Glenville wins third state title in four years, dominates Shelby in title game

One of Glenville's running backs, Romell Phillips (26), prepares to make a move after receiving a handoff from the quarterback Arvell Nelson (Photo: Chuck Cordes/Ohsfbmedia.com).

CANTON, Ohio - The Tarblooders have done it again, winning their third title in four years by defeating Shelby in the OHSAA Division IV state championship game with a score of 45-7. 

"We've always said take them to somewhere they have never been before," said Johnson after the comment was made about stopping DeVito.

Many in attendance were anticipating the matchup between Ohio Mr. Football finalists Brayden DeVito and Cincere Johnson. 

The matchup favored Glenville early in the game as they would control and pressure DeVito the entire first quarter, limiting him from finding receivers and running the ball.

Glenville's offense was slow to start as they would not get past the 50-yard line and were forced to punt, as was Shelby until late in the first quarter when their defense started to pick up after a fumble out of bounds from London Hearn.

A big sack at 3:28 by Glenville put them in position as they would intercept the ball at the 3:04 mark of the game when Glenville's Jaquan Gibson picked off DeVito, but to only have it called back because of a defensive holding call, Shelby still could not convert on a 3 and 11 of the same possession and was forced to punt.

That punt was returned into a touchdown as Jaquan Gibson would take it to the house for 93 yards and the game's first score with 1:19 remaining and would end the quarter leading 7-0.

The second quarter would be all Glenville as they would rally off 17 straight points, as their running back committee of Chris Newell Jr. and would touch the endzone. Not before Shelby's Mike Shepherd would respond to Glenville's first score, which would tie the game at 7-7. 

Glenville's Cincere Johnson (8) tackles Brayden DeVito during the state title game. (Photo: Chuck Cordes/Ohsfbmedia.com)

Chris Newell Jr. would score twice in the quarter after a special teams field goal; he would run for 14 yards and 6 yards to put the Tarblodders up 24-7 and control of the game at this point. 

"But they close so fast, the secondary came in and closed some things when we did block their front seven, their secondary closed in, their d-line is really, really good," said Mahaney.

Even with that lead, Glenville still had nine penalties for 100 yards just in the first half.

In the third quarter, the Shelby defense would step up with Sam Gwirtz as they held them to just seven points in the period. But still would not be enough to gain some offensive momentum as DeVito was held to negative yards on the ground and no completions in the air.

Glenville would put two more scores on the board as Arvell Nelson Jr. would toss two touchdown passes to Eniere Lemon and Joseph Saffold, and a 14-yard touchdown by Uriah Webber to seal the game and win their third state football title for the neighborhood team. 

"To be able to make history in the city of Cleveland, to bring three out of four years of state titles here, knowing how focused they need to be, so I'm proud of that," said Dr. Ted Ginn Sr.