Walsh Jesuit football’s 2025 a season for the ages

By Doug Haidet

CUYAHOGA FALLS – There were enough narratives for the 2025 Walsh Jesuit football team to fill a semi-truck.

* Monster season-opening win over an eventual state runner-up? Check.

* Home win streak stretched to 24 games and still counting? Check.

* Finally knocking off bitter nemesis and powerhouse Hoban in the playoffs? Check.

* Final 11-2 record despite the second-toughest schedule of any Division II team in Ohio? Check.

* Boasting the most seniors in team history to commit to Division I college programs? Check.

The milestones kept stacking higher and higher. The scrapbooks kept getting thicker and thicker.

For Walsh’s Nick Alexander – who already has established himself among the best in Ohio just seven seasons into his tenure as a high school head coach – the main headline was easy to write.

“This senior group was a highly talented, large class that ended up with 30 guys (this year), which is a huge number for us,” said Alexander, 62-22 since taking over the Warriors prior to the 2019 campaign. “It will be known for sure as the first regional championship team since 1999.

“Last year’s group was known for the regular-season Hoban win (19-14), but then everyone said, ‘Great, but you can’t do it in the playoffs when it matters.’ This group kind of took that to heart.”

Walsh returned 44 lettermen from last season’s 13-1 regional-finalist squad. That team tied the program record for single-season wins while posting the most potent rushing attack in school history (4,196 yards).

And while this year’s returning group did not include graduated quarterback Keller Moten – the first Mr. Football finalist in Warrior football history – Alexander knew for years it had the potential to put itself among the greats in Walsh lore.

“We said yes to (scheduling a season-opening game at) Toledo Central Catholic knowing that we had this group,” he said of the Week 1 matchup with a Fighting Irish squad that finished as a state runner-up. “That definitely set the tone. Our guys knew that team was going to go to the Division III state title game, so going to their place, where they hadn’t lost in 26 games, snapping that streak (with a 17-14 win) was pretty awesome.”

Toledo Central Catholic finished 11-5. Its other four losses all came to eventual state champions (three from Michigan, one from Ohio).

Walsh’s final 10 wins of 2025 all came by at least three possessions apiece.

The Warrior defense posted three shutouts and added four more games in which it didn’t allow more than seven points. Through the first eight weeks, Walsh allowed just 52 total points (6.5 per game).

The subplots unfolded everywhere.

The Hoban breakthrough

Unequivocally, Walsh’s 35-7 rout of Hoban for the regional championship was the crescendo of the 2025 season.

To understand the exhale that came from Alexander and the Warriors after that win is to know the history.

Walsh now has a 32-25 all-time edge over the Knights, who are one of just two teams the Warriors have played more than 35 times in their history (also St. Vincent-St. Mary, 27-22).

Despite that all-time advantage, Hoban has been a dagger-sized thorn in the side of the Warriors since winning its first of five state championships in 2015.

Alexander entered this season with just a 1-8 record against the Knights; three of those losses came in the regional finals in 2021, 2023 and 2024.

Had it not been for regular-season losses to Hoban, Walsh would currently be riding a 34-game regular-season win streak dating back to 2022.

So when the seventh-ranked Warriors built a 14-7 halftime lead on the second-ranked Knights on Nov. 21, then outscored them 21-0 in a rain-filled second half, it was a breakthrough felt by the entire Walsh community.

Warriors senior running back Marty Tobin put an exclamation point on one of the best postseason stretches in team history that night, going for 200 yards and two touchdowns to help also avenge a 19-14 loss to the Knights in Week 6.

“This year was very much just challenging our guys up front to be able to establish the run (against Hoban),” Alexander said. “Marty obviously went off, but it was done by those guys up front and the perimeter blocking, and then some huge plays in the pass game that allowed us to stay on the field.”

The Warriors owned the advantage in time of possession, converting first downs often and stretching drives as needed. Defensively, they got key third-down stops and forced Hoban to go to the air.

The 35-7 final was the worst margin of defeat to an Ohio team for the Knights since 2013 (41-6 against Division III state champion St. Vincent-St. Mary). It also was Hoban’s most sizable loss in the playoffs since a 31-0 defeat to Division II state champion Sylvania Southview in 2008.

Alexander said it was the best defensive performance in his seven years leading the program.

“We’ve held people to negative yards in games,” he said, “but against a quality opponent and all the talent they had on that team, it was for sure the best.”

Unfortunately, the high from the Hoban win was tempered the next week, when the Warriors lost to eventual state champion Avon, 38-7.

Many felt the Eagles – who also won the Division II crown in 2024 – were the best team in Ohio, regardless of division.

Alexander said Avon’s depth was the best Walsh saw all season, adding that it was the best tackling team the Warriors had faced in years.

“That game is not a representation of who our guys are,” the coach said. “I’m just proud of the way we battled from start to finish; we didn’t break, we didn’t turn on each other.”

