C8 MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2007 THE ENQUIRERA SALUTE TO CHAMPIONS

Anderson’s Bob Kuhlenberg (facing) and his teammates celebrat-ed the school’s first state football championship on Friday.

St. Xavier players celebrated a state championship in Cantonon Saturday for the second time in the past three seasons.

TWICE AS NICEFor Anderson and St. Xavier, state championships were a perfect ending for dream seasons

Information compiled by Tom Groeschen. Photos by Jeff Swinger

2007 ROSTERSENIORS: Kyle Nelson, Nick Aylward, Josh Jeffery, BobKuhlenberg, Elijah Storey, Brian Thatcher, Greg Flamm,Jay Dawson, Kyle Hetrick, Bryan Sallee, Tyler White, Da-vid Stewart, Nick Truesdell, Zak Steigerwald, Kevin Chap-man.JUNIORS: Daniel Rod, Brian Schlosser, John Runk, Ja-son Bruner, John Howard, Michael Tincher, Justin Gray,Zach Bailey, Breon Mapp, Luke Bissinger, Luis Perez,Max Elliott, Austin Rexroat, Zac Daiker, Eli Anglim, An-thony Palazzolo, Mike Sears, Adam Bigelow, Randy King,Geoff Burroughs, Oliver Phillips, John Strickley, NickSchirmann, Dan Handley, Ory Tilford, Kurt Kaufmann,John Hirsch, Joe Walla, Nick Buchanan.SOPHOMORES: Brandon Bornhauser, Ken Nakakura,Caleb Correll, Trent Sheppard, Mitch Porta, Chad Owens,John Ahrens, Ryan Beebe, Kevin Cripe, Matt Pucillo, Jus-tin Racer, Jake Lackner, Kevin Becker, Jacob Casper, Aa-ron Riffle, Tyler Knabb, Keith Chabot, Payne Rankin, WillPuthoff, Max Barden, Ryan Sowers, Sean Molloy, EvanMurphy, Blake Byrne, Darren Huelsman, Adam Tastad,Paden Ramey, Dustin Didier, Greg Mancz, Isaiah Hum-mons, Andrew Norwell, Kevin Hetrick, Koty Trentman,Mark Voderbrueggen, Evan Arnold, Michael Janes, MattGingras, Alan Van Pelt.HEAD COACH: Jeff Giesting ASSISTANT COACHES:Mike Cook, Matt Stanyard, Adam Szabo, Bill Meltebrink,Scott Peters, Bob Parrish, Mark Bruns, Bob Mullenax,Trevor Ellison, Steve Kosky, Robert Page, Mike Seiler,Andrew Tucker, Mark Nagy, Pat Thatcher, Doug Kuhn.

Anderson’s Elijah Storey celebrated with teammates Jason Bruner (12), Nick Schirmann (77) andTyler White (75) after his critical touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

FAST FACTSm Anderson played in Division I for most of the past

decade, until enrollment changes dropped the Red-skins to Division II this season.m Anderson was the Fort Ancient Valley Conference

Buckeye champion this season (5-0), after sharing thetitle last year.m The Redskins made seven playoff appearances

under previous coach Vince Suriano, who left after the2006 season to become a college assistant at MountSt. Joseph.m The Redskins were the first Cincinnati-area Divi-

sion II team to appear in the state finals since Edge-wood was state runner-up in 2003.m Since Ohio began tournament football in 1972,

only four Cincinnati area teams have won the second-biggest division: Wyoming (Class AA, 1977), PurcellMarian (Division II, 1986), Lebanon (Division II, 1998)and Anderson (Division II, 2007).m Anderson senior RB Elijah Storey, who rushed for

154 yards and a TD in the title game, is a cousin ofSeattle Seahawks star Shaun Alexander.

BY THE NUMBERS19 – Years that Jeff Giesting spent as an Anderson as-sistant before becoming head coach this year.1 – Appearances in a state football title game for An-derson.1998 – The last year a Cincinnati area team (Lebanon)had won a Division II state title.12 – Anderson’s ranking in the final Associated PressDivision II state media poll this season.199 – Total yards for Anderson WR Nick Truesdell inthe title game (129 receiving, 26 rushing, 44 on kick-off return), with two TDs receiving.11,065 – Attendance at Massillon’s Paul Brown TigerStadium for the Division II state final.10 – Returning starters (of the top 22) for Anderson in2008, including QB Daniel Rod.

Principal Diana Carter and fans saluted coachJeff Giesting and his team Sunday.

Tailback Darius Ashley (8) and his backfield mate Luca Romeo embrace after defeating Mentorfor the Division I state title. Both were on the 2005 state championship team.

ST. XAVIER SCHEDULE15-0, 3-0 GCL SouthD-I STATE CHAMPS

REGULAR SEASONOpponent ScoreWinton Woods W, 35-7DeMatha, Md. W, 28-7Cleveland Glenville W, 27-12Louisville Trinity, Ky. W, 47-31Indianapolis Chatard W, 30-0Elder W, 18-0La Salle W, 35-7Lakewood St. Edward W, 45-0Cleveland St. Ignatius W, 17-14Moeller W, 28-14

PLAYOFFSElder W, 45-14Centerville W, 31-6Colerain W, 29-14Dublin Coffman W, 10-7Mentor W, 31-25

ANDERSON SCHEDULE13-2, 5-0 FAVC

D-II STATE CHAMPSREGULAR SEASON

Opponent ScoreSpringboro W, 28-13Mason W, 35-12Hamilton W, 14-7Hilliard Darby L, 39-38La Salle L, 51-10Winton Woods W, 14-12Loveland W, 21-7Glen Este W, 57-36Milford W, 34-18Harrison W, 40-24

