CANTON, Ohio — It was a banner weekend for Northeast Ohio high school football, capped off by a truly dominating performance.
Cleveland Glenville concluded this year's slate of OHSAA state championship games by throttling Archbishop Alter 38-3 Saturday night in Canton. It's the second consecutive Division IV title for the Tarblooders, who won it all for the first time ever only a year ago.
The numbers speak for themselves: Glenville (13-3) out-gained Alter 461-130 while also winning the first down battle 24-7. On a team littered with big time college prospects, quarterback Ruel Tomlinson was the star of the show, accounting for 290 yards by himself and five total touchdowns (three passing, two rushing).
Tomlinson, who transferred from Walsh Jesuit in the offseason, got the scoring started with a 16-yard TD run before a pair of touchdown passes to tight end Damarion Witten, an Ohio State commit who put up five catches for 86 yards in his final high school game. A field goal by the Knights (12-4) briefly made the score 18-3, only for Tomlinson's second scoring run and a subsequent 2-point conversion to make it 26-3 just before halftime.
The Tarblooders remained in control from there, with Quincy Rogers hauling in a 78-yard touchdown pass and D'Shawntae Jones finishing with 161 rushing yards and a TD. Additionally, the Glenville defense shined despite being without star corner Bryce West, as edge rusher Darrell Owens put up 2 1/2 tackles for loss and 1 1/2 sacks.
Alter, which had been seeking its first state title since 2009, allowed Glenville scores on six of seven defensive series. On offense, Noah Jones tallied 79 yards on 10 rushes.
Glenville remains the only Cleveland Metropolitan School District member to win a state football championship in the playoff era. Prior to the Tarblooders' first title in 2022, the only other city public schools to win titles were the now-closed Central High School (1895, 1900) followed by East Tech in 1920.