Over the past 60 years there have been many influential leaders in the sports world. From 1985-88, Mike Ditka led the Bears to 52 wins--the most ever by an NFL team in any four-year span. Red Auerbach led his Boston Celtics to nine NBA championship wins including eight straight from 1959 to 1966 – the longest string of championships in the history of North American professional sports. But for many around Cleveland, the most valued coach in history is our own Todd Pasche. You see, for the first time since 1947, when the Forrest “Skeet” McConnell-coached Commerce team shared first with Jefferson and Washington, coach Pasche led the Warriors to our second-ever football conference championship season.

The historic night took place Oct. 20, when Cleveland stormed the field against the Rough Riders from Roosevelt. Both teams were playing for the league title, knowing whoever walked off the field winners would take the 5A PIL championship and the number one seed in the state playoffs. Before Cleveland took the field every player agreed on one game plan: to win.

“When we walked on the field against Roosevelt we knew it was going to be a dog fight,” said senior Wade Essick. “After all our hard work this season to finally be in reach of the league title we just knew there was nothing stopping us from achieving it.”

The first half was indeed a dogfight. The two teams traded off possessions until finally Roosevelt’s Isaiah Johnson, a 6-foot-1, 220-pound senior, ran for a 90-yard touchdown to take the early lead 6-0.

“It’s kind of a challenge to prepare for someone of his stature,” said Pasche. “In a way we almost had an advantage on their plays, though because they really only run about five or six different routes to him, so it was just a matter of knowing what play they were running and then getting everyone that we could to pile on him and bring him down.”

It may have looked like something all too familiar for Cleveland’s fans, yet no one gave up hope. It wasn’t until late in the first quarter when the Warriors opened up their first scoring drive, resulting in a 4-yard touchdown run from senior Taylor Avritt to make it 7-6 in Cleveland’s favor going into the second quarter.

“It took us awhile to get into rhythm on offense,” commented quarterback Andy Johnson. “Once we did though, we were tough to stop the rest of the half.” Johnson, a senior, contributed greatly to the offensive attack by completing 10 of 14 passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns.

After Cleveland went up 7-6 they never looked back. On the next possession, Avritt, the No. 2-ranked runner in 5A behind Roosevelt’s Johnson, ran another one in from eight yards to take a 14-6 lead.

“The main key to winning was the way our defense stepped up in the first half,” said defensive tackle Peter Curtis. “We knew that our offense was going to score so we just had to keep them off of the board.”

The defense did just that. After giving up the early touchdown they stopped them on the rest of the possessions in the first half, and the offense took advantage of it.

With less than three minutes left in the half Cleveland got the ball back and worked their two-minute drill to perfection, which was capped off by a 34-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Sam McIntyre. The Warriors led 21-6 at the half.

“It was our best half of the season, but we were anything but happy because we remember what happened when we played Franklin,” Mcintyre, a senior captain. Cleveland took a 15-6 lead into the half against Franklin and was unable to score in the second half, and went on to lose 21-15. “It was in the back of everyone’s minds. Which was good because it kept us focused.”

The play of the game may have been the opening kickoff of the second half when senior Isaiah Poulavaati crushed the Roosevelt returnee and forced a fumble, which was recovered by another senior, Evan Bewley. The very first play on offense, Cleveland went right back to their money combination as Johnson hit Mcintyre going over the middle for both of their second touchdowns of the game. This pushed the lead to 28-6.

It looked out of reach for the Rough Riders, but they did not quit, scoring 16 unanswered points to make the score a little more interesting than the game was. Cleveland dominated the majority of the game and came out victorious 28-22.

Cleveland recovered an onside kick with a minute left to seal the historic victory. “We knew we had the game won if we could just fall on that kick,” said Curtis.

“It was such an exciting feeling when we recovered that kick, knowing that we were the PIL champs for the first time in forever. It was great,” Johnson said.

It truly has been a remarkable turnaround for the Warriors this season, going from an 0-9 record last season to a record of 7-2 this season. The Warriors have given the fans something to cheer about with this league title clinching victory over Roosevelt.