Canton — This wasn’t supposed to be the year for the St. Edward Eagles.
After a somewhat average 6-3 regular season, the team entered the OHSAA Division I state playoffs as the seventh seed in Region I. Even after scoring upset wins over squads like St. Ignatius and Mentor, the Eagles were thought to be underdogs in their state title showdown against top-ranked Colerain.
But the Eagles had other ideas, hanging on to beat the Cardinals 24-10 to win the D-I state championship. It’s the fourth state title in school history, all since 2010.
Ed managed to fight back from deficits of 7-0 and 10-7 to take home the victory, partly on the strength of a defense that did not allow a score in the second half. The Cardinals did had a chance to cut the deficit to one possession with less than four minutes left, but were stopped on fourth down near the goal line. Rosario Riggs led the way with 11 total tackles at 1.5 sacks.
On offense, quarterback Garrett Dzuro was literally perfect, completing all 12 of his passes for 150 yards and two scores while also running for 74 yards. All but 30 of those yards and both of the touchdowns were to Quintel Kent.
The Eagles’ victory means Northeast Ohio teams have now won each of the first four state titles this year.
