St.Xavier OHSAA State Football Champions 2007

1. C8 MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2007 A SALUTE TO CHAMPIONS THE ENQUIRER
ANDERSON SCHEDULE ST. XAVIER SCHEDULE
13-2, 5-0 FAVC 15-0, 3-0 GCL South
D-II STATE CHAMPS D-I STATE CHAMPS
REGULAR SEASON REGULAR SEASON
Opponent Score Opponent Score
Springboro W, 28-13 Winton Woods W, 35-7
Mason W, 35-12 DeMatha, Md. W, 28-7
Hamilton W, 14-7 Cleveland Glenville W, 27-12
Hilliard Darby L, 39-38 Louisville Trinity, Ky. W, 47-31
La Salle L, 51-10 Indianapolis Chatard W, 30-0
Winton Woods W, 14-12 Elder W, 18-0
Loveland W, 21-7 La Salle W, 35-7
Glen Este W, 57-36 Lakewood St. Edward W, 45-0
Milford W, 34-18 Cleveland St. Ignatius W, 17-14
Harrison W, 40-24 Moeller W, 28-14
PLAYOFFS PLAYOFFS
Kings W, 14-6 Elder W, 45-14
Dayton Carroll W, 31-13 Centerville W, 31-6
Turpin W, 24-23 Colerain W, 29-14
Anderson’s Bob Kuhlenberg (facing) and his teammates celebrat- St. Xavier players celebrated a state championship in Canton Dublin Coffman W, 10-7
Ashland W, 35-20
ed the school’s first state football championship on Friday. on Saturday for the second time in the past three seasons. Mentor W, 31-25
Louisville W, 31-25
TWICE AS NICE
For Anderson and St. Xavier, state championships were a perfect ending for dream seasons
Information compiled by Tom Groeschen. Photos by Jeff Swinger
Anderson’s Elijah Storey celebrated with teammates Jason Bruner (12), Nick Schirmann (77) and Tailback Darius Ashley (8) and his backfield mate Luca Romeo embrace after defeating Mentor
Tyler White (75) after his critical touchdown run in the fourth quarter. for the Division I state title. Both were on the 2005 state championship team.
FAST FACTS FAST FACTS
m Anderson played in Division I for most of the past m St. Xavier’s 2007 title win gives Cincinnati its fifth
decade, until enrollment changes dropped the Red- Division I state football championship in the past six
skins to Division II this season. years: Elder (2002 and ’03), Colerain (’04), St. Xavier
m Anderson was the Fort Ancient Valley Conference (’05 and ’07).
Buckeye champion this season (5-0), after sharing the m St. Xavier (D-I) and Anderson (D-II) gave Cincinnati
title last year. multiple state football titles for the first time since 1986,
m The Redskins made seven playoff appearances when Fairfield (D-I), Purcell Marian (D-II) and Cincinnati
under previous coach Vince Suriano, who left after the Academy of Physical Education (D-III) all won.
2006 season to become a college assistant at Mount m Since Ohio began tournament play in 1972, Cincin- Steve Specht (center) was named head coach
St. Joseph. nati teams have won 16 of the 36 big-school champion- when this season’s seniors were freshmen.
m The Redskins were the first Cincinnati-area Divi- ships: Moeller (1975-76-77-79-80-82-85), Princeton 2007 ROSTER
sion II team to appear in the state finals since Edge- (1978-83-87), Fairfield (1986), Elder (2002-03), Cole- SENIORS: Joshua James, Nick Mitchell, Sam Deardorff,
wood was state runner-up in 2003. rain (2004) and St. Xavier (2005-07). Danny Milligan, Joe DeGregorio, Greg Scruggs, Billy
m Since Ohio began tournament football in 1972, m St. Xavier was the regular season Associated Press Rumpke, Fred Craig, Darius Ashley, Tim Perica, John
only four Cincinnati area teams have won the second- Division I state poll champion, Enquirer Division I area Hurley, Tom Hobson, Bobby Ulliman, Tim Bayer, Nick
biggest division: Wyoming (Class AA, 1977), Purcell coaches’ poll champion, and is rated between No. 1 and Schneider, Tyler Brodbeck, Grift Krehnbrink, Jon Howard,
Marian (Division II, 1986), Lebanon (Division II, 1998) No. 5 in various national polls. Michael Hegman, Mike Sieber, Patrick Berning, Michael
and Anderson (Division II, 2007). m The Bombers this year beat former state champi- Wottreng, Patrick Gleason, Drew Grote, Tony Iori, Jon
m Anderson senior RB Elijah Storey, who rushed for ons from Ohio (Elder, Colerain, Moeller, St. Ignatius), Fluegemann, Xavier Cooper, Luca Romeo, Michael
154 yards and a TD in the title game, is a cousin of Kentucky (Trinity) and Indiana (Chatard), plus national Holbrook, Ross Morand, Brady McDonough, Zach
Seattle Seahawks star Shaun Alexander. power DeMatha (Md.). Nieberding, Corey Siler, Eamon El-Sawaf, Harry
Anderson senior wide receiver Nick Truesdell
races in for a touchdown in the state champi- Schilderink, Michael Ponti-Zins, Andrew Hobohm, Kyle
onship game. Johns, Nate Quinn, Wendell Taylor, Michael Blain, Jon
Lucas, Andrew Maingot, Evan Miller, Mark Rouse, Jordan
Thompson, Kyle Wenker, Kevin Gibboney, John Kuechly,
2007 ROSTER James Longaberger, Max Baumann, Andrew Amrein,
SENIORS: Kyle Nelson, Nick Aylward, Josh Jeffery, Bob Sheldon Belcher, Scott Feltrup, Matt Deye, Sam Zenni,
Kuhlenberg, Elijah Storey, Brian Thatcher, Greg Flamm, Andrew Carpenter, Ian Godofsky, Michael Matthews,
Jay Dawson, Kyle Hetrick, Bryan Sallee, Tyler White, Da- Ben Duwell, Brian Ulliman, Tommy Gusweiler,
vid Stewart, Nick Truesdell, Zak Steigerwald, Kevin Chap- Jon Scheidler, Stephon Ball, Patrick Kelly, Bobby Bench,
man. Joe Richter, Romey James, Larry Thomas.
