CANTON, Ohio — Year after year, Ted Ginn Sr. has sent teenagers from his football teams to college.
Those teenagers suiting up for him now at Glenville helped him win its first state championship Saturday night at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton with a 26-6 victory vs. Cincinnati Wyoming in the Division IV title game.
Ginn, who has coached Glenville for 25 years, had twice before been to this stage. The championship eluded him in 2009 with a one-point loss to Hilliard Davidson and another setback in 2013.
His Tarblooders (15-0) didn’t let up in this third trip, bringing tears to his eyes after the trophy presentation with players and community members surrounding Ginn.
“There’s so many things I could say when I think about how many people came before me in the 70s, 80s and 90s that attempted to win a state title,” Ginn said. “When you think about the older coaches, you think about Leonard Jackson and those people that paved the way for us to be in this position. It’s tough for me to talk about it.”
The emotion finally got the better of the legendary coach for a brief moment after a long season that began in August with him stressing focus among a talented team that included about a dozen players receiving Division I college scholarship offers, including one Ohio State commit and two more who have offers from the Buckeyes.
They wanted to win this for Ginn, junior running back D’Shawntae Jones said in the weeks leading up to this championship. He helped do it, rushing for 195 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries.
“I want to cry a little bit, but there’s too many cameras around,” Jones said with a smile. “I gotta be tough. I can’t let y’all see me cry, but I really put on for my city and really put on for coach Ginn. He deserves it. We’ve really been working hard for 11 months straight.”
While Glenville won its first championship, and the first OHSAA football title for a Cleveland public school, Wyoming (15-1) won one in 2018. In 2019, Cowboys coach Aaron Hancock’s senior class then arrived as freshmen. They finished 50-4, led by Western Michigan recruit CJ Hester at running back, with those four losses to the eventual state champion in each of the last four years.
“It’s nothing to hang your head about,” Hancock said.
His team fumbled on its opening drive. One play later, Glenville senior quarterback Deonte Rucker hooked up with junior Damarion Witten on a 39-yard touchdown pass to put the Tarblooders up on the scoreboard. Hester, who fumbled the ball on that opening drive for Wyoming (15-1), made up for it with an 81-yard run later in the first quarter to tie the score.
Glenville retook the lead early in the second quarter on Jones’ 29-yard TD and built on its lead from there. The Tarblooders’ next drive, a series of 10 plays, ended with a 1-yard run by Jones. Their 18-6 lead held up to halftime, as the defense denied the Cowboys on their final drive of the second quarter, which ended at the 12-yard line, following a sack by junior Phillip Sains and Arvell Reese’s interception in front of the goal line.
Reese, the Ohio State commit and linebacker, and Glenville’s defense held Hester in check for most of the night. Other than his 81-yard TD run, he had only 5 yards on his 10 other carries in the first half. Hester missed much of the second half and finished with 98 yards on 12 carries because of concussion protocol, Hancock said.
“We knew their offense went through 33,” Ginn said of Hester, “and we prepared that way. The defense played tough, but we’ve been playing tough all year.”
Meanwhile, Glenville controlled the line of scrimmage with its big offensive line and hulking junior running back. Jones, at 6-foot and 240 pounds, credited their blocking for his near-200-yard performance.
“They really move people out of the way, so I just have to get away from the linebackers,” Jones said. “I just have to use my talent to get up to the next level. They do everything. I just do the running part.”
Rucker and Witten also kept Wyoming’s defense, which had 10 shutouts this year, on its heels with the pass game. They hooked up three times for 81 yards.
The collective effort allowed Glenville to run the last 5:40 off the clock. Rucker took a final knee while players on the sideline doused Ginn with water, celebrating the history they made for Cleveland public schools.
Ginn is already thinking about what’s ahead.
“The work is just beginning,” he said. “I have 20 seniors that I have to be concerned with and their life. Football is just a game, but their lives mean everything.”
Contact sports reporter Matt Goul on Twitter (@mgoul) or email (mgoul@cleveland.com).
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