It was Ithaca 42, Constantine 14 in the Division 6 state title game Nov. 25 at Ford Field. Ithaca finished 14-0 for the second straight year.
Both teams scored on their first two possessions.
Constantine went to work quickly on the first drive of the game. Ben Mallo gained 13 and 55 yards on his first two carries with Jake Greene making the touchdown saving tackle. Two plays later, Mallo rushed for the 2-yard touchdown.
The Yellow Jackets responded with a touchdown drive of their own of 70 yards. The touchdown run of 1 yards was scored by Travis Smith, who had a key fourth-down pass of 31 yards on the previous play to Zach Allen. Luke Rayburn’s extra point made it 7-7.
Constantine started at its own 33 and did not give Mallo the ball until the fourth play from scrimmage. He roared 56 yards for the score and Constantine was up 14-7. Smith passed 22 yards to Allen to spark the drive. Smith passed 18 yards to Jared Everts, who made two nice moves to escape would-be tackles. Rayburn’s PAT made it 14-14.
Mallo, who had 155 yards rushing in the first half, had another big gainer on third down to keep a drive going to the Yellow Jacket 35 to open the second quarter. On third down at the 7, Jeff Steiner carried it to the 3. On fourth down, Payton White was stopped at the 3 and Ithaca took over following its first defensive stop.
Smith got the Jackets out of the hole with a 23-yard pass to David Brown. Ithaca moved to its own 45 but was forced to punt and Constantine took over at its own 44 but could not, for the first time in the game, move the sticks.
Smith had key passes to Jared Evers and Charles Schnetzler to get the Jackets inside Falcon territory and Miniard bolted for a 9 yard run to the 18. Smith tossed an 18-yard TD pass to Evers but Ithaca was called for holding. The Yellow Jackets couldn’t put the ball in the end zone and with 1:23, Constantine took over on downs. The Falcons decided to run out the clock for a 14-14 tie.
Mallo had 171 yards in the first half. Smith passed for 202 yards on 14 completions.
Both teams were stopped on their first possessions of the third quarter. Smith passed 29 yards to Allen who scored on a 21-yard keeper the next play to give Ithaca a 21-14 lead.
White returned the kickoff to the 50-yard line for Constantine but the Falcons could’t take advantage.
A pass interference call against Constantine and Smith’s 32-yard pass to Brown put Ithaca deep in Falcon territory. Garrett Miniard’s 3-yard run gave the Yellowjackets a 28-14 lead with 15 seconds left in the third quarter.
Early in the fourth, Lucas Slater returned a fumble 55 yards to clinch the win. Jacob Barnes had an interception later to stop the Constantine offense. David Brown added a 2-yard rushing touchdown for Ithaca.