DOYLESTOWN - Kael Lewis has started in back-to-back state championship games.
He holds every passing record known to man at Hillsdale, his class is the winningest in program history, he is a three-sport All-Ohioan and was twice named first team on the gridiron already.
But one thing has always eluded him — a league championship.
Hillsdale's dominant 41-0 win over Chippewa in Week 10 was the 44th in these seniors' careers and arguably the sweetest as it clinched a share of the Wayne County Athletic League title, the Falcons' first since 2014.
HISTORIC WIN! Plymouth's 8-man football dream season continues after playoff berth
"It means everything, this is what you work for all season," Lewis said. "We fell short the last two years at 9-0 then losing the league title game — those hurt more than anything — but it's all worth this feeling right now."
The impressive win over rival Norwayne last week brought the Falcons into a three-way tie with the Bobcats and Smithville heading into the regular season final. A win over the Chipps was all Hillsdale needed to end the 12-year drought and the team wanted to make a statement early.
"They started off strong against Norwayne and Smithville," Lewis said of Chippewa. "So we knew if we got off to a good start then it would be too for our defense. And they played lights out tonight giving us great field position to go down and score."
Defense forced a three-and-out for the Chipps on their opening drive and the offense wasted no time as Lewis hit Ayden Salyer from 28 yards for the team's first of six touchdowns on the night. Porter Boreman rushed in from nine yards out on the next possession and a Knox Lewis interception in Chippewa territory set up Boreman's second for a 20-0 lead after one.
A quick second quarter saw Chippewa drive down to the Hillsdale 9-yard line before Brock Bennett threw an interception to Reed Mager in the end zone with 28 seconds to go in the half. Starting at the 20, Lewis scrambled three times for 40 yards to get to the Chippewa 40-yard line with five seconds remaining. And on the final play of the half he dropped back, patiently waited for his receivers to get near the end zone, then heaved one downfield to Davis Radcliffe who made a contested grab for the score.
"We weren't even gonna go for it, we were just gonna kneel and go (to halftime)," Lewis said with a laugh. "But we had two timeouts and a dream Hail Mary ... we have a bunch of guys over six feet as receivers which many teams don't have, just throw it up and we'll come down with it."
Lewis connected with Salyer again early in the third quarter from 23 yards out — another highlight reel catch for the Falcons — to bring the running clock into effect before Mager capped off the night with a 2-yard scamper.
"I trust those guys," Lewis said of his receivers. "I've been blessed with some really good receivers the last few years and I trust those guys more than anything. Ayden Salyer, just throw it up to him, there's no 50-50 ball in his vocab."
He finished 8-of-10 for 139 yards and three touchdowns and added another 57 yards on eight carries. Salyer had four receptions for 83 yards and two scores, Radcliffe two catches for 48 yards and a score plus 44 yards on the ground on four carries.
"It says a lot about this group," Hillsdale coach Trevor Cline said. "This championship is not only for them, but all those groups that came before then. It has been really cool in recent years how supportive the alumni have been ... some of the guys who maybe weren't as fortunate or part of the teams that were successful are some of our biggest fans. And that's what it's all about ... even though you graduate, you're still part of the program. The last two years we had some really good teams and for whatever reason it just didn't work out where we were able to get a league championship.
"For this group to do that when they were doubted from the get-go — when you lose 15 seniors, that's a steep hill to climb — but our guys throughout the entire offseason showed up and worked hard. No matter what anyone said on the outside, we just kept finding ways to keep getting better. When you do that and put the team before self, you can accomplish special things."
It was Cline's third league title having won twice as a quarterback for the Falcons in 2010 and 2011.
"It's extremely special whenever you can achieve a championship," Cline said. "It doesn't matter if it's a league championship, regional championship — one day our goal is to win a state championship, too — it's just cool because you know the amount of time that goes into this stuff. Not only as coaches, but the players, too. To do it with this group of just five seniors — we're a fairly young team — for them to achieve a championship is neat."
And this dominant run to close out the regular season was all sparked by the loss to Smithville in Week 5.
"I was really upset," Lewis said. "I wanted to be the first Hillsdale team to go 10-0 because I knew what we were capable of. That hurt really bad, but we knew that a league title (was still possible). We knew Norwayne was good enough to upset Smithville and that's exactly what happened."
Over the final five weeks the Falcons outscored opponents 219-17 with a pair of shutouts and no more than one score allowed by any team.
"Our defense has played really well throughout the entire year, credit coach (Josh) Barr and coach (Michael) Mack on that side of the ball," Cline said. "They've done a really nice job with our defense this year, and in previous years ... the buy-in from 11 guys — and even more than that because we have guys subbing in a good amount — they just love to hit and get after it on the defensive end, and they've been extremely disciplined.
"In the Smithville game we had a few lapses and they caught us on some plays — just us not being disciplined. But since that game they've used it as motivation, and if you could see our guys in practice, you wouldn't be surprised about why they've gotten better each week. We have an extremely focused group this year and a group that wants to find ways to get better every day. We challenge every team at the beginning of the year to find ways to get better so by the end of the year, we're a heck of a lot better.
"This group did a great job accomplishing that."
And they're hoping to accomplish more. Hillsdale clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs as the three-seed in Division VI, Region 21. The Falcons will await their opponent for Week 12 and get a chance to rest up and recovery from the grueling regular season.
"I feel really confident," Lewis said. "We know Region 21 is a gauntlet this year with South Range (9-1), Smithville (8-2), and Kirtland (9-1), but I think we're right up there with those guys.
"This is the most laser focused I've ever been with this team. In practices, every rep means something and we know what we're working towards ... we're getting better every week and I trust us against anyone."
zholden@gannett.com | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Hillsdale throttles Chippewa in Week 10, clinches share of WCAL title