Division II State Championship: Archbishop Hoban (12-3) vs. Winton Woods (12-3)

Who wins?

  • Hoban by 17+

    Votes: 21 18.9%

  • Hoban by 8-16

    Votes: 36 32.4%

  • Hoban by 1-7

    Votes: 10 9.0%

  • Winton Woods by 1-7

    Votes: 27 24.3%

  • Winton Woods by 8-16

    Votes: 14 12.6%

  • Winton Woods by 17+

    Votes: 3 2.7%
  • Total voters
    111
  • Poll closed .
DonCalipari said:
OK I guess that's why we play the game. Should we tell our boys to just stay @ home Thursday night & give the trophy to Hoban. Why even take the 3 & half hr ride.
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Lololol my post had nothing about Hoban more so saying that those two teams were top notch. Good thing WW or Hoban aren’t playing Ed’s or Bergen Catholic, then I’d say don’t waste the gas money. ;)
 
15 teams have come into a game with Hoban this year knowing that the key was to stop Sperling and most sold out against the run. Against Avon, Sperling finished with 270 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 30 carries. Against Walsh Sperling had a career-high 5 touchdowns and 357 yards on 31 carries. The week before, Nordonia focused on Sperling and he ran for four touchdowns and 193 yards on 24 carries. Fitch focused on him and he ran it 34 times for 283 yards and five touchdowns. That's the beauty of Sperling and the Hoban offense- everybody knows what's coming yet nobody has stopped it. I get that WW has a very fast and effective defense, but I've see enough of Sperling that I won't believe a team is going to stop him until I see them actually step up and stop him.

I wish WW luck in being the team that finally does it as I want to see a good game.
 
clarkgriswold said:
15 teams have come into a game with Hoban this year knowing that the key was to stop Sperling and most sold out against the run. Against Avon, Sperling finished with 270 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 30 carries. Against Walsh Sperling had a career-high 5 touchdowns and 357 yards on 31 carries. The week before, Nordonia focused on Sperling and he ran for four touchdowns and 193 yards on 24 carries. Fitch focused on him and he ran it 34 times for 283 yards and five touchdowns. That's the beauty of Sperling and the Hoban offense- everybody knows what's coming yet nobody has stopped it. I get that WW has a very fast and effective defense, but I've see enough of Sperling that I won't believe a team is going to stop him until I see them actually step up and stop him.

I wish WW luck in being the team that finally does it as I want to see a good game.
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Clark you are correct Hoban RB has had a huge season.

Hoban may run for lots of yards against WW.
Or not.

In the end the winning team just needs to get 1 more point than the other team.
He’s gonna make some plays.
Just have to answer and get key stops at the right times.
We will see how goes Thursday.
 
What does WW like to do on offense? Hoban’s defense is better defending the run than the pass. That is what got the in trouble against BC and Avon.
 
ArmChairCoach said:
What does WW like to do on offense? Hoban’s defense is better defending the run than the pass. That is what got the in trouble against BC and Avon.
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We have to little running backs that make plays. We run the ball. We pass enough to keep teams honest. Our kickoff and punt returners could be a factor also.
 
Nice. Hoban’s kicking game is decent, kick off return can make plays but punt return makes me worry. There have been too many muffs during the season for my liking.

Offense obviously runs through Sperling, but Crable has been improving over the past couple of weeks. But every time Crable runs he carries the ball too far off his body, which leads to a fumble. WW will definitely be looking to punch it out on him. OL is solid, but definitely think the can get exposed by some quicker LBs and ends. Tyrell does a good job at switching the line up to help their weak areas. When Hoban wants to gain a couple yards and control the clock they resort to bringing in 2 more OL and run it, usually out powers the other team.

Sounds like 2 evenly matched teams, which it should be this time of the year. Going to be a great game.
 
DonCalipari said:
Are you judging that off the Green game. It's very difficult to defend the empty sets every play. We faced Lasalle early w Payne who is a 4 star Indiana & held them wo an offensive touchdown. Ijs and they had experience on the offensive line.
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Both Payne and Sterling are phenomenal talents, but Payne is a better back than Sperling.
 
Sperling has great make you miss talent. Multiple miss tackles most times he gets the ball. Chip Trayanum and Dickerson were good backs and still think Chip was better but they didn’t have this make you miss talent that Sperling has.
 
ArmChairCoach said:
Sperling has great make you miss talent. Multiple miss tackles most times he gets the ball. Chip Trayanum and Dickerson were good backs and still think Chip was better but they didn’t have this make you miss talent that Sperling has.
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Chip is the best Hoban back I've ever seen. Could make you miss or plow you over and had breakaway speed.
 
Al_Bundy said:
Can't find them. I know he was injured some this year. Check out highlights of the 2019 championship game against Massillon. He could not be stopped on the jet sweep.
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2019? Injured this year? No stats? But he is better than Sperling? Sperling 2,813 yards rushing and 41 TD's. That's with everyone knowing you are going to carry the ball basically every play. 1290 yards 20 TDS just in the playoffs. And he is a junior.
 
