DIVISION I FOOTBALL St. X denies Massillon its first state crown

The Tigers trailed by 21 points before rallying.
CANTON (AP) -- Massillon Washington fell seven points short in its quest to give the most storied high school football program in Ohio a true state championship.
The Tigers nearly rallied from a 21-point deficit in the second half but lost to Cincinnati St. Xavier 24-17 in the Division I title game on Saturday night, giving the Bombers a state crown for the first time.
Massillon, which claims 22 state titles awarded by magazines and wire service polls, hasn't won a championship since the state began a postseason tournament in 1972. Massillon lost the 1980 and 1982 Division I title games to Cincinnati Moeller.
Tigers fans began arriving for the game at 3 p.m. and spent the four hours leading up to kickoff tailgating and playing pickup football in parking lots.
They nearly had a reason to celebrate.
Bobby Huth threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Trey Miller late in the third quarter to pull Massillon to 24-10. Andrew Dailey then stripped the ball from Darius Ashley and raced 80 yards for a TD that made it a seven-point game with 9:50 to play.
Final chance
After forcing St. Xavier (15-0) to punt, Massillon (13-2) got a final chance deep in its own end with 1:35 to play. Bombers linebacker Alex Albright sacked Huth on the first two plays, sending the Massillon quarterback to the bench with an injury.
Backup Shawn Weisend's long pass on third down was intercepted by Jon Saelinger, ending Massillon's chances and sending St. Xavier fans in the crowd of 20,227 at Fawcett Stadium into a frenzy.
Saelinger also intercepted a Huth pass earlier in the fourth as Massillon tried for the tying score.
Before Massillon's rally, it appeared long touchdowns by Brad Brookbank and Ashley, who ran for 153 yards on 27 carries, would be enough for top-ranked St. Xavier.
Brookbank had the first punt return for a touchdown in a Division I final, a 71-yard score on the final play of the first half that gave St. Xavier a 17-3 lead.
Brookbank got his chance after Massillon failed to get a first down that would have allowed the clock to run out and had to punt just 8 seconds before halftime.
Ashley's 50-yard touchdown run made it 24-3 with 5:48 left in the third quarter.
Comeback started
Massillon began its comeback on the ensuing possession, when Miller leaped over two defenders for a 31-yard touchdown reception from Huth.
Massillon's receivers made several leaping catches, but the Tigers couldn't sustain scoring drives against a quick St. Xavier defense that had allowed only 26 points in its four previous playoff wins.
Massillon coach Tom Stacy was trying to win the state title in his first season. St. Xavier coach Steve Specht has only one loss in his first two seasons.
St. Xavier had lost in its three previous trips to the Division I championship game in 1992, 1998 and 2001.
Bombers quarterback Brad Scherer rushed 15 times for 97 yards and completed only 2 of 13 passes, including a 15-yard touchdown to Matt McFarland for a 10-3 lead in the second quarter.
Huth finished 15-of-21 for 172 yards.