Colerain defeated St. Xavier 24-7 in last year’s final with the Bombers winning in 2005.

St. Xavier head coach Steve Specht told a large contingent of reporters at midfield after the game that the Bombers have had a photo of the scoreboard showing last year’s final score hanging in their weight room all year as a reminder of what it feels like to lose.

But the coach and players didn’t seem to be dwelling as much on the revenge factor as just winning and moving on.

“It just feels good to win and it doesn’t really matter who we beat,” said Specht.  “That was a great team we just beat in a great game and I’m just happy for our 70 seniors.”

“This is just one more step in our season,” said senior running back Darius Ashley.  “Celebrating two weeks from now (at state) is where we want to be.  It doesn’t really matter who we beat to get there.”

St. Xavier dominated most of the game on both sides of the ball.  The Bombers had 308 yards of total offense and held a potent Colerain offense that came into the game averaging 385 yards and 41 points a game to just 164 yards and seven first downs.  Sophomore quarterback Luke Massa was 5-for-10 passing for 165 yards and two touchdowns – all coming in the first half - while Ashley rushed for a tough 115 yards on 31 carries with two touchdowns.

It was a game of big plays with St. Xavier striking first on their second possession of the game at the 5:22 mark on a 77-yard touchdown pass from Massa to Jon Scheidler.  Scheidler caught the ball in stride and streaked untouched down the left sideline for a 7-0 lead.

Ashley added a 6-yard touchdown run with 5:55 left in the second quarter (PAT no good) and the Bombers threatened to blow the game open on a 9-yard Massa touchdown pass to Danny Milligan at the 2:10 mark.

Colerain, held in check most of the first half, finally struck late after recovering a fumbled punt by Milligan at the 46-yard line.  Three plays later quarterback Quentin Sims hooked up with Ravelle Sadler on a 38-yard touchdown pass with seven seconds left in the half, cutting the lead to 20-7.

The Cardinals made things interesting early in the third quarter going 72 yards in nine plays on their first possession with Sims tossing a 22-yard touchdown pass to Dominique Sherrer making it 20-14.

St. Xavier answered with a smash mouth, momentum-changing 14-play, 80-yard drive capped off by a 1-yard touchdown run by Ashley on fourth down.  The Bombers ran on all 14 plays with Ashley getting 48 yards on nine carries.

“That knocked the sails out of us a little bit,” said Colerain head coach Tom Bolden of the drive.  “But they did what good teams do and came right back and went 80 yards.  It was a game of big plays and they just made more than us.”

Milligan added a 38-yard field goal with 2:14 left in the game to close out the scoring.

Sims finished the game with 59 yards rushing on 19 carries and added 61 yards through the air on 3-of-12 passing with one interception.    

Up next for the Bombers is a state semifinal contest next Saturday at 7 p.m. at Dayton Welcome Stadium against the winner of either Hilliard Darby or Dublin Coffman.