Olentangy Orange’s Levi Davis tightropes past St. X’s Brayden Reilly on his way to a first quarter touchdown in Friday’s Division I title win. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
With a 28-14 victory over Cincinnati St. Xavier, the Pioneers gave central Ohio back-to-back big-school state championships for the first time.
Canton, OH – The killer instinct that helped Olentangy Orange produce the greatest season in program history this fall was on full display late in the first half of the Division I state championship game Friday at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
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Looking to take a big leap toward their first state title, the Pioneers started their final possession of the second quarter holding a seven-point lead but at their own 9-yard line.
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Refusing to rest on its laurels, Orange produced a convincing 12-play, 91-yard drive that was capped by a 15-yard touchdown pass from talented dual-threat quarterback Levi Davis to a wide-open Lucas Fickel with 13 seconds to go before halftime.
The flashy drive, which was highlighted by a 39-yard diving catch by MC Walker from Davis on third-and-11 the play before the touchdown, provided the fuel behind a 28-14 victory over Cincinnati St. Xavier that gave the Pioneers a 15-0 finish.
“We got into a third-and-long and were trying not to leave much time on the clock if we didn’t get it because we knew it would be OK being up 14-7 (at the half),” coach Wes Schroeder said. “You saw MC Walker make some plays, and he makes that big play. We go down there and I ask Lucas, ‘Can you catch it?’ He ends up wide open, he catches it and we get a 21-7 lead with our offense coming out in the second half. We knew it was far from over, but we felt good about it.”
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Orange got the ball to begin the second half and engineered another backbreaking possession, this time a 13-play, 86-yard drive that was capped by a 4-yard scoring run from Fickel for a 28-7 lead with 6:11 left in the third quarter. Davis hooked up with junior Jake Luling for receptions of 5, 11, and 17 yards, and also had a 14-yard run during the drive, with Fickel also dashing for 14 yards on the play before his touchdown.
Couldn’t see, didn’t matter…MC Walker made the catch, anyway, over a St. X secondary man in the second quarter of Friday’s Division I final.
“We kind of won a lot of the time of possession battles, but our game plan is to be efficient, get first downs, and punch the ball into the end zone,” Schroeder said. “It was part of the game, but that’s just who we are. We’re explosive.”
St. Xavier, which finished 11-3, has won four state titles in 21 seasons under coach Steve Specht, with the last coming in 2020.
Considering that, his opinions about the talents Davis brought to the field this fall can’t go unnoticed.
Davis finished 10-for-18 passing for 177 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 14 times for 93 yards and one score. The Ohio University signee, who finished fourth in the voting for Mr. Football, rushed for 1,112 yards and 19 touchdowns and threw for 2,270 yards with 18 touchdown passes on the season.
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“Congratulations to them because they played a really good ball game,” Specht said. “They’re a really good football team, and incredibly tough to coach against. It’s tough to have an answer for (Davis), and when you combine Levi with Lucas Fickel, that’s a 1-2 punch that’s pretty potent. He’s going to do well at Ohio University. You can’t simulate him in practice. He’s a very talented young man, and he makes you miss. He’s a lot of fun to watch on film and he’s tough to prepare for.”
Orange’s Zane Konczak reaches for a one-hand grab of this pass in the first half of Friday’s Division I title game with St. Xavier.
Orange, which went 9-3 last season and had reached 10 wins just one time in its 18-year history prior to this season, began its opening drive at the St. Xavier 44 after an interception by senior defensive back Zane Konczak on the third play from scrimmage.
The Pioneers moved to the Bombers 9 but turned it over on downs.
On the opening play of the second quarter, Davis sprinted to the right on a designed run for a 2-yard touchdown that gave Orange a 7-0 lead to complete a 12-play, 58-yard drive.
St. Xavier answered with a 73-yard drive on nine plays, capped by a 39-yard touchdown run by Jake Britt with 7:55 to go in the second quarter, but the Pioneers’ passing game went on attack on the ensuing possession.
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Davis connected with Walker for 17 yards on the second play of the drive and for 34 yards two plays later to move it to the St. Xavier 6. On third-and-goal from the 4, Walker caught a pass from Davis falling down in the end zone to make it 14-7.
MC Walker’s diving catch on third down extended a drive that led to Orange taking a 21-7 lead before halftime.
Walker finished with five catches for 123 yards.
“He’s a dog, the way he runs his routes and even the way he carries himself off the field,” Davis said.
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St. Xavier scored its other touchdown with 5:03 to go on a 12-yard pass from senior quarterback Jackson Frey to junior Aidan Newdigate, but Fickel helped ice the game by running on nine of the game’s final 10 plays. The Pioneers ended the game on the Bombers’ 6-yard line, with Fickel finishing with 133 yards on 31 carries.
One that got away….an apparent interception for a touchdown by Orange’s Treyton Schroeder (#17) was called back for a pass interference on teammate Kingston Johnson (foreground).
Orange outgained St. Xavier 403-192, with Brennan Kesler finishing with eight tackles, two sacks, and two tackles for loss, and Chase Martin had two tackles for loss to lead the Pioneers’ defense.
“First of all, the guys on defense are out there executing their jobs,” said senior defensive back Treyton Schroeder, who finished with eight interceptions on the season and 23 for his career. “That’s what’s led to our success.”
This marks the first time that central Ohio won the big-school state championship in consecutive seasons after Olentangy Liberty captured last year’s title.
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The Pioneers’ closest win this season was their 21-17 decision over the Patriots during the second round of the Division I, Region 3 playoffs.
Schroeder, who led Granville to a Division III state semifinal in 2021, completed his second season as the Pioneers’ coach.
“You could tell throughout the week that our guys were ready for it,” Schroeder said. “Last week, we came out and kind of shocked a lot of people (during a 28-0 win over Lakewood St. Edward in a state semifinal). We came out tonight and I feel like we dominated most of that game. We’ve said it before that (the Ohio Capital Conference Central Division) is the best football in the state of Ohio. I think it’s about time Columbus gets some respect after winning back-to-back.
“My second year at Granville, we were 13-1. In year two, the buy-in is really high, but when you’ve got a kid like (Davis), you know it’s a possibility. Did I know we were going to go 15-0 and win a state championship? I knew it was possible, but I didn’t know it was going to happen. It seems so surreal a lot of times.”
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