PLAYOFFSKings W, 14-6Dayton Carroll W, 31-13Turpin W, 24-23Ashland W, 35-20Louisville W, 31-25

FAST FACTSm St. Xavier’s 2007 title win gives Cincinnati its fifth

Division I state football championship in the past sixyears: Elder (2002 and ’03), Colerain (’04), St. Xavier(’05 and ’07).m St. Xavier (D-I) and Anderson (D-II) gave Cincinnati

multiple state football titles for the first time since 1986,when Fairfield (D-I), Purcell Marian (D-II) and CincinnatiAcademy of Physical Education (D-III) all won.m Since Ohio began tournament play in 1972, Cincin-

nati teams have won 16 of the 36 big-school champion-ships: Moeller (1975-76-77-79-80-82-85), Princeton(1978-83-87), Fairfield (1986), Elder (2002-03), Cole-rain (2004) and St. Xavier (2005-07).m St. Xavier was the regular season Associated Press

Division I state poll champion, Enquirer Division I areacoaches’ poll champion, and is rated between No. 1 andNo. 5 in various national polls.m The Bombers this year beat former state champi-

ons from Ohio (Elder, Colerain, Moeller, St. Ignatius),Kentucky (Trinity) and Indiana (Chatard), plus nationalpower DeMatha (Md.).

Danny Milligan was a versatile force, as a widereceiver, kick returner and kicker.

BY THE NUMBERS2 – State football championships for St. Xavier (2005,’07).51 – Wins for coach Steve Specht in four years as Bombershead coach.3 – Losses for Specht in those four years.1,111 – Number of boys (upper three grades) enrolled at St.Xavier.1,348 – Number of boys (upper three grades) enrolled atMentor, St. Xavier’s opponent in the 2007 title game.70 – Number of seniors St. X will lose from its 2007 team.19 – Number of starters (out of 22) St. X will lose from its2007 team.

2007 ROSTERSENIORS: Joshua James, Nick Mitchell, Sam Deardorff,Danny Milligan, Joe DeGregorio, Greg Scruggs, BillyRumpke, Fred Craig, Darius Ashley, Tim Perica, John Hurley, Tom Hobson, Bobby Ulliman, Tim Bayer, NickSchneider, Tyler Brodbeck, Grift Krehnbrink, Jon Howard,Michael Hegman, Mike Sieber, Patrick Berning, MichaelWottreng, Patrick Gleason, Drew Grote, Tony Iori, JonFluegemann, Xavier Cooper, Luca Romeo, Michael Holbrook, Ross Morand, Brady McDonough, Zach Nieberding, Corey Siler, Eamon El-Sawaf, Harry Schilderink, Michael Ponti-Zins, Andrew Hobohm, KyleJohns, Nate Quinn, Wendell Taylor, Michael Blain, Jon Lucas, Andrew Maingot, Evan Miller, Mark Rouse, JordanThompson, Kyle Wenker, Kevin Gibboney, John Kuechly,James Longaberger, Max Baumann, Andrew Amrein,Sheldon Belcher, Scott Feltrup, Matt Deye, Sam Zenni,Andrew Carpenter, Ian Godofsky, Michael Matthews, Ben Duwell, Brian Ulliman, Tommy Gusweiler, Jon Scheidler, Stephon Ball, Patrick Kelly, Bobby Bench, Joe Richter, Romey James, Larry Thomas.JUNIORS: Luke Kuechly, Andrew Brown, Eric Prysock, Jerry Valentine, Joe O’Toole, Danny Freudiger, Drew Grombala, Sam Male, Sam Edmiston, Brian Bell, NevinHeard, John Sarra, Alex Perry, Eric Berning, Ian Cummins,Patrick Reagan, Aaron Lingler, Patrick Akujobi, Doug Sam-mons, Daniel Perrino, Kyle Lyons, Pat Muldoon, Tom Ba-den, Ned Moffat, Connor Earley, Richard Levernier, NickRamstetter, David Herman, Michael Frey, Sam Imbus,Doug Golan, Marty Dugan, Jon Tobergte, Tyler Rabanus,Marcus Mitchell, Billy Douglas, Chris Blum, KawdaniScott, Pete Lees, Mike Vance, Alex Lewellen, Michael Her-vey, Rob Sander, Jose Rodriguez, Brandon Wilkins, TravisWahl, Alex Webb, Alex Green, Adam Loesing, AnthonyKaiser, Tim Koenig, Kevin Feltrup, Justinian Mason, TreverHoelker, Aaron Nimrick, Jon Schroeder, Kevin Chase, Co-nor Gilligan, Andrew Vehr, Parker Greve, Nick Mathews,Stephen Cummings, Graham Dudley, Ryan Long.SOPHOMORES: Luke Massa, Matt JamesHEAD COACH: Steve Specht ASSISTANT COACHES:Dave Allspach, Carlo Alvarez, Tim Banker, Mike Bellamah,Dan Benjamin, Steve Bradley, Jeremy Carpenter, BrianCastner, Keith Castner, Ron Hatten, Mike Heizman, MattKeith, Tim McDonald, Adam McLain, Dennis Quatke-meyer, Mike Wiles.

Steve Specht (center) was named head coachwhen this season’s seniors were freshmen.

Anderson senior wide receiver Nick Truesdellraces in for a touchdown in the state champi-onship game.