CANTON — To no one’s surprise, a Midwest Athletic Conference giant won a state championship again.
No, not THAT Midwest Athletic Conference giant. The other one.
St. Henry beat Hillsdale 37-3 in the OHSAA Division VII title game on Saturday, Dec. 6 for its seventh state championship.
St, Henry hadn’t been heard of for a while because of the Marion Local monster. Marion Local has won 14 state titles, all in the 21st century.
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This year, St. Henry fell 21-14 to Marion Local in Week 3 of the regular season before winning a rematch in the third round of the playoffs, 24-7.
This is the MAC’s 28th state championship in football in the last 32 years. In the last 19 years alone, nine of the MAC’s 10 football-playing schools have won a state title.
Hillsdale, which fell 74-0 to Marion Local in last year’s D7 title game, was in decent shape into the second quarter before St. Henry quarterback Charlie Werling took over the game with his feet.
Werling’s third running touchdown created a 37-3 lead and a running clock with six minutes left in the third quarter.
It was a day of thrills in St. Henry, a town on the Ohio-Indiana border, 120 miles north of Cincinnati. Its loud crowd had plenty to cheer about all morning and early afternoon.
St. Henry is smack in the middle between Columbus and Indianapolis, the latter city being the site of Saturday night’s battle royale between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana.
St. Henry is staunch Buckeyes country, having produced lineman Jim Lachey and quarterbacks Todd Boeckman and Bobby Hoying as Ohio State players.
Saturday’s game in Canton, played in a 31-degree chill and witnessed by a crowd of 3,912 in Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, kicked off early enough (10:30) for St. Henry’s fans to make it home for the college game.
St. Henry head coach Josh Werling, the quarterback’s dad, took over in 2024 and went 7-5, with an early 42-9 loss to Marion Local and a 42-14 loss to Minster in the playoffs.
It took a minute for him to get things together. He is a 2014 graduate of the Ohio State College of Optometry who practices as an optometrist in Celina.
He has been on the coaching staff and is a St. Henry guy for life, having played for St. Henry High School. That group his senior year went 14-1 and beat Warren JFK in the Division V state finals.
St. Henry also won state title in 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995 and 2004.
Hillsdale will have its standout quarterback, junior Kael Lewis, back next year under head coach Trevor Cline. Lewis made a memory for a lifetime in the 2024 playoffs, throwing Hail Mary touchdowns at the end of the first half and the end of regulation in a 50-48 win over Malvern.
The Falcons finished at 14-2 in 2024 and 13-2 in 2025.
Here’s a look at some of the key things to know about the game:
Player of the Game: Charlie Werling, St. Henry, quarterback
Werling and his St. Henry team sweated out a 13-10 win over Columbus Grove in the state semifinals. The championship game was a breeze, though, after the 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior warmed up, mostly with his feet. By halftime, he had 146 rushing yards on 13 carries. He finished with 178 yards on 19 carries. His arm strength may be a factor in terms of being a big-time recruit. He had a wide-open receiver in the end zone at one point and didn’t have enough zip on the ball to keep Hillsdale cornerback Davis Radcliffe from getting there for a breakup. His profile was hurt by missing much of the 2024 season with an injury. His performance in getting to and winning a state title, though, suggests he could be a nice catch for someone.
Play of the Game: St. Henry’s instant counter-punch to promising Hillsdale drive
Hillsdale hung around early, and it was clear quarterback Kael Lewis was a player. Trailing 8-0, the Falcons were on the verge of touchdown when Lewis completed a beauty of a 50-yard bomb to Hayden McFadden, to the 7. The Falcons had to settle for a field goal, though, and on the first snap after the kickoff, St. Henry quarterback Charlie Werling ran 70 yards for a touchdown. It was a designed run on which the nifty Werling chose the right hole, cut right, and was gone. So was the game, it turned out.
Three stats to an OHSAA football title
They said it
The Canton Repository sports department can be contacted via email at sports@cantonrep.com.
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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Charlie Werling leads St. Henry back to Ohio high school football’s elite
Reporting by Steve Doerschuk, Canton Repository / The Repository
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