St. John's stymies Ada in regional finals

FINDLAY - Whew.

This game had tons of offense and plenty of high-octane plays by the quarterbacks.

And it was Delphos St. John's quarterback Wes Ulm, using both his arm and his legs, who was the difference-maker.

Delphos St. John's made several key stops in the second half and Ulm ran and threw his way to a 38-28 Blue Jays' victory over Ada in the Division VI regional championship game Friday at Donnell Stadium.

Ulm ran for 86 yards on 15 carries with a 12-yard score. In the air, he completed 6-of-9 for 121 yards and two TDs.

"They were really keying on our fullback tonight and I got some carries, but all the credit goes to the guys up front," Ulm said. "It was a big, physical game and it was fun.

"It was wet out there and everyone was slippery. I try to make people miss, but I don't really think. I just run. You just feel it."

Ulm's play helped offset high-flying Ada quarterback Mitchell Faine, who completed 35-of-53 for 317 yards and three TDs. Faine was also picked off three times, two by A.J. Klausing. Ada wide receiver Heath Jackson had 14 catches for 121 yards and one TD.

"They were powerful and I think their quarterback (Ulm) was the key," Ada coach Mike Fell said. "We couldn't tackle him. He had good quick moves and did a good job. I think we were there (defensively), he just made the plays."

St. John's coach Todd Schulte said, "He (Ulm) played one heck of a game all night. He had it tonight, everything. A big game like this, those are the guys you expect to step up and make some big plays and he did it all night."

St. John's tailback Jordan Leininger helped out with 135 yards on the ground on 20 carries, with a 59-yard TD. He also caught four passes for 70 yards, with TD catches of 31 and 23 yards.

St. John's ran for 241 yards and had 362 total yards. Ada had 415 total yards, 317 in the air.

The offensive track meet started early. Ada scored first on a 16-yard TD pass from Faine to Kyle Baker on a fade in the left corner of the end zone to take a 6-0 lead.

St. John's came back with a five-play, 56-yard drive for a score. Ulm hit Leininger, who went in motion and flew down the sideline, on a 31-yard TD strike to put the Blue Jays ahead to stay, 7-6 with 2:18 left in the first quarter.

Ulm hit Leininger again for a 23-yard TD to push the St. John's lead to 14-6.

"We noticed they played man and they kept all those guys in the box," Schulte said. "When we motioned him out of the backfield, someone was going to have to respect him and on the first touchdown, not one person moved. We kept bringing him out of the backfield because we wanted to make them adjust."

Ada got within 14-12 on a 3-yard TD run by Faine.

The Blue Jays' Evan Burgei then ran back the following kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown to give St. John's a 21-12 lead with 5:02 left in the second quarter.

Faine hit Jackson on a 7-yard TD, with Jackson weaving his way from one side of the field to the other for the TD to bring Ada within 21-20.

Jordan Rode's 30-yard field goal gave St. John's a 24-20 lead at the half.

The second half came down to which defense would provide key stops.

Leininger started the third quarter by taking the toss sweep to the left and going 59 yards for a score to put the Blue Jays ahead 31-20.

Ada then drove to the St. John's 1, but Faine fumbled the snap and David Odenweller recovered for the Blue Jays.

"You get to the 1-yard line, you have to score. That's the bottom line," Fell said. "You can't give that up."

The next two times Ada had the ball, it was stopped on downs, then Faine was intercepted by Klausing at the St. John's 30.

Most of the night Faine was under pressure, as he was sacked four times, twice by Tyler Hayson.

"We did pressure on the quarterback," Schulte said. "We weren't there every time, but he was still moving around and not able to sit still."

Fell said, "They were fast on the defensive line and they put us in some bad situations by getting some sacks on him. They did a nice job, defensively."

The Blue Jays' offense just kept coming.

St. John's went 65 yards in seven plays, with Ulm running it in from the 12 to push the lead to 38-20 with 11:54 to play.

Ada got within 38-28 and was driving in the final two minutes. But Klausing picked off Faine at the St. John's 39 with 1:48 to go to seal it.

The Blue Jays, 2-8 last year, advance to the state semifinals next Friday against a team to be named at a site to be named.

"Everyone's been saying one more year, one more year, but we want it this year," Ulm said.