Coldwater wins second state title in three years

MASSILLON – It looked like the Division IV football state championship was heading into overtime. Ranked No. 8 in the country by USA Today, Youngstown Cardinal Mooney drove down the field and scored with less than a minute remaining. But a blocked extra point by Coldwater’s Kurt Schlarman secured a 28-27 victory over Mooney on Saturday at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium for the Cavaliers second state title in three years. Coldwater’s also beat Mooney for the 2005 state championship. “I think the tip of the ball hit me in the middle of the hand,” Schlarman said. “I couldn’t believe it. It was unreal.” Coldwater (14-1) trailed 21-7 entering the final quarter, but scored 21 unanswered points to grab a 28-21 lead with 2 minutes, 41 seconds left. Mooney quarterback Tim Marlowe hit Mike Gemma with a 6-yard touchdown to bring Mooney within one with 21 seconds left. But Schlarman came right up the middle and blocked Ed Reese’s extra-point attempt to keep Coldwater’s one-point lead. “I had to do something,” Schlarman said of the block. “I was too tired to go to overtime.” He didn’t have to. Coldwater’s Adam Homan recovered Mooney’s onside kick attempt to seal the victory with 20 seconds to play. “I think it’ll hit us a little bit more tomorrow morning when we’re all waking up and starting to realize that you know what, we actually did it. We slayed the dragons,” Coldwater defensive tackle-fullback Tyler Kunk said. Mooney running back Brandon Beachum, who is headed to Penn State to play linebacker, finished with 191 yards on 34 carries. Marlowe ran for 92 yards on 17 carries. In the air, he was 5 of 6 passing for 135 yards with two touchdown passes. Cory Klenke powered the Coldwater spread by completing 16 of 37 passes for 185 yards and one touchdown. He also ran for 29 yards. Ryan Geier caught four passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns. Tony Harlamert caught eight passes for 126 yards. With its run-happy offense, mixed in with a few passes off play-action fakes, Mooney grabbed a 14-0 halftime lead. Mooney missed opportunities in the half, however, by losing one fumble and having eight penalties for 60 yards. “I felt at halftime we weren’t going to be able to just match up with them,” Coldwater coach John Reed said. “We had to come up with something that cold turn the momentum for us.” That’s when Coldwater uncharacteristically decided to try some trick plays. Klenke’s 16-yard touchdown run brought Coldwater within seven, 14-7, in the third quarter. Mooney made it 21-7 on a 9-yard run by Marlowe with 3:26 left in the third. That’s when Coldwater went to the first of its trick plays. “We lost Zach Kaup in the first half to a hamstring pull and Zach is the guy who does all of our reverse passes,” Reed said of the wide receiver. “We knew we were going to have some plays in the second half to be able to surprise them with. So we took Keith Wenning, our backup quarterback, and played him at wide receiver and we just played him at wide receiver the whole second half. He was able to make the throws to make the difference for us.” Klenke handed the ball to Harlamert, who flipped it to wide receiver/backup quarterback Keith Wenning, who threw an 80-yard touchdown pass off the reverse to Geier. That brought Coldwater within 21-14 with 9:57 remaining. “I block for a second, then I got right up the middle then I split the safeties,” Geier said. “I’m just sitting there waiting on the ball to come.” Mooney coach P.J. Fecko said, “Everyone has them (trick plays). It’s hard to pinpoint how they’ll fall out. We didn’t see those on film and they did a good job of executing them.” The next time Coldwater had the ball, it was time for another trick play. This time it was the double pass. Klenke threw the ball behind him and to the sideline to Wenning, who then fired a strike to Harlamert for 35 yards to the Mooney 1-yard line. Harlamert pushed it over from the 1 to cap the 10-play, 66-yard drive for a 21-21 tie with 4:58 remaining. Coldwater’s Mark Steinbrunner then recovered a Marlowe fumble at the Mooney 32. Three plays later, Klenke hit a leaping Geier in the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown to give the Cavaliers a 28-21 lead with under three minutes left. Geier jumped over Marlowe for the touchdown catch. “I told Cory, ‘If you throw it, I’ll catch it,’ and that’s what happened,’’ Geier said. Mooney took over at its own 31, and behind Beachum’s runs of 21 and 14 yards, quickly got into Coldwater territory. The Cardinals pulled within one on the touchdown pass, but then it came down to the block for Coldwater’s second football title. “We knew if we could get in there and block it, the game was pretty much over,” Kunk said. “We dug down as deep as we could and I think we had a little bit more left than what they had.” It marked the third year in a row the Midwest Athletic Conference has had two football state champions. Coldwater was ranked No. 11 in the state, while Mooney was ranked No. 1, with four players committed to Division I schools. Defending state champ Mooney ended the year 14-1.