Clyde's 1995 championship was 'just bedlam'

CLYDELate in the fourth quarter of the 1995 Division III state championship game, Clyde linebacker Roy Salazar recognized a formation he'd seen all week in practice.The Fliers were nursing a 3-0 lead to Kenston, which broke the huddle in a split formation with one wide receiver, two running backs and two tight ends. Coaches told Salazar all week that Kenston used the formation to throw an out route to his side of the field.The problem was, he couldn't cover it in practice."I swear all week he couldn't cover it," said Dave Marty, the Clyde defensive coordinator in 1995 and 2019. "I don't know why. He's a good kid, fast — he couldn't cover it."This time, he did. Salazar jumped the out route and intercepted a pass thrown by Kenston's backup quarterback. (Clyde linebacker Adam Greenslade had knocked out the starter in the third quarter with a big hit). Running back Chad Long ran for a Fliers first down to seal the game on the next possession. Clyde won the state title by scoring just once, a 32-yard field goal by Justin Chagnon on the game's first possession. The Fliers actually punted after three plays on that drive, but Kenston committed a clipping penalty.Throughout the game at Massillon Paul Brown Tiger Stadium, Clyde offensive coordinator Mike Wilson implored head coach Bob Bishop to let him call a pass play or two. But Bishop was comfortable with the lead. The defense was playing great, the punter was kicking well and the Fliers never had the type of field position that made Bishop comfortable with passing.None of that mattered as the final seconds ticked off the clock. In the press box, Marty hugged Wilson with tears in his eyes. On the field, Clyde players threw their helmets into the air in celebration. Bishop frantically searched for the Kenston coaches through a maze of bodies."Just bedlam," Bishop recalled this week. "You want to find the other coaches to congratulate them, but everyone was just swarming you. It was kind of overwhelming." Not quite readyThat was 24 years ago, the last time the Fliers won a state football championship. Current Clyde coach Ryan Carter was in the stands that Dec. 2 day, watching his former teammates celebrate what his senior class barely missed.The 1994 Fliers were, according to Carter, the first Clyde team to make the playoffs. A year earlier they went undefeated, and many consider that 1993 Clyde team — which was in Division II — to be the best in program history.But the '93 Fliers finished fifth in their region (only four teams made the playoffs from each region back then). They had the sixth-most Division II playoff points in the state, but four of the teams ahead of them played in their region.So in '94, the Fliers had something to prove. They made the Division III playoffs at 9-1 and advanced to the state title game with a 42-24 drubbing of London in the semifinal.Against Beloit West Branch (Marty's alma mater) in the state title game, the Fliers strayed from their typically disciplined habits. West Branch, led by quarterback Jeff Morris, scored all 28 of its points in the first half. Morris' 75-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Doak was the longest touchdown pass in Division III title game history as of 2017. The Fliers lost 28-11."It wasn't like they were making plays over us, they just had guys wide open," Carter said. "Our team that year didn't handle that big moment very well."On Saturday, Carter returns to the state title game as a coach. This week brings back memories of that loss in 1994 and of watching the '95 team do what his team couldn't.Carter is drawing on his experience as a player as he prepares the 2019 Fliers for the biggest game of their lives. He tells them to treasure these memories, treat this week as normal as possible.But mostly, he just hopes the Fliers win. Because he knows how bad it hurts to come this far and lose."I know this firsthand: It's something you don't forget," Carter said. "I don't forget losing that day; I don't forget almost every play of that game. And I remember looking at the kids the next year and seeing what they were going through with winning that game. I want these kids to have the memory of winning that game." Retribution RunThe 1995 Fliers had something to prove as well. They returned only a handful of starters, and similar to this year's team, they sensed doubt from people outside the program.What those people didn't realize was how much the playoffs can help develop depth. Every playoff game the Fliers won in '94 meant an extra week of practice — an extra week for the '95 team to hone its skills against the '94 starters.Bishop knew his team was more talented than people thought."They