toledoblade.com --

MASSILLON, Ohio - Dane Sanzenbacher found out he had a problem just before he and his Central Catholic teammates took the field for last night's Division II championship game against Canfield.

His problem? No pads for his uniform pants.

So Sanzenbacher was forced to borrow pants pads from a teammate. That's just about the only mistake the Great Dane made yesterday in leading the Fighting Irish to a state title.

"I find it hard to define the individual performance he's had during the playoffs with all his interceptions, touchdowns and big plays," Central coach Greg Dempsey said of Sanzenbacher. "He's a competitor, and he practices like that. He works at it all week, and that turns up in the games."

Sanzenbacher seemed to step forward every time Central needed a spark, and his individual effort transcended his stats for the contest.

And his stats were stellar. Sanzenbacher finished with four catches for 140 yards; his yardage total broke the Division II championship game record of 112 yards set by Southview's Jeff Rowe in 1999. And his two TD catches tied the record set by three other players.

"That's just my part on this football team," Sanzenbacher said. "Everybody has a role in this. I just try to step up when they call on me."

But it was more than the big plays that made Sanzenbacher the star of Central's 31-29 victory; it was the timing of those plays that helped sway the outcome in favor of the Irish.

The first big play came just before halftime, with the Irish trailing 16-10. Quarterback Kevin Jansen threw a pass to Xavier Graciani, and Graciani lateralled to a streaking Sanzenbacher for a 39-yard touchdown on the hook-and-ladder play.

On the first drive of the second half, with Central faced a third-and-nine from its 40, Jansen rolled out and found Sanzenbacher behind the Cardinal defense for a 60-yard scoring strike.

On its next drive Canfield drove for a touchdown, then ran a toss sweep for the potential game-tying two-point conversion. Who met Sean Baker three yards short of the goal? Sanzenbacher, of course.

On Central's next drive the Irish faced a fourth-and-five on the Cardinals' 36. The Irish ran a fake punt, and Sanzenbacher caught up-back Chris Dominiak's pass for 17 yards and a first down that led to the eventual game-winning touchdown.

Canfield scored to cut the lead to two points, then ran an on-side kickoff. Who recovered the ball? Sanzenbacher, naturally.

And who intercepted the Cardinals' Hail Mary pass on the game's final play? You guessed it: Sanzenbacher.

The 6-foot, 170-pound junior scored 16 touchdowns and intercepted 11 passes in 15 games this season. But Sanzenbacher came alive in the playoffs; his two TDs and one interception in the title game gave him nine playoff scores and six playoff pickoffs in just five contests.

What got him going in the playoffs?

"Just the intensity of it all - if you lose once, you're out," Sanzenbacher said. "I love these seniors, and I didn't want them to leave with a loss. I wanted them to play their last game here and win it."

Canfield coach Mike Pavlansky said Sanzenbacher's fine play in last night's contest just confirmed everything he had seen in scouting Central.

"He was like that on all four games we saw him on tape," Pavlansky said of Sanzenbacher. "We saw he was a great athlete, and he sure didn't disappoint anyone tonight.

"Great players make great plays in big ball games, and he did that tonight."

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