CANTON — Veteran Clinton-Massie coach Dan McSurley thought he had seen everything there was to see in almost four decades of patrolling the sidelines.
But that was before his Falcons orchestrated one of the greatest comebacks in state finals history.
Clinton-Massie quarterback Kody Zantene scored on a 1-yard keeper on fourth down with 45 seconds remaining and Carson Van Hoose’s two-point conversion run clinched a stunning 29-28 win over Youngstown Ursuline in the Division IV state championship game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
Clinton-Massie (14-1) trailed 28-7 with less than 16 minutes remaining before scoring 22 unanswered points.
“I’ve coached a long time. This is my 36th year and this is without question one of the greatest comeback victories I’ve ever been a part of,” said McSurley, who has spent the past 27 years at Clinton-Massie. “I’ve been a part of some great teams, but without question this is the absolute best football team I’ve ever been a part of.”
Zantene ignited the comeback with a 49-yard touchdown run with 3:48 remaining in the third quarter, cutting Ursuline’s lead to 28-14.
“We were down 28-7 … and you would think we would have some guys with their heads down,” said Zantene, who rushed for 85 yards and two TDs. “They all still believed.
“I knew that somebody had to make a big play.”
Ursuline (11-4) took the ensuing kickoff and marched to midfield before the drive stalled. After a fourth-and-14 completion for a first down was nullified by penalty, the Irish were forced to punt the ball back to the Falcons.
Clinton-Massie then went 90 yards on five plays and scored an unlikely touchdown when lineman Garrett Vance fell on a fumble in the end zone to make it 28-21 with 10:17 remaining in the fourth quarter. A bad snap and a botched exchange between Zantene and fullback Colton Trampler led to the fumble.
“It was just a combination of things. The exchange was kind of iffy and the snap was kind of iffy,” said Trampler, who rushed for a team-high 117 yards. “At that point I had no idea what was going to happen. … When I finally got out of the pile and saw the sign for touchdown, it was one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever had.”
Ursuline was again forced to punt on its next possession and Clinton-Massie regained possession on its own 23-yard line with 7:49 to play. The Falcons drove to the Ursuline 1-yard line, where they faced a 4th-and-goal with less than 50 seconds remaining.
Zantene faked the handoff to Trampler before going untouched into the end zone around the right end to pull Clinton-Massie to within a point. McSurley called timeout and allowed his seniors to decide to play for a tie or go for the win.
“I said, ‘What do you guys want to do?’ I think all the seniors said, ‘Let’s win this thing,’ ” McSurley said. “That play that we ran, they’ve been running since they’ve been in the third grade.”
The loss spoiled otherwise brilliant efforts by Ursuline running back DeMarcus McElroy and quarterback Brady Shannon. McElroy rushed for 157 yards and two touchdowns, while Shannon completed 15-of-28 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns.
“Saying I’m incredibly proud of our seniors would be a massive understatement,” Ursuline coach Dan Reardon said. “As freshmen they were a 1-9 football team. I was hired going into their sophomore year and we were 2-8. All these guys did for four years was respond to adversity.”
The state championship is the third for Clinton-Massie. The Falcons won back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013 under McSurley.
“We knew this senior class was special,” McSurley said. “This was just their will, their heart and their effort. They led us to our third state championship and I couldn’t be more proud.”
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