St. John's halts Crusaders 28-0

The Blue Jays' defense dominated Steubenville Central Catholic.
MASSILLON (AP) -- A strong Delphos St. John's defense saved its most dominating performance for the biggest game of the year.
The hard-hitting defense set up two touchdowns and stymied Steubenville Catholic Central, leading the Blue Jays to a 28-0 win in the Division VI state championship Saturday.
The Blue Jays, who had allowed only 7.8 points a game coming in, held the Crusaders (11-4) to 40 yards on 50 plays and didn't allow Catholic Central to drive beyond the St. John's 41.
"Our defense has pretty much carried the way for us," Blue Jays coach Todd Schulte said. "[The Crusaders] were making it tough for us to run the football, but our defense wasn't giving them anything."
Fourth state title
The Blue Jays (13-2) earned their fourth state title and first since running off three straight from 1997-99. The victory also gave the Midwest Athletic Conference two championships this weekend.
Coldwater won the Division IV crown on Saturday, 33-9 over Youngstown Mooney. The MAC, the dominant small-school league in western Ohio, now has 14 state football titles by six schools since 1989.
Blue Jays quarterback Nick Johnson threw for two TDs and ran for another, with the first score coming after an interception and the second after a blocked punt.
"The defense really helps because sometimes when things don't go right on offense our defense stops them and gives us a chance to come back," said Johnson, who rushed for 92 yards on 13 carries.
Defense outstanding
Curtis Laudick caught a TD pass and intercepted Catholic Central QB J.J. Kuczynski twice. Kuczynski completed 8-of-15 passes for 24 yards, with a net loss of 3 yards in the first half as St. John's took a 14-0 lead.
Several of the Catholic Central ballcarriers took vicious hits on their 35 rushing attempts, which netted only 16 yards. Zach Hawrot ran 18 times for 73 yards, but five of his teammates had negative yards rushing.
Even when Central Catholic got the ball in favorable field position the Blue Jays stopped them. The Crusaders failed to get a first down after a fumble put them at midfield 59 seconds before halftime.
"I wish we had another week to correct some of the things that went wrong," said Crusaders coach Gregg Bahen. "They teed off."
Kuczynski's first pass ended up in the hands of Laudick, giving St. John's the ball at Catholic Central's 39.
First pass went for TD
Johnson made his first throw three plays later, and it went 26 yards for a touchdown to Curtis Haggard. Johnson avoided the blitz along the sideline and lofted a pass to Haggard, who made a leaping catch over defensive back Luca Call at the 10 and then ran to the end zone.
Johnson scored on a 5-yard run early in the second quarter after Brad Liebrecht blocked a punt and Paul Metzner recovered for St. John's.
"That's huge in a game like this," Schulte said of the blocked punt. "If we don't get that it's probably 7-0 at the half."
Johnson added a 3-yard TD pass to Laudick in the fourth. He finished 5-of-13 for 64 yards.
Aaron Etzkorn scored St. John's final TD on a 2-yard run.
Catholic Central was playing in its first state title game since it won the 1993 Division V championship 17-14 in overtime against Liberty Center.