eastmoor Academy. This year, it will be Chagrin Falls (14-0), which will face defending champion Kettering Alter (14-0) in the Division IV title game Dec. 5 at 11 a.m. in Canton's Fawcett Stadium.

Two other Cleveland area schools will vie for state titles -- Maple Heights in Division II and Cleveland Glenville in Division I.

Maple Heights (12-2) will meet Cincinnati Winton Woods (12-2) on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. in Massillon and Glenville (13-1) will battle Hilliard Davidson (12-1) Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. in Canton.

The Tigers, champions of the CVC's Chagrin Division this fall, defeated Ottawa-Glandorf 20-14 in the semifinals, and will be in the state title game for the first time.

Chagrin Falls went on top 7-0 on a 25-yard run by Chris Gorman. The game was tied at 7 at halftime, then fell behind 14-7 in the third quarter.

A 31-yard pass from Chris Trinetti to Pat Nadeau tied the game, and Bobby Winkleman scored the deciding touchdown on a 1-yard run with about 2 minutes left.

OTTAWA-GLANDORF threatened to score late in the game, but a fourth down pass was batted down in the endzone with 10 seconds left.

Winkleman gained 142 yards on 16 carries, but the losers outgained Chagrin Falls 325-308 in total yardage Trinetti added 68 yards rushing and 64 yards passing.

Glenville beat Massillon 31-17 in the Division I semifinals, as quarterback Cardale Jones completed 9 of 20 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns and ran 16 times for 150 yards with a 26-yard TD jaunt.

Toney Foster ran for a 51-yard TD and Christian Bryant booted a 28-yard field goal.

In the Division II semifinals, Maple Heights downed Lake Catholic 21-17 with a come-from-behind effort.

The Mustangs were led by Shaq Washington's 193 yards rushing on 30 carries and DeVonte Ransom's 129 yards on 18 carries. Ransom tallied two touchdowns and Washington one.

Here are the matchups in the other state title games:

Division III -- Youngstown Cardinal Mooney (14-0) vs. Columbus DeSales (11-3), Dec. 4 at 11 a.m. in Massillon; Division V -- Youngstown Ursuline (10-3) vs. Coldwater (13-1), Dec. 4 at 3 p.m. in Canton; and Division VI -- Norwalk St. Paul (14-0) vs. Delphos St. John's (14-0), Dec. 5 at 3 p.m. in Massillon.

E-mail: klahmers@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3155