COLUMBUS (AP) — Danny Clark knew that his future coach was in Ohio Stadium but the Akron Archbishop Hoban junior quarterback was focused on his current teammates.
With Ohio State coach Urban Meyer watching, Danny Clark threw two touchdowns and Todd Sibley ran for two as Hoban won its first title with a 33-20 victory over defending champion Toledo Central Catholic in the Division III final on Thursday.
Clark was 4 for 12 for 125 yards and Sibley 162 yards on 33 rushes for the Knights (14-1). Both are 2017 Ohio State commits and Clark said he saw Meyer in the stands before the game.
“Honestly, when I went out there I was just thinking about our game plan,” Clark said. “We’ve been preparing for this game for 14 weeks.”
For Central Catholic (12-3) the game came down to miscues. They were intercepted three times, lost a fumble and also suffered a critical safety.
“Turnovers, big plays, field position. All three of those really came back to hurt us,” Central Catholic coach Greg Dempsey said.
Michael Warren had 31 carries for 161 yards and three touchdowns for Central Catholic and Torrin Campbell passed for 234 yards.
“They’re a tough team. They did a great job coming at us,” Warren said.
Hoban led 28-14 at the half. Clark threw TD passes of 53 yards to Jonah Morris and 3 to Anthony Christian. Sibley’s scoring runs were 55 and 22 yards while Warren had TDs of 4 and 10 yards.
Warren’s third TD with 6:37 left in the third period brought Central Catholic to within 28-20 after the extra point was missed. The Kentucky commit had seven carries for 80 yards on the drive and capped it with a 21-yard run.
But Hoban made it 30-20 when Campbell was tackled in the end zone for a safety after a 39-yard punt by Dane Kersh rolled out of bounds at the Central Catholic 1. A 33-yard field late in the game by Grant Kersh provided the final margin.
“We were able to get within reach a couple of times but we were never able to get over that bump,” Dempsey said.
Hoban coach Tim Tyrrell credited his 12 seniors for providing the winning edge.
”If it wasn’t for our seniors we wouldn’t be here,” he said. “The last game last year we made the decision to be in this game.”