JUNIORS: Daniel Rod, Brian Schlosser, John Runk, Ja- JUNIORS: Luke Kuechly, Andrew Brown, Eric Prysock,
son Bruner, John Howard, Michael Tincher, Justin Gray, Jerry Valentine, Joe O’Toole, Danny Freudiger, Drew
Zach Bailey, Breon Mapp, Luke Bissinger, Luis Perez, Grombala, Sam Male, Sam Edmiston, Brian Bell, Nevin
Max Elliott, Austin Rexroat, Zac Daiker, Eli Anglim, An- Heard, John Sarra, Alex Perry, Eric Berning, Ian Cummins,
Principal Diana Carter and fans saluted coach thony Palazzolo, Mike Sears, Adam Bigelow, Randy King, Patrick Reagan, Aaron Lingler, Patrick Akujobi, Doug Sam-
Jeff Giesting and his team Sunday. Geoff Burroughs, Oliver Phillips, John Strickley, Nick mons, Daniel Perrino, Kyle Lyons, Pat Muldoon, Tom Ba-
Schirmann, Dan Handley, Ory Tilford, Kurt Kaufmann, Danny Milligan was a versatile force, as a wide den, Ned Moffat, Connor Earley, Richard Levernier, Nick
BY THE NUMBERS John Hirsch, Joe Walla, Nick Buchanan. receiver, kick returner and kicker. Ramstetter, David Herman, Michael Frey, Sam Imbus,
19 – Years that Jeff Giesting spent as an Anderson as- SOPHOMORES: Brandon Bornhauser, Ken Nakakura, Doug Golan, Marty Dugan, Jon Tobergte, Tyler Rabanus,
Caleb Correll, Trent Sheppard, Mitch Porta, Chad Owens, Marcus Mitchell, Billy Douglas, Chris Blum, Kawdani
sistant before becoming head coach this year.
John Ahrens, Ryan Beebe, Kevin Cripe, Matt Pucillo, Jus- BY THE NUMBERS Scott, Pete Lees, Mike Vance, Alex Lewellen, Michael Her-
1 – Appearances in a state football title game for An- vey, Rob Sander, Jose Rodriguez, Brandon Wilkins, Travis
derson. tin Racer, Jake Lackner, Kevin Becker, Jacob Casper, Aa- 2 – State football championships for St. Xavier (2005,
ron Riffle, Tyler Knabb, Keith Chabot, Payne Rankin, Will ’07). Wahl, Alex Webb, Alex Green, Adam Loesing, Anthony
1998 – The last year a Cincinnati area team (Lebanon) Puthoff, Max Barden, Ryan Sowers, Sean Molloy, Evan Kaiser, Tim Koenig, Kevin Feltrup, Justinian Mason, Trever
had won a Division II state title. 51 – Wins for coach Steve Specht in four years as Bombers
Murphy, Blake Byrne, Darren Huelsman, Adam Tastad, Hoelker, Aaron Nimrick, Jon Schroeder, Kevin Chase, Co-
head coach.
12 – Anderson’s ranking in the final Associated Press Paden Ramey, Dustin Didier, Greg Mancz, Isaiah Hum- nor Gilligan, Andrew Vehr, Parker Greve, Nick Mathews,
Division II state media poll this season. 3 – Losses for Specht in those four years. Stephen Cummings, Graham Dudley, Ryan Long.
mons, Andrew Norwell, Kevin Hetrick, Koty Trentman,
199 – Total yards for Anderson WR Nick Truesdell in Mark Voderbrueggen, Evan Arnold, Michael Janes, Matt 1,111 – Number of boys (upper three grades) enrolled at St. SOPHOMORES: Luke Massa, Matt James
the title game (129 receiving, 26 rushing, 44 on kick- Gingras, Alan Van Pelt. Xavier.
HEAD COACH: Steve Specht ASSISTANT COACHES:
off return), with two TDs receiving. HEAD COACH: Jeff Giesting ASSISTANT COACHES: 1,348 – Number of boys (upper three grades) enrolled at Dave Allspach, Carlo Alvarez, Tim Banker, Mike Bellamah,
11,065 – Attendance at Massillon’s Paul Brown Tiger Mike Cook, Matt Stanyard, Adam Szabo, Bill Meltebrink, Mentor, St. Xavier’s opponent in the 2007 title game. Dan Benjamin, Steve Bradley, Jeremy Carpenter, Brian
Stadium for the Division II state final. Scott Peters, Bob Parrish, Mark Bruns, Bob Mullenax, 70 – Number of seniors St. X will lose from its 2007 team. Castner, Keith Castner, Ron Hatten, Mike Heizman, Matt
10 – Returning starters (of the top 22) for Anderson in Trevor Ellison, Steve Kosky, Robert Page, Mike Seiler, 19 – Number of starters (out of 22) St. X will lose from its Keith, Tim McDonald, Adam McLain, Dennis Quatke-
2008, including QB Daniel Rod. Andrew Tucker, Mark Nagy, Pat Thatcher, Doug Kuhn. 2007 team. meyer, Mike Wiles.