MASSILLON, Ohio — Crushed. Coming up one victory short of a state football championship for the second straight year will do that to you. That was the disappointed state Chagrin Falls found itself in Friday afternoon after losing to Columbus Bishop Hartley, 34-13, in the Division IV title game at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
MASSILLON, Ohio — Crushed.
Coming up one victory short of a state football championship for the second straight year will do that to you. That was the disappointed state Chagrin Falls found itself in Friday afternoon after losing to Columbus Bishop Hartley, 34-13, in the Division IV title game at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.
There was no hiding the tears, but there was also a satisfied conviction that comes with a well-played season and solid run in the playoffs.
"I'm proud because I don't think there was a person in Ohio who thought we would be playing in this game," said senior center Alex Forbers, referring to his team's return to the championship game. "I played three seasons [30 games] in two years. The fact is, not many people can say that."
The Tigers went 14-1 last season and finished at 13-2 this year.
After falling behind, 20-0, Forbers said the Tigers began running inside the tackles to control the ball.
"We kept working against their three-man front," said Forbers. "It wasn't working at the start. But we stayed up and were positive."
Sophomore running back Bradley Munday led the Tigers with 38 yards on 13 carries. He had a 45-yard kickoff return and also caught four passes, including an 11-yarder from fellow sophomore Tommy Iammarino to get the Tigers on the board in the second quarter.
"We settled down and knew what we had to do," said Munday, whose club cut the deficit to 20-13 after three quarters. "It's a great achievement to get here. We'll be ready to come back next year."
However, that won't be the case for senior quarterback Tim Porter, who suffered a serious left knee injury with 7:50 to go in the third quarter. He had to watch his high school career end from the sidelines, a crutch under each arm.
Porter was hurt when Hartley linebacker Jordan Dickerson slammed into his left knee on a passing attempt. Porter became the fourth Tiger lost to a knee injury this season.
"We were making a drive and it just stinks to go down like that," said Porter, who also plays baseball. "I think at the start we struggled because they did a good job on our long pitch. They brought up the safety and they had not done that before. They tackled well. The defense was tough."
Senior wide receiver/defensive back Spencer Diedrich totaled 159 all-purpose yards, earning good field position for the Tigers on returns of 44, 40 and 22 yards. Still, he would have liked to have one defensive play back.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, tight end Jacob Matuska caught a 10-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone on a perfectly thrown ball that Diedrich just missed knocking down. It gave the Hawks a 27-13 lead.
"I'd like to have that back, but I can't do anything about that now," said Diedrich. "I thought we were in it and I thought we were going to win. They made a couple good plays on us."
The Tigers just could not come up with enough of those.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: jmaxse@plaind.com, 216-999-5168