Massillon — Wow.

It is hard to come up for a better word describing a game will be told in hallowed terms for the rest of time in the city of Norwalk and wherever St. Paul graduates scatter across the world. With a magical ending envied by Hollywood, St. Paul won the OHSAA Division VI State Championship over defending state champion Delphos St. John’s 24-21 at historic Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

With only enough time on the clock for one more play, St. Paul had the ball on the one-yard line. On the previous two plays, the Blue Jay defense had stopped quarterback Eric Schwieterman inches short of the goal line. St. Paul coach John Livengood used his last timeout and changed the play slightly.

“We took it out one gap wider,” Livengood said. “We thought we would have a better chance of a double team. We talked to the kids and said it was the state championship with five seconds or whatever it was remaining, it comes down to this one play.”

Schwieterman made it through the gap and the Flyers finally had their state title in their fourth state title game and seven state final four appearances.

“It was a great high school football with two great programs representing their schools,” Livengood said. “It couldn’t be much better coming down the wire like that.”

But the Hollywood ending began much earlier. The Flyers trailed 21-10 to start the fourth quarter and trailed 21-17 with 10:11 remaining. St. John’s then went to work on the clock. 10 plays and nearly seven minutes later, the Blue Jays had the ball on the one-yard line. A false start pushed St. John’s back to the six. The Flyer defense held on second and third down forcing the Blue Jays to a fourth and four. St. John’s head coach Todd Schulte elected to go for the sure win rather than kick a field goal to go up seven points. He said there was no thought to kick the field goal.

“Not what so ever,” Schulte said when asked if he considered kicking “The last two weeks our backs were against the wall and our kids came out swinging and I was going to give them another chance. We drove the ball down there and I thought lets do what we do best.”

Senior Justin Wilde forced Jordan Leininger wide and out of bounds. St. Paul took over on the two-yard line with 3:22 remaining.

“I am proud of the kids that they got the stop,“ Livengood said. “They bounced the off tackle play to the outside and Justin was able to force him out of bounds and get us the ball back.”

The meaning of the phrase “The Drive” is now forever changed in Huron County. The two-word phrase will bring smiles instead of tears. Schwieterman kept his composure and his teammates followed. Facing a 2nd down at the four-yard line, he found Wilde for a 36-yard gain. Three plays later it was 4th-and-3 with 1:25 remaining. Again Schwieterman turned to Wilde this time for 38 yards. Two plays later on third and five, Schwieterman called his own number and was tackled just outside the goal line setting up the winning play.

“We all knew what we had to do,” Schwieterman said. “We just took the momentum we had and just tried to take plays that worked and work our way down the field. Luckily we got it all the way down.”

“It was an impressive drive,” Schulte said. “They stayed pretty calm and poised out there. They weren’t in a huge hurry. It worked.”

Livengood credited his senior class for the victory.

“I am very proud of these kids,” he said. “It really hasn’t sunk in as a state championship. It is our ultimate goal. We talked since the beginning of two a days about being a team and being a leader and everyone taking their turn being the leader. Not just one individual guy. You never know when that play is going to happen but you have to step up and make the play. You saw it tonight, every kid played a part in it. Every kid stepped up. I would like to think that is what our program is about. I am so proud of these kids because they are so determined. When it came down to being 97 yards away and I just felt with the determination of our kids we had a shot. It is their personality. It is the personality of our senior class. I couldn’t be prouder.”

Schwieterman completed eight passes for 187 yards and ran it 30 times for 180 yards and three touchdowns.

“Eric had a great game,” Livengood said. “Not just throwing the ball but running the ball. One of the things we felt going into the game was we needed to have Eric running the ball for us and trying to have Delphos spread out a little. Eric has good size and speed. We felt we needed to use Eric in both the running and passing game.”

Schwieterman made great reads running with the ball all game.