had been very successful, but they had been stuck behind some very good classes," he said. "We had kids that would've been starting for any other team in the conference, but they were backups for us. It kind of snuck up on people. They looked at what we lost, but they didn't realize that our senior class was also very strong."The Fliers again finished 9-1 in 1995. They lost only to Oak Harbor in Week 10 because they snapped the ball over the punter's head twice while leading in the fourth quarter. "The only two bad ones we had all season," Bishop said.After breezing past Columbus Beechcroft 24-9 in the first round of the playoffs, the Fliers met Oak Harbor again for a regional championship at Toledo Waite. Some say the snow on the field was six inches deep, some say it was a foot deep. It was wet, heavy, nasty. The Fliers said they heard that Oak Harbor tried to move the game to avoid the snow. Greenslade remembers Bishop incorporating this into his pregame speech. "These guys are trying not to play this game," Greenslade remembers Bishop saying. "They know you guys are better than them. They don't wanna play you guys!"Before kickoff, Marty remembers players making snow angels on the field to mock the Rockets' attempts to move the game. The Fliers took an early 10-0 lead, and retreated to the locker room seeking warmth.The stadium didn't have a heating system, so the Fliers brought space heaters. But when they tried to turn them on, a fuse blew and the power went out. Regardless, the Fliers held on to win 10-7 and advance to the state semifinal against Hamilton Badin."They would never let a playoff game be played in that stadium today," Greenslade said. The Fliers sold thousands of presale tickets for the Badin matchup in Lima. So many, in fact, that one of Bishop's friends couldn't find a seat in Clyde's bleachers. When he found a spot on the Badin side, a Badin fan asked Bishop's friend how he thought the game would go. "Well, if you guys run the ball, you're in trouble," Bishop's friend replied. Badin was a run-first team, and that prediction came true. Midway through the second quarter, the Badin fan turned around and told Bishop's friend he was right. The Fliers won 16-6. A raucous celebrationFour quarters and a week later — after many punts, a clutch field goal and a memorable interception — Bishop and his players were scurried off the field after the trophy presentation in Massillon. The game before theirs had gone to overtime, and OHSAA officials wanted to start the game after Clyde's as soon as possible. "It's like your wedding reception," Greenslade said. "You're trying to talk to everybody and everybody's talking to you. They wanted us to get off the field, but nobody wanted to leave." So the Fliers huddled into their charter bus and went to a nearby Ponderosa Steakhouse, something they'd planned early in the week. Win or lose, they'd go to Ponderosa. Of course, now that they had won, all the players wanted to do was get back to Clyde and celebrate. "Once we won, they didn't wanna eat," Bishop said "They wanted to get back to Clyde. I said, 'Guys, I got the check here. We're eating.'"The Fliers ate quickly and returned home (they watched Tommy Boy on the way back). Once they got into town, they were escorted to the high school by the police and fire departments. Candles lit a path leading to the high school, and what seemed like the entire town awaited their arrival. From there, the team was paraded around town in hay wagons. They traversed Race Street and stopped at a local McDonald's. "It was like being local celebrities for high-schoolers," Greenslade said. This Saturday, the 2019 Fliers hope to earn the same welcome. Bishop said they're already champions, but if they bring home the big trophy they'll never be forgotten because, as a friend told Bishop the night the Fliers won in '95, "You won the big one. It doesn't matter if you ever win another game. You won the big one.""(It would mean) a lifetime of memories," Bishop said. "For that one day, you're on top of the world. But that memory stays with you forever. That's something they can never take away from you." Clyde players, from left, Mark Dirlam, Bill Binder and Adam Greenslade pose with the 1995 Division III state championship trophy in Massillon. The Fliers stopped Kenston 3-0 in a game dominated by defense.Clyde's 1995 Division III state championship football team won it all after the 1994 team came up one game short.Clyde fans will get a chance to send off the Fliers at a pep rally at 2:15 p.m. today at the high school. The public is invited.Caden Berger (23) and Trent Cook (55) lead the Fliers' onto the field prior to Clyde's home victory over Ashland on Sept. 6.