State Champions!

CANTON – There's a good chance Coldwater players, coaches and fans will never hear a train horn the same again. They will most likely think back to the Carey horn that kept blowing Saturday in the Division VI state championship at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, or remember the freight train that was the Carey football team that steamrolled through the Cavaliers 26-14 for its second state championship in school history. For the Cavalier players, it will certainly have nightmares of 6-foot-1, 265-pound running back Jordan Vallejo coming at them 25 times and scoring twice and the two costly turnovers in the first half. On the other hand, Carey players or coaches might've thought winning a state championship was just a dream. But Saturday it turned into a reality. "It's indescribable, but all the hard we put in as a class and with the underclassmen that helped us out to get where we are today," Carey's Derek Lonsway said. "I'm glad we went out with a bang. I'm so proud of our team, the town, the coaching staff, no words to say really."After the first five minutes Saturday, a state title wasn't looking likely for the Blue Devils (15-1). After each team traded punts to begin the game, Coldwater (13-3) struck first. Quarterback Reece Dellinger hit Marcel Blasingame for a 15-yard gain and then tossed a 46-yard pass to Tyler Schwieterman in stride to get down to Carey's 1. On the next play, Isaac Fullenkamp ran into the end zone to give the Cavaliers an early 7-0 advantage. But – just like it did a few weeks against Liberty Center – the Blue Devils never flinched after giving up an early touchdown and falling behind. Vallejo capped a nine-play drive with a 1-yard plunge with 1:23 left in the opening quarter. Mershman decided to go for two and Vallejo cashed in with a run."Well, if we got the two-point conversion it would be 8-7 and then my goal was to never give them the ball back and we could win 8-7," Mershman said with a laugh. "That was the overall thinking process as you can win the game if you're not in the lead. We went for two to get the lead and the way we punched it in gave me confidence that we could get the two-point conversion. I just know this team plays way better when we have the lead. "We will drain the clock and I don't think we ever gave up the lead after that, right? It was one of those things where I felt it was the best decision for the team."Carey certainly fed off that energy and the confidence from Mershman. To start the second quarter, the Blue Devils took 11 plays and took six minutes off the clock to get down to Coldwater's 40, but turned the ball over on downs. But on the first Coldwater play, Anthony Bell picked off Dellinger and returned it to the Cavalier 24. Four plays later, Lonsway bounced to the outside and ran in a 3-yard score. With the extra point from Bell, the Blue Devils found themselves with a 15-7 lead with 3:41 left in the half. Coldwater then turned the ball over again on the next possession as Lance Woods got by the Coldwater line and strip sacked Dellinger as Landen Kemerley was there for the fumble recovery. Six plays later, Vallejo bulldozed his way into the end zone for a 2-yard score. He then converted the two-point conversion, giving Carey a 23-7 advantage with just 32 seconds left in the opening half. "We lost a game earlier this season where we had four turnovers in a half, which killed us," Coldwater coach Chip Otten said. "The one Reece got hit in the back where the kid made a big play and the other one was a little overthrown. Reece saw a window there, but it sailed a little bit and the guy made a good play. We all know if you have turnovers, that's what gets you in the end."Carey possessed all of the momentum. But it was quickly taken away at halftime. Coldwater started its final drive of the first half at its own 33 with three timeouts. Dellinger hit Tanner Muhlenkamp for a 40-yard completion and then after two incompletions, Dellinger found an open Muhlenkamp in the corner of the end zone for a 27-yard TD with no time on the clock. The Cavaliers got to within 23-14 at the half. "The way we looked at is as going into halftime was don't relax and the fact that 'Hey if we win the second half, we will still win the game,'" Mershman said. "They got that seven points right before the half and that was huge for them don't get me wrong, but we felt like going into halftime if we win the second half and if we did something with the first drive in the second half – which I know we didn't end up scoring on that drive, but it was a long drive (12 plays) that took some of the momentum away from them and we beat on them a little bit."Both defenses adjusted things in the second half as neither team scored in the third. To begin the fourth frame, Carey got to Coldwater's 24 but stalled. Bell then drilled a 41-yard field goal to give the Blue Devils a 26-14 edge with 11:48 remaining in the game. Still just a two-possession game, Coldwater had a chance. The Cavaliers drove to Carey's 19, but was stopped on a fourth-and-6 as Dellinger tried to run for the first down, but was stopped short, turning the ball over on downs. Carey then pounded the Cavaliers into submission on the last drive, churning out yards and first downs essentially ending the game. Coldwater eventually got the ball back, but had to score twice in the last 2:22 of the contest. In the end, the Blue Devils' defense held and shut out the Cavaliers in the second half. "There were just so many first downs where you were like, 'Yep he got it. Yep, he got it. Yep, he got it,'" Otten said of the Carey offense. "Then the clock was just drained."Overall, Carey held a 34:34-13:26 edge in time of possession and ran the ball 64 times for 243 yards."You know what's coming, but it's having the big, physical enough guys top stop it," Otten said. "I don't know if they had many plays not positive yardage gains, so when you're them, we have four plays to get 10 yards and they keep chipping away at it, 3,4,3 and we're playing pretty good giving up just three yards a carry, but it's a first down again. Mechanicsburg had a similar style, but not the same personnel."Carey offensive lineman Easton Korody added: "I think it's awesome because as a lineman I take pride in those little three-yard plays. It really wears down the defense," he said. "When you have the momentum you don't get tired on those 17-play drives taking six minutes off the clock. It's an awesome feeling knowing you can dominate and control the game like that."Dellinger was 13 of 31 passing for 205 yards as Muhlenkamp was his top target with four catches for 81 yards. Vallejo led the Blue Devils with 95 yards on the ground, followed by Lonsway with 81 yards and Bryce Conti caught two passes for 65 yards. "I couldn't be more proud of this senior class," Mershman said. "They worked their tails off in January on. It wasn't just this show up in August and get working, it was the time they put in."