Cougarfan22 said:
2019? Injured this year? No stats? But he is better than Sperling? Sperling 2,813 yards rushing and 41 TD's. That's with everyone knowing you are going to carry the ball basically every play. 1290 yards 20 TDS just in the playoffs. And he is a junior.
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25 division l schools thought Payne was pretty good, that's why they offered him. I saw someone likes to use 247 sports, well Paynes information is on there. I'm not taking anything away from Sperling trust me I'm not but these kids have faced Payne & not only Payne had to deal with Myian Williams in practice when these seniors were sophomores. I can tell you this these kids will be up for the challenge. We believe we have only allowed 1 running back to get over 100 yards. Do I expect us to hold the kid under 100. No. But I expect this will be the hardest he has to work for his yards & he will get hit.
 
Al_Bundy said:
Chip is the best Hoban back I've ever seen. Could make you miss or plow you over and had breakaway speed.
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Sibley, Dickerson, Chip Trayanum, Dawson... Hoban has had a lot of great backs since 2015, but to me, Sperling is the best pure RB of the bunch. Chip was a physical freak going back to grade school, but he was a one cut, hit the whole type guy with straight line speed to burn, and could lower that shoulder when he needed to. But Sperling's vision and make ya miss in a phone booth type talent is something to see. A defense can be completely sound on a run play, in all the right gaps, yet he still manages to see a crack or make the first guy miss, then has guys grasping at air on the second level, and the next thing you know he has 250 yards. It's one of the reasons their run game has been so good despite everyone knowing it's coming. His durability has been impressive despite the high number of touches, he just never seems to take a big hit, he's so hard to square up. WW will get their chance to see if they're the one who can throw sand in the gears.
 
Sounds like Tyrek Spikes. He has 1100 yards in the post season. When you think you have him bottled up he is out of there. Not 1 player can tackle him 1on1 in space as well. Looks like these teams mirror each other. How many seniors does Hoban have.
 
DonCalipari said:
Sounds like Tyrek Spikes. He has 1100 yards in the post season. When you think you have him bottled up he is out of there. Not 1 player can tackle him 1on1 in space as well. Looks like these teams mirror each other. How many seniors does Hoban have.
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4 of the olineman are seniors, then on D I believe 4-5 starters are seniors. Lost 16 senior starters from 2020, so this was the most inexperience they've had coming back since this run started. More sophomores than usual in the mix this year.
 
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Redwing said:
4 of the olineman are seniors, then on D I believe 4-5 starters are seniors. Lost 16 senior starters from 2020, so this was the most inexperience they've had coming back since this run started. A lot more sophomores than usual in the mix this year.
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We returned a lot. We don't play too many sophomores. Only like 4 get some tick. We start 6 seniors on defense and 5 juniors. We're a pretty experienced team.
 
I think Massillon wins by a touchdown. Crable is not a threat to pass and the Tigers run defense is actually good. Finally, this is our year to win one on the field against the weakest Hoban team in the past 5 years.............huh, what.....alarm clock just went off, crap!
Massillon doesn't get to play because it had 20 penalties, 200 yards and lost to Green of all teams.
Winton Woods in a nail biter, 27-26
 
clarkgriswold said:
15 teams have come into a game with Hoban this year knowing that the key was to stop Sperling and most sold out against the run. Against Avon, Sperling finished with 270 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 30 carries. Against Walsh Sperling had a career-high 5 touchdowns and 357 yards on 31 carries. The week before, Nordonia focused on Sperling and he ran for four touchdowns and 193 yards on 24 carries. Fitch focused on him and he ran it 34 times for 283 yards and five touchdowns. That's the beauty of Sperling and the Hoban offense- everybody knows what's coming yet nobody has stopped it. I get that WW has a very fast and effective defense, but I've see enough of Sperling that I won't believe a team is going to stop him until I see them actually step up and stop him.

I wish WW luck in being the team that finally does it as I want to see a good game.
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Just curious...what were his stats vs Benedictine?
 
ArmChairCoach said:
WW defense isn’t as good as Ed’s and Ed’s was no where as good as Bergen.
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I know Hoban got yal scared up there but they jus another team to us a good one no question but they’re no better than a good Moeller Elder or lasalle team we never even heard of em before 2017
 
WW played St. Eds, Lasalle, Elder, Moeller & #1 team in Missouri Christian brothers 2 yrs ago so the seniors won't be intimidated & the underclassmen will follow. Ijs typically when everyone picks you to lose somehow that makes us focus better. I'm rolling w my WARRIORS we sending you boys back to the transfer portal to get more players.
 
Grind for 9 said:
Just curious...what were his stats vs Benedictine?
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21 for 141 and 4 TDs back on October 15th.

I found his Eastlake North numbers too. 19 for 179 and 4 TDs. That brings his playoff totals (5 games) to 138 carries for 1282 yards and 21 TDs. That averages out to 27.6 carries for 254 yards and 4.2 TDs a game in the playoffs.
 
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