Wayne moves past Colerain

MASON, OH – The Wayne Warriors are returning to Ohio Stadium for the second straight season for a rematch against St. Edward in the Division I state final. The Warriors overcame the sloppy conditions at Dwire Field on the campus of Mason High School Saturday to defeat Colerain, 28-21.

Wayne RB / DB Daryl McCleskey (photo by Mark Pinto)

The state runner-up from a year ago capitalized on Colerain miscues early on in the game to open the scoring and never trailed.

“I do not think anybody was giving us a chance in this game tonight,” Wayne coach Jay Minton said. “It is going to be fun next week. It has been fun from the beginning of this journey, but we need to finish it.”

After a scoreless first quarter, Wayne junior running back Fred Pitts opened the scoring in the second quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run. The scoring drive was set up by the Colerain holder snapping the football over the punter’s head, which was recovered by senior punter Christian Dinveski inside their own 10-yard line.

Colerain answered two minutes later with a scoring drive of its own. Cardinals’ senior quarterback DeShaunte Jones found sophomore Gunner Leyendecker on a 12-yard touchdown reception to tie the score at 7-7, and eventual score at halftime.

Once again the sloppy conditions played a huge part in this in the third quarter when Dinveski mishandled a punt and it was blocked. Wayne took advantage of the error to take a 14-7 lead on a senior running back Daryl McCleskey’s 10-yard touchdown run. McCleskey finished with 41 yards on seven carries, and had an important interception in third quarter that ended a Colerain drive, and helped give the Wayne offense good field position. That led to a 26-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Messiah DeWeaver to junior Matt Wilcox.

“This is an unbelievable feeling,” McCleskey said. “We were the underdogs and they thought they already had us beat but we came out to prove them wrong”

McCleskey transferred from Thurgood Marshall in the offseason last year so this will be his first trip to the Ohio Stadium. He was part of a defense that held Colerain to only 21 points for the first time since September. That actually happened on this same field when they defeated Mason 21-7 during GMC play.

“Our scout did a great job preparing us during the week, and our defensive coordinator is the best,” said an excited McCleskey.

The Warriors extended the lead 28-7 in the fourth quarter when Pitts found the end zone for the second time. Pitts led the team with 69 rushing yards. Pitts said this team was trying to make history tonight and make it to back-to-back state finals.

“This team came in here with a whole new purpose, making history, trying to be that one team,” Pitts claimed. “Last year’s senior Tyree Kinnel left us with a great message and said don’t feel this again losing in the state final so we have been taking that to heart ever since.”

Colerain was able to score two touchdowns quickly in the fourth quarter, and had an opportunity to recover the onside kick with just over a minute left, but the Cardinals were called for illegal touching. With no timeouts remaining, Wayne just ran out the clock.

“The two biggest plays in this game were the illegal touches,” said Minton. “We knew they were not just going to go away and knew we had to recover it the game was over.”

This was the first time Wayne defeated Colerain. The last meeting was in 2008 when Colerain won 23-0. This will be Wayne’s fourth trip to the state final, but has yet to take home the championship.

“We are going to be doing a lot of film prep this week,” Minton said. “Our kids know they deserve to be here, and we are not just going up there to represent the community, but actually win it.”

WAYNE 0-7-7-14-28
vs. COLERAIN 0-7-0-14-21

Second Quarter
W: Fred Pitts 1-yard RuTD (Strong kick)
C: Gunnar Leyendecker 12-yard ReTD from D. Jones (Dinevski kick)

Third Quarter
W: Daryl McCleskey 10-yard RuTD (Strong kick)

Fourth Quarter
W: Matt Wilcox 26-yard ReTD from M. DeWeaver (Strong kick)
W: Fred Pitts 4-yard RuTD (Strong kick)
C: DeShaunte Jones 4-yard RuTD (Dinevski kick)
C: Amir Riep 68-yard ReTD from D. Jones (Dinevski kick)

Records: Wayne (14-0); Colerain (12-2)

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