CANTON, Ohio — After 53 years of pain, heartbreak, and taunts of being labeled "paper champions," the long drought is finally over for Massillon.
For the first time since 1970, the Tigers are state football champions of Ohio, beating the Archbishop Hoban Knights 7-2 in Thursday night's Division II title game in Canton. It's the program's 25th state championship in its history, but the first of the playoff era.
The battle between two nationally ranked powerhouses (Massillon came in rated as high as ninth in the country while Hoban was 23rd) could only be described as a defensive slugfest, with Mylen Lenix's 6-yard run proving to be the only touchdown. Both offenses were held to under 200 total yards, the vast majority of them coming on the ground.
The Knights (13-2) actually outgained the Tigers 179-120, but were done in by a number of untimely mistakes. The first of those errors came midway through the first quarter, when with Hoban in the red zone, a mishandled snap was recovered by star Massillon linebacker Dorian Pringle. Pringle, a Bowling Green commit who had been battling injuries throughout the postseason, finished the night with a game-high 14 tackles (two for a loss).
The next miscue came early in the second, when NC State product Chase Bond busted through the line and blocked Ryan Burns' punt. The Tigers (16-0) recovered the ball at the Hoban 28, and when it appeared the Knights would escape, a personal foul against Jordan Pritchard-Sewell kept the drive alive, setting up Lenix's TD that broke the scoreless tie.
Archbishop Hoban would get on the board when Massillon quarterback DaOne Owens was tackled in the end zone for a safety, and the score would remain 7-2 at halftime after Vito McConnell intercepted a pass from Tylan "Juice" Boykin. That tally would hold firm the rest of the way, as both offenses struggled to find a rhythm.
Still managing to hang in the game, Hoban would have two chances to take the lead in the fourth quarter, but the first was stymied by a false start flag that forced a Burns punt rather than a fourth-down attempt. Incredibly, the Knights would get the ball right back after snuffing out a fake Massillon punt, and following several grinding runs found themselves in the red zone once again with time running out.
Then, it all came apart for Hoban. On third-and-1 Boykin mishandled another snap that led to a fourth-and-long. Throwing for the end zone on the very next play, Boykin pass hit Jackson Callaway right in the chest, but he couldn't hang on, as Pringle defended the play to allow the Tigers to kneel out the rest of the clock.
Owens finished the evening with 78 yards rushing, while Lenix had a mere 15 yards despite nabbing the only touchdown. Caleb Jones had a game-high 86 yards on the ground, but Boykin completed only 3 of 9 passes for 19 yards, and the Knights also committed eight penalties for 54 yards.
Along with its 25th state championship, Massillon also set a school record with 16 wins and completed its first unbeaten season since 1978. With their most recent title previously coming in the poll era, Thursday's victory also snaps a streak of six straight championship game losses dating back to 1972, including a pair to Hoban in 2018 and '20.
Hoban, winners of five state championships since 2015, has now lost in the D-II finals each of the past three seasons.