With the dust now settled on Central Catholic's fifth state football championship, the discussion can begin on whether or not this Fighting Irish team — the first in Ohio's playoff era with a perfect record at 16-0 — was the best of them all.
Central closed its back-to-back title trek with a 27-7 win over fourth-ranked Columbus Bishop Watterson last Friday at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.
That capped a playoff run preceded by postseason wins over Bowling Green, 42-7, Defiance, 41-26, Mansfield Senior, 41-10, Tiffin Columbian, 41-6, and Chardon, 35-7.
“I could never say there's a clear-cut No. 1,” said 24th-year Central head coach Greg Dempsey, who also guided the Irish to state titles in 2005, 2012, 2014, and last year. “I could say that this is the most decorated senior class in terms of doing everything, but I definitely would not be ready to say that this is the best.
“You can get caught being a prisoner of the moment with things like this.”
For those making the case for this latest championship team, the fact that this perfect mark was achieved with Central tackling the most challenging regular-season schedule in program history. That element works to support the assertion, although the Irish dropped to Division III for the postseason this year and had a decidedly easier playoff trail.
In that respect, the 2022 Central squad, which won a Division II state crown with a 15-1 record, certainly had a greater test in the postseason. The only loss for that Irish team came in Week 1 by a 23-20 score at perennial Ohio Division I power Lakewood St. Edward, which just won its third straight big-school state championship.
After that setback, these last two Central championship teams combined for a 31-game winning streak that the Irish will carry into the 2024 season.
“It's fun for people to have those arguments, and many of our kids from those teams will add their opinions,” said Dempsey, who has a 252-53 career record. “But, it's just one of those things where it's impossible to ever know because they never line up against each other. That'll be a debate for those guys, if they ever run into each other.”
As for the pre-playoff competition, based on the Ohio High School Athletic Association's computer-playoff averages used to rank teams within their respective regions for postseason qualifying, Central's average of 34.3479 in 2023 was by far the highest of the five state championship teams. The next best was the 29.5000 mark posted by the 2005 Irish.
Raising the degree of difficulty was Central's move to the Michigan-based Catholic High School League's Central Division, which includes four teams north of the state line that have combined for 32 Michigan state titles, including 2023 Central Division runner-up Warren De La Salle.
The Pilots offered the Irish their toughest challenge of the season in a 28-23 loss at Central in Week 5. De La Salle, a five-time state champion, has played in four straight Michigan Division 2 state championship games, winning titles in 2021 and 2022 and ending as runner-up in 2020 and this season.
“It's amazing, with the schedule we played, going undefeated in the regular season,” Dempsey said. “That was something, and then maintaining it in the playoffs.
“Everybody was coming at us. We were getting everybody's Super Bowl every week, and for the kids to maintain while facing that every week.”
Adding to that league slate, the Irish opened 2023 with nonleague tests at two former Three Rivers Athletic Conference foes, beating 8-3 Findlay, 48-14, and 7-4 Whitmer, 35-8. Those two shared the Northern Lakes League's Buckeye Division title with Anthony Wayne.
Central also blanked 12-time Ohio D-I champion Cleveland St. Ignatius, 28-0, and, in Week 10, pounded Detroit Public School League champion and three-time Michigan D-1 state champion Detroit Cass Tech 48-23 in the CHSL's Prep Bowl at Ford Field in Detroit.
“We started out as No. 1 [in the rankings], and we ended as No. 1,” said 15-year assistant coach Ryan Brown, who was a third-year linebacker on the 2005 title team. “There were great expectations placed upon our guys, where anything less than a state title would mean failure.
“They not only persevered through, they did a heck of a job, and we enjoyed every single minute of it.”
