Hudson vs. Walsh Jesuit Football: Warriors stay out of reach in regional quarterfinal win

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio Walsh Jesuit quarterback Keller Moten took the shotgun snap, knelt on the Conway Memorial Stadium turf and looked around at his teammates.

The senior quarterback had just taken the final snap of his career in the stadium, as No. 1 Walsh defeated No. 9 Jesuit Hudson 35-21 in a Division II, Region 5 regional quarterfinal.

It's surreal, Moten said. For me, I went undefeated at Conway during my varsity career. We protect our field. We are proud of winning on home turf and putting on a show for our fans. We love it.

The win for Walsh (12-0) sets up a regional semifinal with No. 4 Austintown Fitch, set for Friday, Nov. 15 at a neutral site.

“I know how these guys are, they're going to get back to work,” Walsh head coach Nick Alexander said. We're going to enjoy this tonight and focus on Fitch tomorrow.

Walsh, who finished the regular season ranked No. 3 in the cleveland.com Top 25, led 21-7 at halftime and then started the second half as a team on a mission.

After allowing quarterback Nathan Judy to go 8 for 11 for 110 yards in the first half, the defense came out more aggressively in the third quarter, shutting down the Hudson defense on a three-and-out on the opening possession, forcing a punt . a Declan Norton sack at third.

We didn't like the results of the first half, Norton said. Even though we were upstairs, we thought we should be upstairs much more. So we just came out with a little bit more intensity.

The halftime adjustment for the defense was to focus more on the pass than the run, a complete reversal of what the Warriors planned to do in the game.

“We worked all week trying to kill their run, thinking they were going to come out, you know, and run the football at us,” Alexander said. Then they came out empty and that quarterback has a great arm. He's a tough guy.

On the ensuing offensive possession, Walsh junior running back Marty Tobin took a handoff and went 66 yards for a touchdown on the first play to make it 28-7.

However, Hudson refused to leave, and after the teams traded punts, the Explorers drove down the field and scored on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Nathan Judy to Nathaniel Coates.

Judy finished the game 15 of 27 for 251 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

On Walsh's ensuing possession, it looked like Hudson might have gotten the break he needed when Moten fumbled at the Walsh 35 on third-and-2, but the Warriors recovered the ball with enough yardage for a first down and were then helped by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for Hudson.

The drive ended in a punt, and the Explorers got the break back after a facemask penalty on the Warriors on the punt, giving them a starting position at their own 39.

Hudson took advantage by going 61 yards in seven plays, capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by Coates to cut Walsh's lead to 28-21 with 11:07 left in the fourth quarter. It was the second 1-yard touchdown run of the game for Coates, who scored Hudson's first-half touchdown midway through the second quarter.

But Walsh showed why it's undefeated on the next drive, as the Warriors marched 74 yards in eight plays and took 5:13 off the clock, capping the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run by Lucas Weaver, his second of the match. to give Walsh a 35-21 lead with 5:46 left.

(Scoring that touchdown) felt great, Weaver said. My O-line was just so great. Colton (Crosley) paved a way for me to get in there. It was just great.

The Walsh defense bowed out for the win on its next possession when Dom Romanini stepped in front of a Hudson receiver and intercepted a pass from Judy with 4:56 left.

Walsh ran for 293 yards and five touchdowns in the game (the Warriors lost 12 yards on three kneel-downs to end the game), led by Weaver with 114 yards on 24 carries and a pair of scores, Moten with 14 carries for 91 yards and two touchdowns and Tobin with 87 yards on six carries and a score.

That was the Warriors' goal all along, even invoking the name of a former Walsh football coach, Gerry Rardin.

One of our plans that came in was just to see if we could set up the ground game, Alexander said. They do a really good job at the back, mixing things up and causing problems, and they're very good at applying pressure. So we decided to put the ball on the ground and try to play some old fashioned Gerry Rardin smashmouth football.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The spelling of the name Keller Moten has been corrected.