MINERVA — Kirtland continued its football dynasty. But Northmor concluded a season that will set the standard for all future teams wearing the Black and Gold.
The powerful Hornets started slowly but unleashed a ground attack that proved unstoppable to win the Division VI state semifinal contest 41-7 at Dr. Robert H. Hines Stadium on a cold Friday night.
Kirtland (15-0) captured its eighth straight regional title by virtue of 447 rushing yards.
“Offensively, we weren’t able to make plays when we needed to,” Northmor head coach Scott Armrose said.
“We knew coming in we had to take advantage of every possession. We just didn’t do that tonight. We even got them to turn the ball over, and we knew that extra possession could be huge. We just couldn’t finish that drive.”
Northmor (14-1) ends its season as the best football team in Morrow County history, making its first Final Four appearance to go with its first Knox Morrow Athletic Conference title and first league championship since 1982.
Jake LaVerde spearheaded the Kirtland attack and scored the first of his three touchdowns on a 2-yard run. He rushed for 142 yards while running back Danny Alfieri added 150 yards and two more touchdowns.
The game started well for Northmor as Nick Armrose pounced on a fumble deep in Northmor territory to end a first quarter drive.
After LaVerde’s touchdown, the Golden Knights hit their only big play of the contest — a 57-yard scoring strike from A.J. Bower to Cowin Becker. That tied the game at 7-7 with 8:45 in the first half.
Head coach Phillip (Tiger) LaVerde credited Northmor’s effort.
“The DBs did a nice job, the linebacker and D-linemen had just enough pressure. I think our defense has been getting better as the year goes on,” he said.
“They’re good up front. They have a good running game and very good balance. They have very good wideouts, and their quarterback is a special kid. He throws it with accuracy and velocity. I think we bothered him tonight with some pressure, and that helped us.”
Kirtland will play No. 2 Coldwater for another shot at a state championship Saturday at 10:45 a.m. at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.
LaVerde’s second TD and an Alfieri 7-yard run with 1:11 in the half put the Hornets ahead 20-7. Three more scores in the third period, including the final one by Jack Lessick from 42 yards out, put the running clock into effect.
Kirtland was also 5-for-6 on third down and 1-for-1 on fourth down. The Hornets had 30 first downs to Northmor’s 12.
“To be back here playing in Week 16 is pretty incredible. It’s a testament to how hard these kids work,” coach LaVerde said.
Bower completed 17-of-32 passes for 211 yards, with a pair of interceptions.
Falling behind didn’t significantly change the Northmor game plan.
“We try to stay with our normal operation,” Armrose said. “We weren’t really having a whole lot of success running the ball anyway.”
Northmor wasn’t able to slow down the rushing attack of LaVerde, Alfieri and company.
“You hit him in the backfield, you wrap him up and he gets 6 yards. They have big, strong running backs and are really good at what they do. We had a good defensive plan. They were just bigger and stronger than us at the point of attack.”
To beat a perennial champion requires a near perfect effort.
“You have to execute on every offensive possession. You can’t waste possessions,” Armrose said. “They’re a tough team to stop. We let the possessions get away from us early and the game got out of hand because of that.
“I told the kids how proud I am of them. They accomplished things that no one expected the Northmor Golden Knights to do,” Armrose said.
The Northmor senior class compiled a 38-13 mark in four seasons.
“They did it the right way and they had a goal in mind after losing last year in that regional semifinal game. They knew where they wanted to be at this point, playing in this game. They saw that opportunity and busted their butts in the offseason and accomplished tremendous things because of that.
“Talent is one thing, but the desire to be good, the desire to be great and the desire to do things that have never been done before, that’s something else and it takes more than talent.”
Losing his 15 seniors carries special meaning.
“This group of seniors, I’ve seen them grow up. My son’s in that class and I had them in fifth grade as their teacher. When you see a group of young men grow up in front of you, from little kids to grown men and become such great leaders,” he said.
“It’s a group of young men I’m never going to forget.”
All-Ohioan Bower completes a stellar career, throwing for 3,011 yards, 35 touchdowns and 6 interceptions this season. His unofficial career numbers are 7,635 passing yards, with 94 TDs.
Box score
Score by quarters
Northmor 0 7 0 0 — 7
Kirtland 0 21 20 0 — 41
Scoring summary
Second quarter
K — Jake LaVerde 2 run (Xavier Lasecki kick), 10:42.
N — Cowin Becker 57 pass from A.J. Bower (Bower kick), 8:45.
K — LaVerde 1 run (Lasecki kick), 5:20.
K — Danny Alfieri 7 run (kick blocked), 1:11.
Third quarter
K — Alfieri 7 run (Alfieri run), 8:14.
K — LaVerde 20 run (kick failed), 2:47.
K — Jack Lessick 42 run (Lasecki kick), :00.
Individual statistics
Passing
Northmor: A.J. Bower 17-32-2 211; Kirtland: None.
Rushing
Northmor: Carson Campbell 11-28, Cowin Becker 2-(-2), A.J. Bower 2-(-14); Kirtland: Danny Alfieri 25-150, Jake LaVerde 16-142, John Silvestro 9-87, Jack Lessick 2-48, Carter Luzar 4-10, Max Paul 1-7, Nico Samac 1-3.
Receiving
Northmor: Bo Landin 8-87, Cowin Becker 1-57, Jaxson Wenger 6-44, Carson Campbell 2-23; Kirtland: None.
Team statistics
N K
First downs 13 30
Rushing 15-12 58-447
Passes 13-32-2 0-0
Yards passing 211 0
Total yards 223 447
Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-1
Penalties 5-41 4-36