By JIM WALKER

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

CANTON — Clean off a spot on the trophy case shelf. There’s a piece of hardware that is coming home.

After coming up short in six previous trips to the title games, Ironton erased those disappointments with a 28-17 win over the Liberty Center Tigers to capture the Division 5 state championship on Saturday at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.

Ironton (15-1) cruised through the playoffs with five straight lopsided running clock wins but found themselves in a tough game against the Tigers who were state runners-up last season.

But Ironton fought through all the ups and downs of the title and won the third state championship in the program’s history.

Ironton previously won titles in 1979 and 1989. The Fighting Tigers have been runners-up 9 different times and have tied for the most postseason playoff appearances with 40.

“It feels like the weight of the world is lifted off our shoulders. These kids have worked so hard,” said Ironton coach Trevon Pendleton.

“When push comes to shove, we lean on our guys, Braden Schreck, Shaun Terry, Zayne Williams, I can’t say enough about those guys. Those seniors are a special class. Great kids. I take a hundred of them and go to war every day.”

Liberty Center came into the game 15-0 and has a 22-game regular season winning streak. Pendleton said they knew it was going to be a tough game.

“Obviously, great football game between two really, really good football teams. Liberty Center’s kids played with great class,” said Pendleton.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. We got off to a pretty start and jumped up 14-0 and things were going our way. But then there was a time when we talked about the time being the storm and we were that early and then we weathered the storm a little bit.”

Senior all-purpose standout Shaun Terry made his final game at Ironton one of the most memorable performances of his career. Terry caught 10 passes for 148 yards and 2 touchdowns, ran twice for 75 yards including a 67-yard gallop for the clinching touchdown. He also had an interception and with his punt and kickoff returns, Terry accumulated more than 300 yards.

“Anytime Shaun touches the ball you hold your breath. He’s a kid who can take it to the house at any time. He’s shown that week in and week out,” said Pendleton. “There’s a lot of great players in the state but I don’t think it gets any better than Shaun Terry.”

Liberty Center head coach Casey Mohler praised his team’s effort but said the difference in the game was Terry.

“Obviously, Shaun Terry was the difference. He’s a special player. He was a tough matchup. We did OK with him a couple of times, but then he made some big plays,” said Mohler.

“We asked them to play hard for 48 minutes like all year and they did that. We were scratching and clawing there at the end and got a turnover. We were in a position to maybe make something happen, but sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way. We had zero division one athletes and we asked them to be tough, play hard, be physical and they did that. We played tough but they just made a few more plays than us.”

Ironton (15-1) took the opening kickoff and drove 80 yards in 14 plays with quarterback Braden Schreck hitting Terry over the middle on a slant route and Terry leaped over a defender and raced his way into the end zone for a 35-yard scoring play.

Beckham Waginger’s conversion kick put Ironton up 7-0 with 4:17 left in the first quarter.

Liberty Center drove to the Ironton 44 but was forced to punt and the kick rolled dead at the 5-yard line. Ironton merely went the length of the field in 11 plays with Schreck and Terry hooking up on a 46-yard touchdown pass and the lead was 14-0 with 6:57 on the second quarter clock.

But Liberty Center wasn’t about to quit and went 70 yards in 9 plays capped by Waylon Rentz 1-yard run with 2:31 left in the half.

The conversion kick failed and it was 14-6.

Ironton was forced to punt and Liberty Center was able to get the ball down to the Ironton 22 with only 6 seconds on the clock.

Max Walker came on and kicked a 39-yard field goal that just cleared the crossbar as time expired and it was now 14-9 at the half.

“In high school football momentum is a big thing. We went in at halftime and these leaders and 10 others stepped u and got us ready for the second half,” said Pendleton.

“Hats off to our defensive staff and our offensive staff to making adjustments. On defense we implemented something we haven’t run in quite a while.in the second half that we really didn’t think we’d use and we were able to create some negative plays which was crucial in the flow of the game in the second half.”

