Glenville’s Romell Phillips ran up and down the field against Shelby and was awarded game MVP honors. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
The Tarblooders’ nasty defense limited Shelby to a state-record low 27 total yards and rolled to a third state championship in four years for veteran coach Ted Ginn Sr.
Canton, OH – When asked to discuss Cleveland Glenville’s game plan to shut down Shelby standout quarterback Jayden DeVito, Tarblooders Ohio State-bound linebacker, didn’t pull any punches.
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“The game plan for just for everybody to just do their job,” Johnson said. “That’s a great team, but they haven’t faced a team with our size and speed, so all we were worried about was putting our heads down and doing our jobs.”
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How true, as uber athletic Glenville overwhelmed badly overmatched Shelby from the get go opening on the way to a 45-7 rout in the Division IV state championship game Friday at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
DeVito, the Air Force-bound Ohio Mr. Football runner-up, completed just 3 of 18 passes for 38 yards and was sacked four times by a fierce, relentless Glenville defense. The 14-0 Whippets – who had topped 30 points in every game this season – managed just 27 total yards.
“Glenville is a really good football team and the way they matched up with us took a lot of what we do away from us,” Shelby coach Rob Mahaney said. “It wasn’t that the stage was too big for us. They’re just as really, really good football team. They overwhelmed us at the point of attack. Their defensive line put a lot of pressure on us. Defensively, they fly around and make a lot of plays.”
DeVito said Shelby hasn’t faced an opponent the caliber of Glenville.
Highlights were few for Shelby, celebrating its only touchdown here in the first quarter.
“With how big, fast and physical as they are, they drilled me a lot and it took a toll,” he said.
It marked the third state title in four seasons for Glenville (12-4).
Romell Phillips rushed for 133 yards and Chris Newell added 81 yards and two touchdowns to pace the Tarblooders.
“We know going in to every game, we’ver got to run the rock, play hard-nosed defense and make special teams plays and we did that,” Glenville 29th-year coach Ted Ginn Sr. said.
“It’s all about belief and trust in these kids. I’ve known these kids since they’ve been in diapers and coached a lot of their fathers. We had one of the toughest schedules in Ohio and in the spiritual and academic realm, that provided us the test.”
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Glenville’s outstanding speed and athleticism was on display from the outset, keeping DeVito at bay.
Late in the first quarter, Jaylen Gibson raced 92 yards for a touchdown on an electrifying punt return.
Aided by a debatable personal foul penalty on a reception, Shelby responded quickly with a tying score. Set up by a perfectly executed Statue Of Liberty run by Mike Blevins to the 1, Mike Shepherd scored.
It was all Glenville after that.
Eniere Lemon kicked a 34-yard field goal that gave the Tarblooders the lead for good.
While Phillips broke off the chunk plays (10 carries, 119 yards) Chris Newell Jr. tacked on TD runs of 14 and 6 yards to make it 24-7 at halftime.
Arvell Nelson hit Lemon on a 10-yard TD strike late in the third quarter.
Much of the fourth quarter was played with the rolling clock.
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