OHIO — Entering the fourth quarter trailing 36-29, Gnadenhutten Indian Valley had 12 more minutes to continue finding an answer in the back-and-forth battle against Sandusky Perkins that had featured five lead changes and three ties.
The Braves drove and crossed midfield, making it to the Perkins 2-yard line. They turned to junior running back Grady Kinsey, who ran for more than 2,300 yards and 30 touchdowns this season, and he dove forward to the goal line.
Kinsey lost control of the football and fumbled, but he dragged it back into his grip for his fifth rushing touchdown of the game, which set a new record for a Division IV state championship game and brought the score to 36-35.
Head coach Matt Lancaster and Indian Valley decided to go for a two-point attempt that would give the Braves the lead, and Kinsey once again pushed through the line of scrimmage and found the end zone — helping Indian Valley take a 37-36 lead it wouldn’t give up and clinching the school and Tuscarawas County’s first state title during the OHSAA Division IV state championship game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on Saturday.
“I’m just very proud of these kids,” Lancaster said. “I’m proud to bring this home to our community, Braves nation and all of T county. You know, we play pretty good football down there and we’re proud of our league and all the work that our kids in southern Tuscarawas County put in, and so I couldn’t be more proud of a group the way they played tonight, the way they overcame adversity, the way they kept fighting, and we needed to get one defensive stop and finally came up with one.”
Indian Valley (16-0) kept Perkins at bay for the final 8:15 of the game after allowing four touchdowns of 40 yards or more earlier in the contest. Perkins got inside the red zone to the Braves 9-yard line and threatened to take the lead back. But Indian Valley sophomore defensive back Carsen Hostetler broke up Pirates junior quarterback Sam Schweinfurth’s final pass of the game on 4th and 3 to give the Braves possession for the final four minutes.
In addition to his five rushing touchdowns, Kinsey ran for 247 yards. He also had a 50-yard pass completion in the third quarter to sophomore Ryker Williams. Kinsey averaged 6.9 yards across his 36 carries all while battling abdominal and groin injuries.
“I remember thinking even being a varsity starter on an IVC championship team would be a great accomplishment. I’d really have it all figured out,” Kinsey said. “And now I just see how a little bit of determination and little bit of grit in the offseason, a little bit of focus, a little bit of hard work, can do. And this is just, you know, we’re just scraping off the — we got a lot more we can do next year. You know, we got a lot coming back and I’m just super excited. I’m ready to get healthy and start training for next year, get all the guys going.”
Sandusky Perkins (14-2) outgained the Braves 441 yards to 409. Senior wide receiver Braylon Collier hauled in a game-high 207 yards along with three touchdowns and junior wideout Blake Parker caught two of his own.
“I think we knew kind of what they were going to try to do coming in as far as running the ball, eating the clock up, and they executed to perfection,” Perkins head coach Jalen Santoro said. “When you’re two good teams going at it and the team knows what you’re going to be doing and they go out and still do it it’s hats off to them because it’s all about what they did and what they did is executing on offense. So I mean, that’s a great team. Obviously it stings, but you know, the reality is we lost to a really good team.”