COLUMBUS — Central Catholic had never known defeat in a state championship football game in three previous trips to the finals.

But Thursday night — hindered by four turnovers and four big offensive plays by third-ranked Akron Archbishop Hoban — the Irish fell behind and could not recover in a 33-20 loss in the Division III title game before a crowd of 7,553 at Ohio Stadium.

“It’s not fun at all,” Irish coach Greg Dempsey said of losing for the first time in a state final. “I’m extremely proud of my kids, but the hurt I feel for them watching them walk off is painful.

“But we’ll be down for 24 hours, and then we’ll start celebrating what we accomplished this year.”

What went wrong?

“It was everything,” Dempsey said. “You’ve got big plays, you’ve got turnovers, and you had missed opportunities.

“And, they’ve got good players too. We just came up a little short. We had a little fire at the end, but it was too late.”

PHOTO GALLERY: Central Catholic falls to Akron Archbishop Hoben 33-20

Central topped Hoban 385-313 in total offense, but Hoban had just one late turnover when the game was decided.

The Knights (14-1), who scored on four plays of 20 or more yards while building a 28-14 halftime lead, got 33 carries from junior running back Todd Sibley for 162 yards and two touchdowns.

Hoban junior quarterback Danny Clark, like Sibley an Ohio State commit, added a 4-for-12 passing effort for 125 yards and the Knights’ other two TDs in the game.

After Central’s Michael Warren pulled the Irish within 28-20 on a 21-yard TD run in the third quarter, Hoban added a safety by tackling Irish quarterback Torrin Campbell in the end zone with 3:25 left in the third.

The Knights added a 34-yard field goal from Grant Kersh with 4:03 remaining in the game for the final margin.

Campbell, who was 17-of-29 passing for 234 yards in the game, had a rough night otherwise. Besides the safety, he was intercepted three times and lost a fumble.

The state championship is the first for Hoban, which was playing in its first final. Central (12-3) had won Division II titles in 2005 and 2012, and the Division III championship last year, all under 16th-year coach Greg Dempsey (157-41 record).

“It was two great football teams playing tonight,” Hoban coach Tim Tyrrell said. “Coach Dempsey does an unbelievable job, and I have the most respect in the world for his program. The ball fell our way this week.

“You never know. I’d say, if we played 10 times, we’d split them. Our kids just wanted it there at the end, and my hat goes off to them. They won this football game on the field.”

Sibley had scoring runs of 55 and 22 yards in the first half, and Clark hit scoring passes of 53 yards to Jonah Morris and 33 yards to Anthony Christian, all before halftime.

The Irish defense could not seem to come up with the big stop when it was needed.

“We had a great season,” said Irish senior Ian Meacham, a first team All-Ohio defensive lineman. “We started out slow [0-2 record] and then picked it up. It’s unfortunate that it ended this way, but I’m proud of my team, and proud of what we’ve done.

“Stopping the run was one of the biggest things. We stopped the pass pretty well, and our offense couldn’t get rolling too good. But we put up points and we played our best. It was a tough game. They’re a good team and they played well. They’re well disciplined, and they know what to do at the right time.”

After the teams traded punts to open the game, Hoban struck first on its second drive when Sibley capped a six-play, 78-yard march with his 55-yard touchdown run.

Sibley broke through the middle of the line, and went untouched from there, giving the Knights a 7-0 lead with 3:21 left in the first quarter.

It didn’t take long for Hoban to extend its lead after the game’s first turnover.

On third down from his 22, Campbell was intercepted by Christian at the Knights’ 47. On the next play, Clark hit Morris over the middle in stride. Morris continued untouched to the end zone on the 53-yard TD play which put the Knights up 14-0 on the stunned Irish with 1:53 left in the first quarter.

Central bounced back impressively early in the second quarter to tie the game before being victimized by another turnover and surrendering two more big scoring plays to the Knights. Campbell, who took over as the starter in Week 9 after Simeon Washington was lost to a fractured ankle, had passed only sparingly in his previous six starts.

But Dempsey turned him loose after falling behind by 14 points.

Campbell hit Darion Greer for 44 yards, and then twin brother Deion Greer for 35 yards, setting up Warren’s eventual four-yard TD run on the first play of the second quarter.

The Irish defense then forced a Hoban punt, and Campbell went right back to the air. His 31-yard completion to Darion Greer led to Warren’s 10-yard scoring run around left end, and Zach Hoover’s second extra-point kick knotted things at 14 with 9:05 left in the first half.

Warren would finish with 31 carries for 161 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 2,628 yards and 31 TDs this season and 4,876 career yards and 60 TDs, all school records.

But Central’s defense failed to stop Hoban on a third-and-10 play from the Knights’ 36 as Clark hit Christian for 31 yards to extend the drive. After a Sibley carry for no gain, Clark passed 33 yards to Christian, who beat Irish safety Kea-Shaun at the goal line for the score and a 21-14 lead 6:54 before halftime.

Campbell passed for 18 yards to Deion Greer, but on the next play was sacked by Hoban’s Arison Sanders and fumbled. Marc Westover recovered at the Central 24 and, one play later, Sibley bolted 22 yards for a touchdown with 2:47 left in the half, as Hoban took the 28-14 lead to the break.

Campbell was 7-of-12 passing for 171 yards in the opening half, but his two giveaways proved crucial, each leading to Knights scores.

“These are tough kids,” Dempsey said of the Irish winning 12 straight after an 0-2 start. “They are a very resilient group. We had many injuries throughout the year, and many tough moments, and they always stepped up and answered the bell. “Tonight, we just weren’t able to finish that comeback the way we had all year.

We tied it up and had the momentum on our side, and they came back at us with their best. We weren’t able to overcome that.

“We got deep [in Hoban territory] three times and weren’t able to finish it off. They buckled down and toughened up. Coach Tyrrell had his players more ready to play than I did.”

Contact Steve Junga at: sjunga@theblade.com, or 419-724-6461 or on Twitter @JungaBlade.

First Published December 4, 2015, 5:55 a.m.