Indian Valley victorious in first football state championship game
Senior Jaxon Burcher holds the state title trophy aloft.
Grady Kinsey carried 36 times for 247 yards and scored five touchdowns to lead Gnadenhutten Indian Valley to a 37-36 win over Sandusky Perkins in the 2024 Division IV state championship game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
Indian Valley (16-0) was victorious in its first football state championship game appearance. Perkins (14-2) finished runner-up for the first time to go along with a state title in 1999.
The teams combined to score touchdowns on each of the game’s first 10 possessions — minus Indian Valley taking a knee to end the first half — before Indian Valley’s defense forced a turnover on downs deep in its own territory in the game’s closing minutes.
The offenses posted a combined 850 total yards, but in opposite fashions. Indian Valley rushed for 355 yards and passed for 54 while Perkins threw for 370 yards and rushed for 71.
Kinsey accounted for 34 of Indian Valley’s 37 points, setting a Div. IV state title game record for most points by an individual. He rushed for four touchdowns, recovered his own fumble in the end zone for a fifth touchdown and converted a pair of two-point conversion attempts. Kinsey also completed a 50-yard pass to quarterback Ryker Williams in the third quarter.
Williams, meanwhile, ran for 112 yards on 15 carries and completed his lone pass attempt.
Perkins quarterback Sam Schweinfurth completed 18-of-24 passes for 370 yards and a Div. IV championship game record tying five touchdowns. Braylon Collier caught eight passes for 207 yards — a Div. IV record — and three touchdowns. Blake Parker caught four passes for 80 yards and two scores while Isaac Bunts rushed 16 times for 71 yards.
The offenses essentially traded touchdowns for four quarters.
Parker scored on a 40-yard pass from Schweinfurth on the game’s opening possession, and Perkins led 7-0 just over four minutes into the game. Kinsey scored on a 1-yard run on fourth and goal on the first play of the second quarter, but the PAT was no good. Perkins fumbled the ball back to Indian Valley on the kickoff return, and four plays later Kinsey scored from 12 yards out. A two-point pass from Williams to Jaxon Burcher gave Indian Valley a 14-7 lead.
Perkins tied the game at 14 on a 50-yard pass from Schweinfurth to Collier, but Kinsey capped an eight-play, 80-yard march with a 2-yard touchdown run with 1:09 left in the half. Kinsey also ran in the two-point conversion to give Indian Valley a 22-14 lead. Schweinfurth and Collier connected on a 70-yard touchdown pass on the first snap following the kickoff, and a two-point pass to Bunts drew Perkins back even at 22-22.
Perkins recovered an onside kick to open the second half and capitalized with a 26-yard scoring toss from Schweinfurth to Parker, who made a one-handed catch in the end zone on fourth and 9. The extra point gave Perkins a 29-22 lead with 8:46 left in the third quarter.
Backed up to its own 9-yard line following a penalty on the ensuing drive, Indian Valley turned a throwback pass from Kinsey to Williams into a 50-yard gain. Kinsey scored on a 2-yard run on second and goal, and the point-after tied the score at 29-29 with 3:34 left in the third quarter.
Perkins regained the lead 100 seconds later. Schweinfurth hit Collier on a 53-yard scoring toss, and Danny Buda’s fourth point-after put Perkins back in front 36-29.
Kinsey scored his fifth touchdown, in unconventional fashion, on Indian Valley’s next drive. Kinsey carried on second and goal from the 2, fumbled at the 1, and corralled his own fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. He also ran in the two-point conversion to give Indian Valley the 37-36 advantage.
Perkins drove deep into Indian Valley territory on the next possession, but Carsen Hostetler broke up a pass on fourth and 3 from the 9 to keep Perkins out of the end zone. Indian Valley regained possession with 4:16 left, gained four first downs and ran out the clock.