CANTON, Ohio (WCMH) — In its first-ever appearance in the state championship game, Olentangy Liberty made the most of it, defeating nine-time winners Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller, 28-14, in the Division I title game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
Senior running back Jake Struck opened the scoring for the Patriots in the opening quarter while quarterback Andrew Leonard found Christian Moulton three times to lift Liberty to its maiden title.
“They’ve been doing it all year. They’ve been playing with each other for a long time and Christian is a big time play maker,” head coach John Sansbury said. “And that’s what he did in the biggest game of the season.”
Leonard completed 17 of 23 passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns. Moulton was the top receiver with 161 yards on eight catches. Struck finished with 99 rushing yards on 17 carries.
“All the hard work from the past alumni and us over the summer, we knew we had to do something special,” Struck said. “Everyone on our team proved it. Us seniors, we gave it all we had for our last go.”
With 3:54 left in the first, Struck leaped over a pile of players and into the endzone moments after his catch from Leonard was ruled short of the goal line when it was originally called a touchdown.
Leonard’s first scoring throw to Moulton was a 20-yard pass that came in the second quarter at the 7:24 mark. The Patriots looked to extend the lead late in the half but a fumble was recovered by Cooper Gearhart, who returned it 80 yards for the Crusaders’ first touchdown of the night.
In the third quarter with 7:05 to go, Leonard connected with Moulton for a 61-yard reception to extend the Patriots lead, 21-7. The duo found success for a third time when Leonard floated a pass over a defender to find Moulton wide open for a 14-yard catch with 1:39 left in the period.
Moeller trimmed Liberty’s lead back to 14 when Landen Adams caught a three-yard pass from Matt Ponatoski in the fourth quarter. But that was as close as the Crusaders got.
Sansbury led a turnaround in his second season as head coach after the Patriots finished last year with a 4-10 record.
“It’s amazing. I’m so proud of these kids that worked so hard. Our coaching staff has worked so hard,” Sansbury said. “We got 31 seniors that were not happy with how last season went and they work really hard this offseason in the weight room. They played great tonight.”