Hoban, Toledo Central Catholic had summertime sneak peek of OHSAA football state final

The 2022 football season has come full circle for Archbishop Hoban and Toledo Central Catholic.

Hoban hosted TCC for a scrimmage on Aug. 5 at Dowed Field when the two teams were gearing up for the season.

The stakes will be much higher for the two teams at 7 p.m. Thursday in Canton, where the Knights (14-1) and Irish (14-1) will meet in the Division II state championship game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.

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“We scrimmage every year,” Hoban 10th-year coach Tim Tyrrell said of Toledo Central Catholic. “Coach [Greg] Dempsey and I are friends. We’ve been scrimmaging since 2015. Respect the program and the coaches more than anybody. They got a great staff and a great program. We get along during the scrimmage, eat together, do all that kind of stuff and see each other in the offseason.

“It's a familiar team that we love to coach against just cause it’s great guys and great coaches and great players. So, I am just excited about this week and who we’re playing. It’s always fun to coach against a friend, and coach Dempsey is one of the best in the state of Ohio.”

Hoban won its first state championship in football in 2015 when it defeated TCC 33-20 in the Division III state final at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

Tyrrell and Dempsey have kept in touch through the years by scrimmaging.

“We always talk in the summer just about football in general, but the day of the scrimmage he thought he would be pretty good this year barring any injuries,” Tyrrell said. “We thought kind of the same thing, a little younger, but we thought we had some pretty good players, and when we were shaking hands and eating pizza after the game we said hopefully we see each other in December. So it just came to be true. So it’s gonna be a lot of fun.”

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Hoban is seeking its sixth state title Thursday after winning Division III championships in 2015 and 2016 and Division II titles in 2017, 2018 and 2020. The Knights were Division II state runners-up in 2021.

TCC has won three state championships, all under Dempsey, taking the Division III state title in 2014 and Division II crowns in 2012 and 2005.

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“I think besides getting there, staying there is just as hard,” Dempsey said. “I think Coach Tyrrell has shown what type of foundation he built that program on. He built it to the first championship, and then the tradition, that expectation bar gets raised, and his kids just kept reaching the bar, and they have to keep raising it higher.

“Watching the kids, it’s a matter of the buy-in for the program and wanting to be a part of a program like that. I’m sure that’s when you got kids that really wanna be a part of accomplishing something special, wanna go and be a part of a program that can win that many state titles in that few years and not be scared of embracing those expectations and the work and sacrifice it takes to get it done.”

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Game film throughout the season is the most useful tool for coaches to prepare, but Dempsey agreed some benefit exists as a result of seeing his players on the field with Hoban this past August.

“There’s advantages for both teams just in the sense that you’ve seen each other, gone against each other, know what you’re up against,” Dempsey said. “Everybody’s very vanilla that time of year. Some of us are holding a couple guys out here and there because they’re banged up from camp and you’re trying to get people ready for game one.

“... The respect among the programs, that’s why we scrimmage each other. You want to get ready for that season, and with the goals that usually both our programs have you want to go against great competition to prepare for it. Our kids just have a ton of respect for them. They know we’re going up against a real team with really good players and really good coaches. That has them excited, but they’re definitely focused and locked in on what it’s gonna take to beat a team that’s this good.”

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Hoban features running back Lamar Sperling, quarterback JacQai Long, wide receiver Jayvian Crable and linemen Drew Holt, William Satterwhite and Keon Johnson on offense.

The Knights' defensive leaders are linemen Jason Martin III, Jordan Pritchard-Sewell and Devin Bell, linebackers Rickey Williams and Eli Lee and cornerback Tysen Campbell.

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Tyrrell said he met Dempsey in 2014 at a coaching clinic and the two became friends.

“They were the top dogs in the state,” Tyrrell said. “One of the group of guys that obviously were winning a bunch of state championships and playing really at a high level. So, I just wanted our kids to see what it looks like to play a championship-style team. So, he agreed to scrimmage and ever since then we’ve just stayed in touch. We’ve just kind of hit it off personality-wise. He’s a great guy, and in 2015 we scrimmaged and then played in the state championship, and every year it’s just been a great scrimmage for us.

“It’s really well controlled. Each of us talk and we kind of tell each other what we want to do in the scrimmages, and it’s just hard to find teams you can scrimmage and play and get the most out of. And then our teams, the kids, there’s not any issues discipline-wise. There’s a lot of respect back and forth for both programs. Our kids know when you scrimmage them, they are as good as you’re gonna see. So it’s always great to see that.”

TCC’s offense features quarterback Ty’Waun Clark, running back Chris Edmonds and receivers Marvon Greenlee, Braden Awls and Javon Murphy. The Irish defense is led by linebacker Cody Schuberg.

“It’s literally a season and a half ago that we saw them in a scrimmage, but … it makes both teams and coaches comfortable going into a state championship knowing that you just know them a little bit as a staff and you know them as players,” Tyrrell said. “We follow them. I follow them all the time and we trade text messages throughout the year on good wins and different things like that. We try to help each other with film throughout a year.”

Michael Beaven can be reached by email at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Hoban, Toledo Central Catholic football reunite in OHSAA final