CANTON — Seniors on this year’s Hillsdale football team never won a game during their junior high careers.
Following a 74-0 loss to Marion Local (16-0) in the Division VII state championship, senior lineman Grayson Allis described why he’ll never forget the Falcons’ (14-2) historic season.
“As a senior class, we were winless in junior high — so making it to Canton is something that you can only dream of and to make that come true is just amazing,” Allis said.
Kael Lewis, Hillsdale’s standout quarterback, agreed with his teammate.
An opportunity to play on the sacred turf at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton was something the sophomore fully embraced.
“It just felt like a dream come true playing on a field like that,” Lewis said. “Walking the field, we were just trying to all take it in and the bleachers and everything. It was incredible.”
Despite the outcome of Friday morning’s title bout, the Falcons’ 14 wins this year set a program record for wins in a season.
Hillsdale also won its first regional title in program history and played in the state championship game for the first time ever.
(Below are photos taken by Tom Theodore)
Motivating the next generation
Hillsdale coach Trevor Cline knows this year’s squad has set a new standard.
“Until the last 15 to 20 years, there wasn’t a whole lot of success,” Cline said. “We’d have a year here and there, but it wasn’t consistent success like we’ve had.
“To get an opportunity to play for a state championship is very special and something that they’ll be remembered for — for the rest of their life.
“I’m going to be forever grateful to our group of players this year. They were a lot of fun to be around. They’re team-first guys. I’m extremely proud of them and proud of what they were able to do.”
Cline, who’s also a middle-school teacher at Hillsdale, said students have approached him this week and talked about wanting to be a part of future Falcon teams.
“This group of players did definitely change the program,” he said. “We’re a very young group. We expect to have a great offseason and our goal is for this not to be the last time that you guys see us playing for a state championship.”
Putting things in perspective
Friday’s game marked the 64th straight win and fourth consecutive state title for the Flyers, who’s program has an Ohio-record 15 state crowns, all since 2000.
It was also the grand finale of high school football for six Hillsdale seniors.
While his players may not understand it now, Cline said he hopes someday they can look back and realize their team was one of Division VII’s two best teams in the state.
As an athlete, Cline never reached a state title game.
“Players dream of that their whole life,” he said. “I know as a kid I dreamed of that.”
While it may take weeks, months or even years, Cline wants his players to take pride in what they’ve accomplished — something no other Hillsdale football team has done since the birth of the program in 1963.
“What happened today is not going to change how we view our football team and what we accomplished,” he said. “What our group of guys were able to accomplish this year was extremely special.”
