Springfield wins second straight regional football championship

Springfield, the No. 3 seed in Division I, Region 2, took the next step toward that goal by beating No. 4 Powell Olentangy Liberty 19-0 on Friday in Springfield. Te’Sean Smoot threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score in the first half, and the defense handed Liberty (8-2) its first shutout since the opening game of the 2018 season.

“It feels good," senior lineman Jokell Brown said. “We’ve been here before. Now we’re pushing to get a ring.”

With its second regional championship in a row, Springfield joined Catholic Central (1991 and 2007) on the list of Clark County schools that have reached the state final four multiple times.

Springfield (8-1) will play Region 4 champion, Cincinnati St. Xavier (8-2), in the state final four at 7 p.m. Nov. 6 at Piqua High School. The Bombers beat Lakota West 10-7 on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Brogan McCaughey to Liam Clifford with 27 seconds to play.

St. Xavier will make its eighth final four appearance. It has won three state championships, most recently in 2016 when it last reached the state semifinals.

Four-time state runner-up Mentor (9-1) will play the defending state champion, Pickerington Central (10-0), in the other state semifinal. The Division I state championship game will be held Nov. 13 at a site to be announced.

Three of the four semifinalists this year — Springfield, Mentor and Pickerington Central — were in the final four last season. Springfield fell short of earning its first state championship berth last season, falling 31-24 to Cincinnati Elder in the state semifinals.

“That’s the whole thing about this whole year: unfinished business,” Douglass said. “They know how close they were last year. They were seven points away from being in Canton. That’s the thing that’s pushed them to this point.”

This was Springfield’s first game since Oct. 16. Its regional semifinal game against Northmont was cancelled because of a positive COVID-19 test a Northmont. The Wildcats did not look rusty, dominating the first half on both sides of the ball and building a 19-0 halftime lead.

Smoot scored on a 2-yard run with 4:41 left in the first quarter. Smoot threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Ben Van Noord with 11:56 left in the second quarter. With 54 seconds left in the half, Smoot threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Brown.

“Our offense really came out explosive in the first half,” Van Noord said. “We played good all around.”

Smoot completed 23 of 33 passes for 319 yards. Van Noord caught seven passes for 115 yards. Brown caught six passes for 94 yards.

Springfield was shut out in the second half but didn’t need to score again because its defense limited Liberty to 169 yards. This was Springfield’s third shutout of the season.

“We do what we do every week,” Douglass said. “We’re the No. 1 defense in our conference. We expect to do that to anybody. Our coaches do a great job of preparing the kids. We just knew if we could stop the run and make them throw the ball, we would be successful, and we did that today.”