OHIO CHAMPIONS Late rally lifted Lisbon to county's only title

The 1995 Blue Devils finished with a perfect 14-0 record.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
LISBON -- Eight autumns ago, the Cleveland Indians played in their first World Series in 41 years, Art Modell was preparing to move his NFL franchise to Baltimore and Bill Cowher was guiding the Steelers through a Super Bowl season.
And Columbiana County was buzzing about the Lisbon High football team, which was en route to the county's only state football playoff championship.
On Dec. 1 at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, the Blue Devils rallied in the second half to score two touchdowns to force overtime against Cincinnati Mariemont.
Two extra sessions later, quarterback Zach Williams dove into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown as the Blue Devils completed a 14-0 season with a 34-31 victory.
Team of Destiny
"Coach [Jim] Tsilimos called us a 'Team of Destiny,' " said Williams who passed for 317 yards in his final high school game. "That whole day was so special. There are just too many people to thank."
Although they trailed 14-0 just 61/2 minutes into the game, the Devils didn't panic. Experience mattered.
Just two weeks before, on a muddy field in St. Clairsville, the Devils faced 4th-and 24 from midfield, trailing Monroe Central 14-9 with 4:30 to play.
Williams hit Todd Sinsley with a 15-yard toss and the tight end rambled for 17 more to keep the season alive.
Lisbon coach Jim Tsilimos credited Williams for finding the unguarded receiver.
"They were playing a Cover 3 when we sent four receivers out," Tsilimos said. "Zach recognized the coverage and found the open man."
Four plays later on 4th-and-7, Williams connected with Steve Rodgers for an 8-yard gain that set up running back Damien Powell's 2-yard touchdown that won the game, 17-14.
"It was slant pass to Rodgers and he just made it," said Tsilimos, who described the swampy playing field conditions as "pathetic."
Against Mariemont, the Blue Devils settled down and scored halfway through the second quarter when Williams hit wide receiver Danton Hutton with a 23-yard scoring strike. Justin Tsilimos' kick cut the Warriors' lead to 14-7.
But in the final two minutes before halftime, disaster struck. Just past midfield, Williams hit Rodgers for a 20-yard pass completion, but the wide receiver was hit from behind, jarring the ball loose. Mariemont's Bob Bodnar returned the ball to the Lisbon 20.
Trailed at halftime
With 1:03 to go before intermission, quarterback Jesse Milner's 35-yard scoring toss to Brad Buerger had the Devils looking at the largest deficit of their season, 21-7.
Seconds before halftime, Williams' 58-yard completion to Rodgers put the Devils on the 3. Williams ran an option play and was stopped just short of the goal line as time expired.
"Nobody seemed worried," recalls Williams, who went on to play for Kent State and now teaches special education at Hillsboro High in southern Ohio. "We had come back before.
"I remember coming off the field after the first series and telling Coach [Rich] Washinko, 'We can throw on them all day.' I felt our defense would hold up," said Willams who is a football, basketball and track coach at Hillsboro.
Coach Tsilimos admitted the team was "pretty frustrated" at the break.
"As coaches, we didn't make a whole lot of adjustments because we felt we just weren't playing well," Tsilimos said. "We knew if the defense could find a way to stop them, our offense could score."
Lisbon's defenders blanked the Warriors in the second half. In the third quarter, the Devils marched 75 yards on eight plays, with Powell scoring from 5 yards out to cut Mariemont's lead to 21-14.
In the fourth quarter, Williams' arm guided the Devils to the tying score, with Hutton hauling in a 16-yard touchdown pass. Tsilimos' kick tied the score at 21.
In overtime, Lisbon took its first lead on its second play as Rodgers outfought defender Rob Perkins for an 18-yard touchdown grab.
But on fourth-and-goal from the 1, Mariemont's Lee Wischevick bulldozed his way into the end zone to force another session.
This time, the Devils' defense held on the first three plays, setting up Ryan Fink's 30-yard field goal for a 31-28 lead.
After Williams hit Hutton for a 9-yard pickup, Powell rambled 10 yards to the 1, setting up Williams' keeper.
Williams completed 19 of 38 passes for 317 yards. Rodgers caught seven of them for 170 yards while Hutton had four for 57 and Sinsley two for 47.
Tsilimos says what he remembers most is "how we took 60 boys and eight coaches and somehow stayed on the same page for 14 weeks. Keeping young minds focused that long, from July to Dec. 1, is hard to do."
williams@vindy.com