Jake Uhlenhake gets up and over a London defender for a score during a D3 state semifinal game in Ashville. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Logan Gapen)
With 21 points in a stunning 53-second span late in the second quarter, Watterson turned a tight game into a rout. The 15-0 Eagles earned a chance avenge a state title game defeat to Toledo Central Catholic in 2023.
Ashville, OH – The adjective “crazy” was used about a dozen times by players and coaches alike to describe the second quarter of a Division III state semifinal football game Friday night.
How else better to describe a dizzying sequence in which Watterson scored 21 points in 53 seconds to stun London on the way to a 56-21 rout Friday at frigid, windy and sometimes snowy Teays Valley Viking Stadium? About the only thing crazier was the fact that both head coaches wore shorts in the arctic conditions, but that’s another story in itself.
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“We were down 14-7, and they had us on our heels for sure,” said Watterson coach Brian Kennedy afterward, shaking his head. “We hadn’t experienced a lot of adversity to that point. But London made a few turnovers, we made some big plays and, wow, that’s how you flip the script of a game.”
All but one minute of the second half was played with a rolling clock, courtesy of Ohio High School Athletic Association and national mercy rules.
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Top-ranked in the final Associated Press state poll, Watterson (15-0) advanced to the championship game at 3 p.m. Friday in Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton against No. 2-ranked Toledo Central Catholic (14-1), which edged Youngstown Ursuline 7-6 in the other semifinal. That result elicited a roar in the Watterson locker room as the Eagles get a chance to avenge a 27-7 defeat to the Fighting Irish in last year’s title game.
Both teams’ robust offenses seemed unstoppable in the early going.
London took a 14-7 lead on an 8-yard touchdown run by Steven Gravely.
Just four plays later, Watterson countered with a 34-yard TD run by Zack Weber to tie the score.
Carter Bellisari gets upended by London’s June Turner after a scamper.
This is when things started to get crazy.
London fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Cal Mangini recovered for Watterson.
It took just two plays for junior quarterback Drew Bellisari to connect with Jake Uhlenhake on a 41-yard TD strike.
After a defensive stop, the Eagles struck again on a Bellisari-to-Mangini 24-yard TD connection with 54 seconds left in the half.
On London’s opening play of the next series, Weber forced and recovered a fumble by June Turner.
Bellisari promptly zipped a 42-yard TD pass to Tommy Haley at the 33-second make it 35-14.
Turner fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Joe Hayes recovered for the Eagles.
On second-and-16, Bellisari connected downfield with tight end Dominic Theado, who tipped the ball to himself, broke free from a tackle and rumbled to the end zone for a 44-yard TD in the final second of the half.
The 35-point second quarter against a London defense that had allowed just 67 points all season, was jaw-dropping.
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“Obviously, those turnovers were huge and completely changed the game,” said Bellisari, whose father Greg was a three-year starting linebacker at Ohio State from 1994 to 1996. “We knew we were going to fight through the adversity, but the way it happened was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen.”
Weber, who also plays linebacker, said the defensive stop Watterson made midway through the quarter helped open the floodgates.
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“Our defense had a meeting on the sidelines and said, ‘Just take a deep breath. We’ve got this’ and that’s when things took off. We’ve got great playmakers all over the field and when they gave us the ball a couple times on fumbles, it just snowballed. Once you push a snowball down a mountain, it just keeps rolling.”
Weber opened the second half with a 37-yard run that set up his own 1-yard TD scamper that set the rolling clock in motion.
Zack Weber finds a seam for a big gain during a high-scoring second quarter.
After opening 1 for 5 for eight yards with an interception, Bellisari was virtually unstoppable. He finished the night 13 of 19 for 269 yards with four TDs – all to different receivers – and also ran for a late score.
Some of the throws Bellisari made in 20-miles-per-hour winds, were nothing short of amazing and his receivers helped with contested highlight-reel grabs.
“They were putting six or seven in the box to try to take away the run and they were more or less challenging us to throw the ball on them,” Kennedy said.
Even with that emphasis on stopping the run, Weber gained 198 yards on 21 carries with three TDs.
This marked the 13th time in 15 games that Watterson has forced a running clock. The Eagles have outscored their opponents 620-97.
“Offensively, I think we did a really good job of identifying and attacking the weaker parts of their defense,” Weber said. “That said, that was a dangerous, talented team we faced. They went 14-0 and took it to us for a while. Hats off to them.”
Dominic Theado evades two defenders and goes 44 yards for a TD to add to London’s 2nd quarter pain.
Watterson’s defense also rose to occasion, holding London to 215 total yards — all on the ground. Of that total, 147 yards came when it was building a 14-7 lead. Anchored by a terrific offensive line, the Red Raiders’ wing-T run game came in with 4,747 yards and a robust 9-yards-per-carry average.
“We saw what they were doing and we made some changes that really paid off,” defensive end CJ Youell said. “When they ran, they really ran only one way. After we made some changes, we had so many guys running to the football. All it took was for us to get rolling and our dudes did what we do.”
This will mark Watterson’s seventh state championship game appearance. The Eagles won titles in 2002 and 2010 and were runner-ups in 1972, 1999, 2001 and 2023.
Gravely, Turner and Noah Sollars each scored TDs for London, which was making its only its second final four appearance and first in 30 years.
The first question Red Raiders coach Kyle Cutler asked his players in the postgame huddle was whether they had fun, then told them to relish a historic season.
“We knew we’d give them our best shot, but we also knew we were going up against an institution,” he said. “Three turnovers led to three big plays and that doesn’t bode well against an opponent of this caliber. We never recovered from that. They’re a fast, physical defense and we didn’t play up to our level.”
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