Glenville's D'Shawntae Jones runs past Pirates

ELYRIA — Perkins kept hanging around and made it a four-quarter game Friday night in a Division IV regional final against Glenville. The Pirates showed a lot of moxie and fight. But they didn't have D'Shawntae Jones. Jones, a 5-foot-11, 235-pound running back and linebacker, carried 20 times for 242 yards and two momentum-building touchdowns. Those scores were the difference in Glenville's 36-26 win at Ely Field. "He's the heart and soul of our team," Glenville coach Ted Ginn Sr. said. "He always runs hard and takes the game into his own hands. What a great runner and leader. "I still think he's being overlooked in recruiting. What you get from him you can't see on film." Several Tarblooders have committed to play college football, including a pair of Ohio State recruits. Senior left tackle Freddie Johnson, who stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 285 pounds, is headed to Louisville. For now, he's blocking for a Jerome Bettis lookalike. "Big back. He gets in the hole, you better move," Johnson said. Jones' uncle, Cardale Jones, who led Ohio State to its most recent national title, is a Glenville alumnus and watched from the Glenville sideline early in the game. His nephew helped Glenville outgain Perkins 409-353. The younger Jones was late to the team's postgame photo, about the only miscue he had all night. "Here with Coach Ginn, this is a spiritual place," he said. "The other team was talking a lot of trash on the internet. God just did it." When asked to describe his running style, Jones reached for the stars. "More like Jim Brown and Alvin Kamara." Jones gained 19 yards on Glenville's first play from scrimmage and kept going. He scored the game's first touchdown on a 14-yard run. After Perkins pulled to within 22-13 on a spectacular touchdown catch by Braylon Collier early in the third quarter, Jones had the answer, scoring on a 50-yard run on the Tarblooders' first play on the ensuing possession. "Coach said we were gonna come out and keep pounding it because they couldn't stop the run and that's what we did," Jones said. "I found the open gap and I just ran." Perkins scored again on a Logan Lesch pass to Weston Sturzinger for a 41-yard score. It was 28-20 and Perkins was hanging around. But on the next play from scrimmage, Jones cruised off right tackle for a 34-yard gain. After Glenville quarterback Ruel Tomlinson scored (after finding Ohio State commit Damarion Witten on a key third-and-19 conversion) Jones ran over a Perkins defender for the 2-point conversion and a 36-20 lead. "He's tough, big kid," Perkins coach Jalen Santoro said. "He runs hard." Glenville's offensive line averaged 283 pounds. Four of the linemen weighed 285 or more, and four stood 6-foot-3 or taller. "I told everybody in Week 1 that I had the best line in the country," Jones said. "They show up every game and let me do the easy work."