No. 8 seed finishes as a No. 1

St. Henry barely made the playoffs, but they claimed the Division V title.
MASSILLON (AP) -- The surnames always seem to be the same: Hemmelgarn, Hoying, Schmitz, Niekamp, Boeckman, Uhlenhake and a few more.
So do the results.
Jon Hemmelgarn rushed for 156 yards and three touchdowns to lead St. Henry to a 35-7 win over Division V No. 1 Amanda-Clearcreek on Saturday, the first time a No. 8 seed has ever captured a state championship.
The championship was seventh-ranked St. Henry's fifth, following titles in 1990, '92, '94 and '95. Two other times, the Redskins (14-1) lost in the title game.
"If you go back and look at our five state championships ... you'll see the same names on every one of our teams," St. Henry coach Jeff Starkey said.
Planting the seeds
Seedings are used for the first round of the playoffs, with each team in the region ranked 1 through 8 based on computer points. St. Henry was a No. 8 seed, meaning it was the last team in its region to earn a spot in the playoffs.
"The offensive line just took over right from the get-go," Hemmelgarn said. "We started out with a bang."
Amanda-Clearcreek (14-1) also lost in the state title game a year ago, 13-8 to Columbus Academy. The Aces' loss marked the ninth time in finals history that a school has lost in consecutive championship games.
Hemmelgarn carried 22 times, scoring on runs of 5, 22 and 54 yards. It all started up front.
"I don't know if that (old-style running football) ever wears out," Starkey said. "We want to be a physical football team. Every week. We want to be a power team and limit what the opponent can do. And we're good at it."
St. Henry's defense forced four turnovers and made big plays on almost every critical play.
"We always try to stop the running game first," said Kalen Hemmelgarn, a two-way lineman who said none of the four Hemmelgarns on the team's roster are even distantly related. "We got a lead from some nice running by our running back and our lines did the job."