“Their ends are hard chargers and they come in real tight and real fast,” he said. “So if you can get outside of them you have more openings and more lanes. So I tried to look for those.”

The St. Paul defense was outstanding. The Blue Jays had only 17 plays in the first half and only 10 first downs for the game. The Blue Jays came into the game averaging 292 rushing yards a game. St. Paul held them to just 153 on 33 rushes.

“Our defense played pretty well today,” Livengood said. “Our defense stood strong to limit Delphos to the yards we limited them to is a real credit to our defense.”

Blue Jay quarterback Wes Ulm was held to 37 yards rushing and 23 yards passing.

“Our game plan was to disrupt Wes Ulm as much as we could,” Livengood said. “He is the key to their offense. They got great weapons all around him but he is what makes it go. We wanted to make him make quick decisions. For the most part we were able to disrupt things for him. He is a great quarterback and athlete. We made a commitment to attack him on the option and not allow him to run the ball.”

With time running out in the third quarter, St. Paul, trailing 21-10, faced a 3rd-and-24. Schwieterman had been scrambling a lot in passing situations but this time he found his man completing a pass to senior Dan Tracht. Tracht was supposed to flip the ball to Wilde after he caught it but the pass was tipped so he raced down field for a gain of 45 yards. Three plays later, St. Paul was faced with a 3rd-and-5 on the 13. Schwieterman found Wilde for a gain of 12 setting up a quarterback sneak by Schwieterman.

St. John’s had a 10-play, 40-yard drive to open the second half. Faced with a 3rd-and-10 at the 48, Ulm stood in the pocket and found Tyler Bergfield for 20-yard gain. Three plays later on a 3rd-and-1, Ulm broke through the line of scrimmage and shed several tacklers for a 24-yard touchdown run.

On St. Paul’s first drive of the second half, Schwieterman twice dropped back to pass on third down and scrambled for a first down. A third time, he faced a 3rd-and-14, he scrambled for 11 yards to the St. John’s 43. St. Paul punted. Tyler Bergfield broke through and seemed assured of a touchdown return but Eric Bradt slowed Berfield down enough for Jared Fries to tackled him at the seven. Two plays later, Jordan Leininger scored from the 2-yard line to give the Blue Jays a 21-10 lead.

After the opening kickoff, St. Paul took over on their own 32-yard line. Four plays later the Flyers faced a 3rd-and-9 at the 47. Schwieterman dropped back to pass and was nearly sacked. He scrambled across the field twice before finding Brian Roberts for a 24-yard gain. But two plays later Schwieterman’s pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and intercepted by St. John’s senior Nate Webb.

The Blue Jays took over on their own 29-yard line and were able to move the ball down the field. Seven plays later, St. John’s faced a 3rd-and-5 on the St. Paul 26. Dan Tracht, however, stopped Jordan Leininger for a loss of one. The Blue Jays went for it on fourth down. Roberts blitzed and was able to rush Ulm’s throw and the Flyers took over on downs.

Griffin started the drive with a 12 yard run. But two plays later after an incomplete pass, a Flyer picked up a 15-yard personal foul. St. Paul faced third and 22. Schwieterman burst through the line and raced 73 yards for the first score of the game.

St. John’s had fumbled twice in the first quarter but recovered both. On their first drive of the second quarter, a pitch was tossed to Steve Metcalfe, the ball got loose, Metcalfe kicked it backwards and then a scrum was started. Roberts eventually came up with the ball for St. Paul 29 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Staying on the ground, the Flyers drove into the red zone with a 1st-and-goal at the five-yard line. A false start penalty proved costly and the Flyers settled for a 19-yard field goal.

Not getting the seven proved even more costly as St. John’s sophomore Tanner Calvelage returned the ensuing kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown allowing the Blue Jays to trail just 10-7 at the half.

“Our special teams play was not very good today and that is something we usually hang our hat on,” Livengood said. “Our kick and punt coverage essentially gave up 14 points.”