Neither team could dent the scoreboard in the third quarter but Liberty Center threatened early in the fourth quarter.

The LC Tigers got to the Ironton 29 but a couple of penalties left them facing fourth down at the 49. A punt ended up resting on the 7-yard line.

Ironton drove the field and used a big 46-yard pass play as Terry made a nice catch as he cradled the ball in at the Liberty Center 17.

Williams ran 13 yards to the 4-yard line and Schreck picked his way through the defense for the score with 525 to play Waginger’s kick pushed the lead at 21-9.

“I was telling the team big time players come up in big time moments. Any ball that’s in the air I believe I can make the play,” said Terry.

Liberty Center then went 66 yards in 11 plays with Kaden Kreinbrink hitting Garrison Kruse in the end zone with a 10-yard scoring strike. Rentz ran for the conversion and it was 21-17.

Ironton was trying to run the clock out but a lineman collided with Schreck and caused a fumble. Liberty Center recovered and had the ball at the Ironton 39.

Facing third-and 3, Rentz ran left Penn State recruit Josh Johnson made a big hit and caused a fumble which teammate Brycen Mullins recovered at the 33.

Still looking to eat time off the clock and seal the win, Ironton got a surprise seal as Terry took the ball running wide and turned up the field and reached 67 yards for the touchdown with just 46 seconds to go and it was 28-17.

Liberty Center had the ball at its own 35 and an attempted pass was intercepted by — who else? — Terry that put an exclamation point on the state championship game performance.

Schreck also had a big game for Ironton as he completed 15-of 21 passes for 171 yards and 2 touchdowns while running 16 times for 43 yards and a score.

Liberty Center’s trademark running game managed 142 yards on 38 carries with Kruse running 3 times for 86 yards. Grady Miller and Kreinbrink combined to complete 12-of-19 passes for 145 yards and an interception.

Ironton     7 7 0 14 = 28

Liberty Center 0 9 0 8 = 17

First Quarter

Irn – Shaun Terry 35 pass from Braden Schreck (Beckham Waginger kick) 4:17

Second Quarter

Irn – Shaun Terry 46 pass from Braden Schreck (Beckham Waginger kick) 6:57

LC — Waylon Rentz 1 run (kick fail) 2:31

LC — Max Walker 39 field goal 0:00

Fourth Quarter

Irn – Braden Schreck 4 run (Beckham Waginger kick) 5:25

LC – Garrison Kruse 10 pass from Kaden Kreinbrink (Waylon Rentz run) 3:27

Irn – Shaun Terry 67 run (Beckham Waginger kick) 0:46

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IrnLC

First downs 18 18

Rushes-yards 29-148 38-142

Passing yards 171 145

Total yards 319 287

Cmp-Att-Int 15-21-0 171 12-19-1

Sacks-yards loss 1-10 1-4

Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-1

Penalties-yards 7-70 9-75

Punts-average 1-35.0 3-38.7

Time of Possession 22:29 25:31

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING–Ironton: Shaun Terry 2-75 TD, Braden Schreck 16-43 TD, Zayne Williams 9-37, Team 2-minus 7; Liberty Center: Garrison Kruse 3-86, Waylon Rentz 20-34 TD, Thomas Mohler 8-27, Grady Miller 4-2, Ty Jackson 1-minus 2, Kaden Kreinbrink 2-minus 5.

PASSING–Ironton: Braden Schreck 15-21-0 171 2-TD; Liberty Center: Grady Miller 6-8-0 74, Kaden Kreinbrink 6-10-1 71 TD.

RECEIVING–Ironton: Shaun Terry 10-148 2-TD, Jesse Copas 2-19, Kayden Edwards 2-minus 8, Braydon Baker 1-12; Liberty Center: Cam Kahle 4-45, Garrison Kruse 4-43 TD, Blake Garber 2-41, Waylon Rentz 2-16.

MISSED FIELD GOALS–None.