When the postgame discussions were complete, Indian Valley senior Jaxon Burcher stood in the interview room, clutching the Division IV state championship trophy. He said he wasn’t planning to let go. “They’re going to have to make another one, I’m not giving this back,” he joked. Burcher did, indeed, let go of the trophy, handing it to teammates as they all celebrated at a post-midnight community celebration at Brotherhood HVAC Stadium in Gnadenhutten. Here’s what the celebration was about: Indian Valley edged Sandusky Perkins 37-36 in the Division IV final to win not just the first high school football state championship in school history, but the first to ever win a championship game in Tuscarawas County, in an absolute classic played at Tom Benson Stadium in Canton Saturday night. “I’m proud of our young men and how hard they worked,” said Indian Valley coach Matt Lancaster, who just wrapped up his 18th year at the school. I’m happy to say it paid off for them.” The game was an offensive shootout from the start. Both sides scored almost at will and neither team punted. It wasn’t until sophomore cornerback Carsen Hostetler slapped away a fourth-down pass with 4:16 left in the game did either team record a defensive stop. “We needed to get one defensive stop and finally came up with one,” Lancaster said. The numbers were wild and crazy. Indian Valley had 55 carries for 355 yards. Grady Kinsey, the game’s MVP, had 36 carries for 247 yards. His five touchdowns and two, two-point conversion runs, accounted for a Div. IV championship record 34 points. Quarterback Ryker Williams had 15 carries for 112 yards. On the Perkins side, quarterback Sam Schweinfurth and receiver Braylon Collier were equally incredible. Schweinfurth hit 18 of 24 passes for 370 yards and five touchdowns. Collier had eight receptions for 207 yards and three scores. The Braves, trailing 36-29, scored the only touchdown of the fourth quarter. Kinsey fumbled the ball at the goalline, but recovered the ball for a score that left the Braves behind by a single point. Kinsey then took a direct snap and bowled into the end zone for a two-point conversion with 8:15 left in the game to put his team up 37-36. The Pirates were far from done. They drove deep into Indian Valley territory and looked to take the lead when Collier made a diving catch in the end zone. The touchdown was nullified on a penalty. On fourth down, Schweinfurth threw a pass inside the 5 that hit Collier in the hands, but Hostetler showed up in time to slap the ball away and give it back to Indian Valley. A field goal would have given the Pirates a lead. “We felt confident in Grant’s (Hickman) ability to go out and kick a field goal, but it came down to there was too much time on the clock,” said Perkins coach Jalen Santoro. “It was one of those things where a field goal wouldn’t do you any good if they had the ball at the end.” After the turnover on downs, it was Kinsey, Kinsey and more Kinsey as the Braves ran out the clock and secured the championship. On one play, the junior tailback broke through the line and had a clear path to the end zone. Once the first down was secured, however, he slowed and slid to a stop to keep the clock rolling with under two minutes to play. “That was more of an instinct,” Kinsey said when asked if the slide was part of a plan. “I know their offense was real. No. 1 (Collier) is super explosive. He was one of the best players we’ve played in years. “I just wanted to grind it out, get a few first downs, run the clock out and win by one point.” There were very few miscues in the game. Trailing 7-0, Indian Valley scored on the first play of the second quarter, but the PAT attempt was blocked, leaving the Pirates on top 7-6. On the kickoff, the Pirates fumbled the ball. Indian Valley recovered and scored. The two-point conversion put the Braves up 14-7. With the game tied 22-22, Perkins recovered an on-side kick to open the second half. Down 29-22 in the third quarter, Indian Valley was pushed back to the 9 on a penalty. On 1st and 19, Kinsey took a toss sweep and ran to the right. He stopped and fired a pass back to Williams. The play went for 50 yards and was Indian Valley’s longest play of the night. The drive ended in a Kinsey touchdown and a 29-29 tie. Williams only threw the ball twice in the winning effort. He completed a 4-yard pass to Jaxon Burcher and later hit Burcher with a two-point conversion. GRINDING IT OUT Indian Valley’s ground attack was the difference in the game. The Pirates knew what was coming, but were unable to stop it. “We knew they were going to stack the box,” said senior center Hunter Peterman. “We knew that if we could get on them fast enough that nobody was arm tackling our guys. We were obviously outsized, so we had to get there fast and hit them as hard as we could ... every time.” As a part of Indian Valley’s offense, Kinsey and Williams often lined up side by side in the backfield. Twice in the game, the snap went to Kinsey, who then handed it off to Williams for positive gains. “Grady took a lot of the defense with him with his fakes and the linebackers were reading Grady all night,” said Williams. “He went the opposite way I went most of the time and it worked out for us.” BY THE NUMBERS Kinsey finished the season with 3,278 yards. “I’ve never been around a tougher competitor, a harder worker and a better young man,” Lancaster said of Kinsey. “The kid rocks it in the classroom and off the field in everything he does. The kid is a great leader for our younger guys. “He’s just a heck of a football player. There are a lot of Grady doubters out there ... he’s not big enough, he’s not fast enough, but in the state championship game against one of the great D-IV teams in the state, I think he showed he’s a pretty good running back.” In the game, the Braves ran 57 offensive plays and racked up 409 yards. The Pirates ran 40 offensive plays and had 441 yards. The Braves ended the season at 16-0. Photo Credit: ANDREW DOLPH/TIMES-REPORTER LINK