CANTON — Carey out-Careyed itself Saturday afternoon at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.
The Blue Devils, who have relied on a massive offensive line and the powerful running of 265-pound running back Jordan Vallejo all season, possessed the ball for an impossible 34 minutes and 34 seconds in a 26-14 win over Coldwater in the Division VI state championship game.
“We had the ball for 34 minutes?” Carey coach Jonathon Mershman asked incredulously when informed of the time of possession disparity during the postgame press conference. “That makes it tough on their offense, doesn’t it?
“If you look at these stats, they look dirty. Nobody’s over 100 yards rushing and we only threw the ball (five) times. The biggest stat is owning the time of possession and keeping their offense off the field.”
Coldwater (13-3) took an early 7-0 lead on Isaac Fullenkamp’s 1-yard run midway through the first quarter.
But the Blue Devils (15-1) began to take control on their ensuing possession. Carey put together a nine-play, 76-yard drive, capped by Vallejo’s 1-yard run. The Devils took the lead for good when Vallejo bulled into the end zone on the two-point conversion.
“If we got the two-point conversion, then it was 8-7 and then my goal from there was never to give them the ball back and we could win 8-7,” Mershman joked. “The way we punched it in gave me confidence we could get the two-point conversion.
“I just know this team plays way better when we got the lead because we know we’re going to drain the clock.”
Carey pieced together a promising 10-play drive that chewed up almost six minutes, but turned the ball over on down at the Coldwater 41 with 5:57 showing. On the first play of the ensuing Coldwater march, quarterback Reece Dellinger’s pass intended for Marcel Blasingame was intercepted by Carey cornerback Anthony Bell and returned to the Cavaliers 24. Four plays later, quarterback Derek Lonsway scored on a 4-yard keeper and the Blue Devil led 15-7.
“What we feared could happen kind of happened, with them going three or four yards and a cloud of dust,” Coldwater coach Chip Otten said. “It’s just tough … to get them stopped.”
The Cavaliers turned the ball over again on their next possession when Dellinger was hit from behind by linebacker Lance Woods, who jarred the ball loose. The fumble was recovered by fellow linebacker Landon Kemmerly at the Coldwater 42. Seven plays later, Vallejo plowed in from 2 yards out to give the Blue Devils a 23-7 lead.
“We all know you can’t have turnovers,” Otten said. “A lot of times that’s what gets you in the end.”
Coldwater scored on the final play of the first half when Dellinger hooked up with Tanner Muhlenkamp on a 27-yard scoring strike.
“The way we looked at it going into halftime was don’t relax,” Mershman said. “They got those sudden points right there before half and that was huge for them, but we felt like going into halftime that if we do something with the ball on that first drive … it would take some of the momentum away from them.”
Carey took the second half kickoff and drove deep into Coldwater territory before turning the ball over on downs. The 12-play thrust may not have ended in points, but it chewed up more than half of the third-quarter clock. Carey scored the only points of the second half a 41-yard Anthony Bell field goal early in the fourth quarter.
The Blue Devils iced it with a pair of time-consuming possessions in the fourth period to capture the second state title in school history and first since 1975.
“It’s like a dream come true,” lineman Ashton Clauss said. “To come here and do this with this team, I feel blessed.”
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