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-After struggling a bit offensively against their fierce rivals in a week 10 winner-take-all Firelands Conference championship game, the Flyers and Eagles met for a fourth time in the postseason, but the first that was held at either program's home venue. The Eagles benefited from a Sandusky St. Mary and Tiffin Calvert loss in week 10 to sneak in as the #7 seed, but just five minutes into the game the Flyers appeared off and running with a 14-0 lead, only to see the Eagles come back to tie the score on a couple big plays.
In the end, Joe
Graziani proved to be the difference in running for 200 yards and three
touchdowns and even had a fourth called back on a penalty. Leading 28-21 at
halftime, Graziani scored twice in the second half and Matt Wilde added a
score as the defense held Monroeville to just 44 yards in the half and Jacob
Rhoad capped the night by blocking a punt and recovering it in the end zone
to seal the rout and improve St. Paul to 5-1 all-time in home postseason
appearances.
-Drawing the defending Division V state runnerup from 2006, the Flyers took a 9-7 halftime lead and a 16-7 lead at the end of the third quarter, which meant history was on its side in a big way heading into the fourth quarter. In that final 12 minutes, quarterback Eric Schwieterman tucked the ball and sliced his way right through the middle of the JFK defense for a 25-yard touchdown with 10:15 left in the game and Wes Stein's extra point made it a commanding 23-7 lead and after a turnover on downs put the Flyers at the JFK 16 a few series later, Stein added a 30-yard field goal with 2:57 left to close out the scoring. In the victory, St. Paul improved to 13-0 all-time when leading at halftime in the postseason and 19-0 when leading after three quarters.
-The Flyers drew the No. 1 team in the AP poll for a third consecutive season in the regional championship game and for the fourth time overall in the postseason, but could not overcome some key mistakes in what proved to be yet another postseason loss in Tiffin. In nine games played at the venue dating back to that 1999 season, St. Paul is just 3-6 overall in the playoffs and regular season combined. Furthermore, the team has played at Tiffin in four straight seasons in the state tournament, but after a 22-0 win over Hicksville in 2004 the Flyers have lost three straight games by a combined score of 106-34. With a fresh set of downs at the HL 30 late in the first half, Graziani cut off a block and appeared to score on a 30-yard run to give the Flyers the lead, but the play was wiped out on a holding penalty. Two plays later, Schwieterman rolled to his right and looked to have plenty of time, but was intercepted at the HL 6 by Nate Siebenaller with just 46 seconds left in the half, which left the score at 12-7 at the break. That meant history was against the Flyers, as they fell to 6-10 in tournament games when trailing at the half, but conversely, had they gotten the lead they would have had that of a 13-0 mark all-time when leading at half working on its side.
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