BY DAVE SCHUTTE
Enquirer contributor
MASSILLON, Ohio -- Kevin Kerr, the best kicker in the history of St. Xavier football, is now in the Ohio High School Athletic Association record book after hitting a 56-yard field goal in the first quarter.
After sending Kerr in to punt with 6:30 remaining in the third quarter, St. Xavier coach Steve Rassso had a change of heart and told Kerr to go for the field goal.
Dominic Carmosino took the snap and quickly placed the ball down on the Canton McKinley 46. Apparently none of the officials believed that Kerr was going to kick it and were positioned at the 20. When the ball exploded off Kerr's foot, one of the officials quickly ran back and declared it good.
"Right now it means nothing because we lost," Kerr said. "I had confidence I could make it, but everything had to be perfect, the snap and the place down."
The longest previous kick in any state championship game was 49 yards by Moeller's Tony Melink in 1980 in a 30-7 victory over Massillon Washington at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati.
Kerr's previous best was 50 yards. It was Kerr's 36th career field goal in 54 attempts. He finished the season with 109 points and 246 for his career.
GOOD QB:
Junior linebacker Eric Scheidt was impressed with Ben McDaniels, McKinley's senior quarterback who will play for Kent State next season.
"He checked off a lot at the line," Scheidt said. "He's a great quarterback, we just didn't get it done tonight."
ON THE WEB:
Although senior linebacker Ryan Doherty only plays in games after the outcome has been decided, he might be the best known of all the St. Xavier players.
Doherty created a Web site at http://www.activeinc.com/bombers to keep fans up-to-date on the team.
"I've had over 2,600 legitimate hits on the site since the season started," Doherty said.
Several times this season, Doherty held a "chat line" with St. Xavier players Dave Bareswilt and Matt Witulski as guests.
OVERHEARD:
There was about a three-minute delay following Canton McKinley's first touchdown when Bulldog coaches complained the Bombers' two-way communication was interfering with their transmission.
St. X coach Steve Rasso said that if the Bombers' communications were shut off, then Canton McKinley's had to be shut off.
The officials conferred with OHSAA assistant commissioner Hank Zaborniak before ordering McKinley's two-way communications off.
GOING, GOING, GONE:
The 1,600 tickets that St. X returned were sold in less than 30 minutes Saturday.
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