CANTON — The Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller High School football team and Powell Olentangy Liberty will wrap up Day 2 of the 2024 OHSAA football state championships this evening. They meet in the Division I title game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in showdown of the big-school division featuring this year’s Ohio Mr. Football and one of the finalists for that award.
It’s the last of three high school football championship games today as games continue Saturday at the stadium.
Follow along here throughout the day for live updates on the game.
Olentangy Liberty is Ohio’s Division I state football champion with a convincing 28-14 victory over Cincinnati Moeller.
The Patriots won the championship in their school’s first appearance in the finals, as a crowd of 4,814 watched in Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
Liberty had the ball and was driving as the final moments ticked away. It was quite a moment for head coach John Sansbury, in just his second year on the job.
With 1:39 left in the third quarter, Liberty threatened to put the game away on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Leonard to Moulton. Moulton came wide open again as Leonard sprinted to the right sideline with room to run, but threw just before getting to the line of scrimmage.
Liberty leads 28-7 and Leonard has three TD passes to Moulton as the game heads to the fourth quarter.
Moeller drove to a touchdown capped by a short touchdown pass that made it 28-14 with 7:36 left.
Liberty seemed to force a three-and-out to start the second half, but Moeller got a first down on a fake punt and 12-yard run by Geno Saccoccia.
A long scramble by QB Matt Ponatoski took Moeller inside the Liberty 40. On third-and-12, Piontoski threw for what would have been a first down had receiver Jovan Love not fumbled. Linebacker Lincoln Gardner recovered for Liberty at the 17.
Andrew Leonard regained lost momentum and then some with a 61-yard touchdown pass to Christian Moulton, who was wide open inside the 20 when he caught a deep throw in stride.
Liberty led 21-7 with 7:00 left in the third quarter.
QB Andrew Leonard drove Liberty to the 20, where it was fourth-and-1 with 0:36 left in the half.
Liberty’s hopes of a commanding halftime lead went up in smoke on a fourth-down fumble. Moeller senior Cooper Gearhart picked up the ball, broke out of the pack, and ran 80 yards for a touchdown at the 0:23 mark.
A replay review upheld the touchdown.
Liberty leads 14-7 at the break.
Moeller was somewhere between press mode and panic mode, down 14 points in the second quarter. The Crusaders went for it on fourth down from their own 35 but didn’t come close to a completion.
A holding call against Liberty kept things from getting worse for Moeller. A punt and a personal foul took Moeller’s offense past midfield.
A fumble and a recovery by Liberty’s Carter Kuhn ended the Moeller threat at the 35.
Liberty QB Andrew Leonard threw a 31-yard completion to put Moeller back on its heels.
After one quarter, Liberty led 115-36 in total yards. Moeller remained in neutral as the second quarter got rolling.
A holding penalty wiped out a first down and forced Moeller to punt from deep in its own territory.
A punt return to the 16 put Liberty in great shape. Andrew Leonard promptly scrambled to the 9, but a holding penalty on the next play set the Patriots back. Then came a sack, but Leonard responded with a third-and-long, 20-yard TD pass to Christian Moulton.
Liberty led 14-0 with 7:24 left in the first half.
A holding penalty forced Moeller QB Ponatoski into a third and long throw into triple coverage. He was fortunate to avoid a pick, and the Crusaders punted.
Liberty QB Leonard soon threw a 20-yard pass to Christian Moulton top put Liberty at midfield as the first quarter ended.
Liberty wound up punting, and Moeller survived a scare on a muff near the end zone.
Quarterback Andrew Leonard drove the Patriots into Moeller territory but was intercepted by senior Lincoln Murphy, bringing Ohio’s Mr. Football, Moeller QB Matt Ponatoski, on the field.
Moeller made it to midfield before Murphy, doubling as a running back, was stuffed on fourth and 1, giving the ball back to Leonard.
The 5-foot-10 senior quickly drove the Patriots to set up a pass over the middle to senior Jake Struck. It was ruled a 26-yard touchdown as Struck tumbled at the goal line, and then, after a video review, the ball was placed at the 1. The Patriots scored on the next play and led 7-0 with 3:54 left in the first quarter.
The combatants and entourages from the middle of Friday’s three title games − Columbus Watterson beat Toledo Central Catholic 19-14 − were clear of the field at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium by 6 p.m.
A smattering of Cincinnati Moeller players found their way to the field by 6:10 and soaked in the atmosphere in advance of their 7:30 kickoff against Olentangy Liberty for all the marbles in Division I.
A traffic jam to get out is being met by a traffic jam to get in. The temperature isn’t much warmer than it was for last night’s Division II title game, currently at 27 degrees, but last night there was nonstop snow, and at the moment it is dry and clear.
At 6:55, people were just beginning to file in, the guess being that there is little appetite to sit in the cold longer than necessary.
At 7:18, captains took the field at the Pro Football Hall of Fame logo. Moeller won the toss and deferred. It appears kickoff, scheduled for 7:30, will be about 10 minutes late.
Moeller routed Centerville 49-10 in a state semifinal.
Olentangy Liberty defeated three-time defending Division I state champion St. Edward 21-7 in a state semifinal.
The Crusaders enter the title game on an 11-game winning streak since a 21-14 overtime loss in Week 4 to Mallard Creek, a top program in North Carolina. They are outscoring their opponents, on average, 41-17 this season. The Moeller defense has forced 27 turnovers. The Crusaders are in a state championship game for the first time since winning back-to-back Division I titles in 2012 and 2013. They lost in the state semifinals each of the last three years.
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Ponatoski, a junior, was announced as the winner of Mr. Football on Thursday afternoon, winning a vote by statewide media. He owns multiple Moeller records and enters the finals with 4,075 passing yards and 56 TD passes this season. His career totals stand at 7,512 yards and 86 TD passes. Ponatoski has offers from Cincinnati, Purdue, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Miami (Ohio) and Kent State.
The Patriots are playing in the state finals for the first time after losing in their previous three trips to the state semifinals in 2016, ’17 and ’18. They got here by knocking off three-time defending state champion St. Edward 21-7 in a semifinal last Friday. They shared the regular-season title in the OCC-Central Division title with Olentangy Orange and Upper Arlington after all three were 4-1 in league play. Liberty edged Upper Arlington 17-13 in the regional semifinals after losing to the Golden Bears 31-28 a month earlier in the regular season.
The Division I state title game will be televised on Spectrum News 1. Kickoff is at 3 p.m.
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In addition to airing on TV on Spectrum News 1, the game can be streamed using the Spectrum News App or via OHSAA.tv.
