Versailles played like they'd been there before
Tigers' seniors built
camaraderie on July trip to Massillon
By Greg Billing
gbilling@DaytonDailyNews.com
MASSILLON | Even with a
stop at Dave and Buster’s arcade and restaurant in Columbus, Versailles’
trip to Massillon in July wasn’t all about fun and games.
Versailles coach Al Hetrick and his son, Brookville
coach Mike Hetrick, took their senior football players on the two-day,
one-night trip as a team-building exercise. A visit to Paul Brown Tiger
Stadium — the eventual site of the Division IV high school state football
championship — was on the itinerary.
“We had a great time,” Al Hetrick said. “We told the
kids while we were there in July we wanted to go back in the fall.”
The Tigers did book a return trip, winning the school’s
sixth state football championship in eight attempts with a 26-0 win over
Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph on Saturday.
The Tigers dominated in every phase. They led 246-142
in total offense, including a 210-65 advantage on the ground. They forced
three turnovers — giving them 32 more than their opponents this season
— and held 2,500-yard passer Michael Cvelbar to just 77 yards.
And they did it on special teams. Kyle Gehle’s 81-yard
punt return for a touchdown was the longest return in state finals history
regardless of division. Punter Bart Schmitz averaged 41.7 yards on three
punts, including a 49-yarder.
And like that trip in July, they did it together.
“All of us seniors are a very tight group,” said All-Ohio
linebacker Ryan McNeilan. “We hang out all the time and play cards. It
carries onto the field and we all have each other's back.”
“They’re always together,” Hetrick said of his 11
seniors, seven starters on offense and eight on defense. “You put outstanding
athletes together with guys that get along and they’re winners.”
Versailles proved it again Saturday. The Tigers, who
outscored their five postseason opponents by a 38-8 average, showed their
AP poll championship was well deserved. Only Oakwood (26) and Delta (21)
scored more than 14 points on Versailles this season, and 12 of 15 opponents
scored 12 points or less.
Versailles’ 26 points was the third most against unranked
VASJ, a team that started the season 0-2 and 3-3.
“We came off a 7-3 record last year where we were
growing as the season went on,” Hetrick said. “We felt we could do some
damage if we got into the playoffs.”
The Tigers put a hurting on a VASJ team that averaged
24 points and had been shutout only once before Saturday. Only twice did
the Vikings cross midfield. Of their nine drives four ended with punts,
two on turnovers, two on downs and one ended the first half.
“They’ve done it all year at 15-0,” Hetrick said of
a group that pushed the Tigers’ postseason record to 39-8. “Boy, I hate
to see them go. . . . This is an outstanding football team.”
Versailles rules D-IV
thanks to shutout in final
By Greg Billing
gbilling@DaytonDailyNews.com
MASSILLON A staunch defense,
a pounding running attack and Kyle Gehle’s record-setting punt return helped
Versailles claim its sixth state football title in impressive fashion.
Versailles beat Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph
26-0 to win the Division IV championship in front of 6,943 spectators at
Paul Brown Tiger Stadium on Saturday. A Tigers team that started the season
with coach Al Hetrick’s milestone 300th career win ended it with Ohio football’s
crown jewel.
“I don’t care what you’ve been through, winning a
state title is the greatest feeling in the world,” said senior All-Ohio
linebacker Ryan McNeilan, who forced a pair of fumbles.
The Tigers (15-0) had been close to the postseason
the previous three seasons, including missing twice by one spot. Finally
there, Versailles’ tradition took over.
So did the defense. The Tigers held 2,500-yard passer
Michael Cvelbar to just 9 of 19 passing for 77 yards, 105 yards below his
average. They also forced three turnovers — two fumbles and an interception
— to finish plus-32 in turnover differential for the season.
Two first-half turnovers led to a stunning finish
before halftime.
Senior Eric Strausbaugh intercepted a tipped Cvelbar
pass with 7:30 left in the second quarter. Versailles marched downfield
and capped a 16-play, 72-yard drive with Ben Shappie’s 2-yard TD run with
36 seconds left.
On the ensuing kickoff, McNeilan stripped C.J. Kostranchuk
and Joe Luthman recovered. One play later, quarterback Kyle Gehle hit a
wide-open Shappie for a 27-yard TD as defender Anthony Ramos fell at the
5-yard line.
A blocked extra-point attempt made it 13-0, but it
was a deflating turn of events for a Vikings team accustomed to leading
at the half.
“To be down at halftime was a little weird,” Cvelbar
said. “It didn’t help at all. It didn’t help at all.”
Gehle added the fatal blow with his 81-yard punt return
with 10:44 left in the fourth quarter. He stutter-stepped, found a hole
and took off down the Tigers’ sideline to outrace a pair of defenders.
The touchdown, which made it 19-0 after a failed two-point conversion,
set a state finals record in all six divisions.
“It was?” said Gehle, “It feels great, I guess.”
The Vikings (10-5), who had won their previous four
playoff games by no more than 10 points, reached Tiger territory twice.
But they failed to sustain drives by converting just one of nine third-down
plays. The Tigers contained the elusive Cvelbar by staying in the running
lanes instead of rushing around the ends to create gaps up the middle.
“We told the kids if he runs on us we can’t beat them,” said Hetrick, 314-89-4
in 36 seasons.
Cvelbar, who was sacked three times, finished with
15 yards on 13 carries.
Versailles held a 246-142 advantage in total yards.
Shappie, who capped the scoring with a 19-yard run with 6:15 left in the
game, finished with 106 yards on 22 carries. McNeilan added 58 on 14 attempts
and Eric Strausbaugh 33 on five carries.
Versailles, also the AP poll champion, added its state
title to ones captured in 1990, ’93, ’94, ’95 and ’98.
