Ulm, Blue Jays rip through Hopewell-Loudon for fifth state title

MASSILLON - Wes Ulm.

Hopewell-Loudon saw the Delphos St. John's quarterback coming, but it couldn't do anything to stop him.

It was Ulm running the option keeper, followed by plenty more of Ulm faking handoffs and darting inside for sizeable gains.

When it was over, Ulm had run over Hopewell-Loudon to help Delphos St. John's to a 34-14 victory to capture the Division VI football state championship Friday at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

A crowd of 5,759 watched the Blue Jays go 5-for-5 in state title trips. St. John's won titles in 1997, '98, '99 and '05.

This one came with 10 sophomore starters and off the heels of a 2-8 season in 2007.

"I think we left no doubt that we're not a year away," Ulm said. "We're here and we deserve to be here."

Ulm finished with 198 yards rushing on 24 carries with a 26-yard touchdown.

"If you want to talk offense, you talk a pretty sound option game that we were able to run today. It boiled down to for three quarters we ran two different option plays," Delphos St. John's coach Todd Schulte said.

In the air, Ulm completed 3-of-8 for 90 yards with two TDs.

"He's a load," Hopewell-Loudon coach Brian Colatruglio said of Ulm. "There were times where we weren't where we were supposed to be, but there were times we'd hit him for a 2, 3 yard-gain and he'd get 6, 7."

The Blue Jays' defense came up with two interceptions of Tyler Brown, one by Brad Hoffman and one by A.J. Klausing. Hoffman's came at the St. John's 1-yard line, with the Blue Jays leading 27-14 in the third quarter.

"When you get to this level, you have to play perfect," Colatruglio said. "We didn't and St. John's nearly did. They played great football and they deserve it."

Top-ranked Hopewell-Loudon (14-1) led 14-7 after the first quarter. Delphos St. John's (13-2), which was ranked No. 11 in the final state poll, came back and tied the game at 14 on a 26-yard TD run by Ulm with 7:16 left before halftime.

St. John's took the lead to stay 21-14 with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Ulm to Jay Leininger in the right corner of the end zone with 50 seconds left before halftime.

The play was set up by a bad punt from Hopewell-Loudon's Jay Yost, whose 11-yard punt nicked off the side of his foot. That gave St. John's a first down at the Chieftains' 31. Two plays later, Ulm hit Jay Leininger for the score.

"We would have been content to go in 14-14, but to get that score ... that was huge," Schulte said.

St. John's tailback Jordan Leininger finished with 58 yards on 18 carries with two rushing TDs (9, 6). He also caught a 53-yard pass out of the backfield going down the left sideline.

St. John's fullback Matt Brinkman ran for 48 yards on 10 carries.

St. John's came out early running the option. The Blue Jays went 50 yards in five plays for a score. Ulm ran twice for 30 yards on the drive. Jordan Leininger strolled in from the 9 to make it 7-0.

With that, the St. John's offense was in place for the rest of the day. There would be plenty of option to come.

"They were really taking away (fullback) Matt (Brinkman) and Jordan (Leininger) and letting me run," Ulm said. "But the guys up front really did a good job of staying on their blocks and giving me holes. They just let me go.

"They had to pick and choose. Jordan's a horse and Matt's a horse. When we can run the option effectively like that, it's hard to stop."

Hopewell-Loudon's Brown came in with 3,348 yards passing and 42 touchdowns. His passing game clicked early. After Brown's 12-yard TD pass to Jay Yost, the Chieftains owned a 14-7 lead with 33 seconds left in the first quarter.

St. John's came right back and went 58 yards in five plays to tie the game at 14 on Ulm's 26-yard score.

The Blue Jays took the opening kick in the third quarter and pounded out a 77-yard, 16-play drive for a score, which chewed 8:55 off the clock. On the drive, Ulm ran seven times for 55 yards, including scrambling back-and-forth across the field for 24 yards.

Then, on fourth-and-5 from the Hopewell-Loudon 6, Jordan Leininger powered his way in from the 6 on a toss play to make it 27-14 with 3:05 left in the third.

"The best way to stop our offense is to try to run the ball, control the ball and score points," Colatruglio said. "We (the defense) couldn't get off the field."

Jordan Leininger's 53-yard TD reception made it 34-14 with 8:08 to go.

Defensivley, St. John's contained the high-octane offense. Brown completed 14-of-27 for a playoff-low 182 yards. He had one touchdown and two interceptions. Aaron Kapelka ran for 58 yards on 14 carries.

"We can't turn the ball over. I haven't thrown two picks in one game all year," Brown said. "You can't throw picks."

Middle linebacker Chris Pohlman led the Blue Jay's defense with nine tackles.

"We made some adjustments with the coverages we were doing," Schulte said.

With the defense in place, it was back to running more of the option for the Blue Jays to reach their fifth title.

"I figured they'd stop it (the option) after that first drive, but I'm fine with it," Ulm said.