Central's 2023 computer-points average, which is the most reliable measure of a team's strength of schedule, ranked sixth overall in all divisions in Ohio. Where higher-division teams typically reach higher averages because of facing more big-school foes, the Irish trailed only D-II state champion Massillon Washington (45.7555), D-II semifinalist Avon (37.5141), Hoban (36.2987), D-I champion St. Edward (36.2037), and D-III regional finalist Youngstown Ursuline (34.6222).
By the on-the-field numbers, the 2023 team also measured up well. Defensively, the Irish, who were ranked No. 1 in Division III all season by the Associated Press, rates as the program's best ever title team in terms of fewest average yards allowed per game (152 total, 41 rushing), fewest points surrendered (166 in 16 games), and largest average victory margin (29.3).
In the five playoff trails that led to Central titles, the 2023 team also topped its predecessors in average postseason victory margin (27.3 per game), edging the previous best set by the 2022 Irish (22.8).
However, in fairness, the level of the teams Central defeated in the 2022 postseason was clearly more impressive, particularly in the final four rounds, when the fifth-ranked Irish toppled No. 7 Medina Highland, 42-6, No. 6 Avon, 28-20, No. 8 Kings Mills Kings, 52-49, and No. 2 Akron Hoban, 28-21. Those four teams ended with a combined record of 51-7.
“The competition was definitely different at the end of the year,” said Brown, who has been Central's defensive coordinator since 2015. “Kings Mills Kings and Akron Hoban [2022 state semifinal and final opponents] were better than Chardon and Columbus Watterson [this year].
“I don't know if you could say that this team was the best, but it would either be this year or last year. One or the other.”
And, at the core of this 2023 team were the people who combined to get it done — the players and the coaching staff.
Central returned all five starting offensive linemen from its 2022 title team, with one of them, Davonte' Wright-Ward, moving to linebacker, where he earned D-III first team all-district recognition.
The other four — Kentucky-bound tackle Marc Nave, Kent State-bound guard Elijah Williams, center Kendric Bankston, and 6-5, 325-pound tackle Tyrell Green — were joined by new guard starter Nick Banaszak to form an ominous quintet that averaged 6-foot-2½ and 289 pounds per man.
Their presence made life easier for Central new skill-position starters, including all-district running back Marquan Braswell, all-district receiver Jaylen Watson, quarterback Terry Collins, and running back Tyler Morgan. Other pass-catchers included Preston Fryzel, who was also the team's punter, Sharard Vaughn, and Lavelle Stokes.
On defense, 2022 first team All-Ohioan Mike Cannings anchored the line along with opposite end Ronald Collins and nose tackle Curtis Strode.
Wright-Ward, who was lost to a leg fracture in the third playoff game, keyed the linebacking corps along with Christian Jackson and Jayden Mitchell. Michael Besteda ably filled in for Wright-Ward to close the playoff run
And, arguably Central's best secondary ever included superb cornerbacks Marvon Greenlee and Victor Singleton, safeties Jayden Barnes and Kevin Arnold, and nickelback Dharon Flowers.
“This team was fun to be around,” Brown said. “I looked forward to going to practice every day, and they accepted the work. Practice to them was about getting better and improving.
“It's hard to say [which team was best] because the competition is different every single year. The regular season was harder this season, no doubt about it. But the playoffs were definitely easier.”
Central’s 2005 team featured All-Ohioan Dane Sanzenbacher at receiver and defensive back, a future Ohio State University standout and NFL player. The 2012 Irish champs were quarterbacked by All-Ohioan DeShone Kizer, who later starred at Notre Dame and played in the NFL. The 2014 champions included sophomore running back Michael Warren, who two years later received Ohio’s Mr. Football award and later starred at the University of Cincinnati.
Brown rules out his own 2005 title team in the debate.
“These teams are better nowadays, and it's not even close,” Brown said. “Just in terms of talent, and how we teach the game, it's a night-and-day difference. The amount of stuff that we do as a defense, and what we memorize, and the adjustments that the kids have to make on the field — it's a completely different game from back then.”
First Published December 6, 2023, 12:27 a.m.