“I think Division II was the best division in Ohio,” Tobin added. “Obviously, we came up short, but looking back at it, we won some amazing games.”

Next-level talent

When the dust finally settled, Walsh had played nine games against playoff teams from Ohio, posting a 7-2 record in those contests.

The Warriors also cruised to a 30-6 win over a team out of Canada that handed Division II regional runner-up Massillon Washington its biggest loss of the season (34-2).

Walsh’s 42-21 regional semifinal rout of Austintown-Fitch gave it a 24-game win streak at home that will stretch into next season. That run currently is tied for the sixth-longest in Ohio.

After all that, the Warriors had a program-record six players committed to play Division I college football.

The list includes –

* WR Milan Parris (6-5, 210) – Miami (Fla.) – 50 catches, 785 yards, 11 TDs

* LB Caden Carter (6-1, 220) – Bowling Green – 96 tackles, 4 sacks, 2 INT

* OL Colton Crosley (6-2, 290) – Ohio – 1st-team All-Ohio

* DB James Brewer (6-3, 190) – Ohio – 45 total tackles, 2 INT

* DB Grant Blascak (6-3, 210) – decommitted from Toledo due to coaching change – 86 tackles, 2 INT

* RB Marty Tobin (5-11, 190) – Youngstown State – 182 carries, 1,856 yards, 18 TDs

Alexander believes at least 10 Walsh players from this year’s senior class will end up at the next level.

All that talent made for some electric Friday nights

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Tobin’s single-season rushing yardage was the third-most in Walsh history and his 2,876 career rushing yards are fifth-most.

“Since freshman year, we knew we were the group; this group’s just so talented and it produced a lot of D-1 athletes,” Tobin said. “Those Friday nights definitely did feel different.”

Walsh also featured kicker Freddie Marcell in its senior class, whose 142 career kicking points are a new school standard.

Crosley was a rare four-year starter for the Warriors, playing in over 50 career games.

Alexander gushed about the lineman’s season, adding that Carter and Blascak were two huge hitters on what the coach said was the best overall defense for the program in years.

Then there was Parris, a four-star recruit who was committed to Iowa State before the season began. A first-team All-Ohioan, he helped turn the Warriors into one of the most-watched teams in the state.

The rangy receiver finished in the top five in program history for career receiving points (first, 132), career receptions (third, 84), single-season receiving points (t-third, 66), career receiving yards (fourth, 1,460) and single-season receiving yards (fifth, 785).

Alexander said Parris was the main attraction that lured coaches from massive programs including Miami, Oregon, Oklahoma, Auburn, Kansas State and West Virginia – among many others – to Cuyahoga Falls.

“As far as the national attention – with the social media aspect now in 2025 – the national stage that Milan put our program on (was huge),” Alexander said. “Having those people in the building and having them calling – and having him getting these offers (27 total in Division I) – really shows people from northeast Ohio, ‘Holy crap, I can do that there and get the great education and play for a program that’s selfless?’ Milan put us on a stage that we haven’t been on.”

Also featuring a 6-foot-8 wingspan, Parris cut his 40-yard dash time down to 4.43 and Alexander said visiting coaches continuously called him a “hidden gem.”

With plenty of other seniors showing off their skills, Alexander said Walsh games in 2025 brought a different vibe inside the stadium.

“It was cool week-in and week-out,” he said. “It’s really awesome to be able to let our guys know that it’s good when you have (so much college-level talent), because more (recruiters and college coaches) come to your games and see it.”

Next men up

So what’s the encore?

While the theme of the season very well could have simply revolved around talent, assistant head coach Drew Turner said selflessness was another trait that jumped off the film for the Warriors.

He pointed to safety and backup quarterback Ben Biel as a prime example.

The junior converted a game-clinching first-down run against Central Catholic in Week 1 when starting quarterback David Ternosky had to leave the field for a play.

And when Ternosky had to miss the Austintown-Fitch playoff game due to injury, it was Biel stepping up again in the victory.

According to both Alexander and Turner, it’s players like those who have set up 2026 to be another monster year.

Similar to this season, the Warriors will return close to half of their starters on both sides of the ball.

On offense, Ternosky (117-of-186, 1,466 yards, 19 TDs passing) will be back as a senior, along with receiver Cambell Lann (21-289-4) and three linemen.

Alexander said Ternosky played through injury much of the season and will be primed for a big final year after a full, healthy offseason.

Defensively, Biel (64 tackles, 2 INTs) and linebackers Drew Wollschleger (61 tackles) and Cade Mariola (35 tackles) will be three-year starters as seniors.

All-Ohio lineman Dario Jeras (67 tackles, 13 TFLs, 6 sacks), linebacker Emmett Tobin (58 tackles, 8 TFLs) and lineman Caleb Buckner (45 tackles, 3.5 sacks) also return as seniors.

Plenty of talent from a solid 6-2 junior varsity squad also will get its turn.

“There are so many names I can give you that are chomping at the bit, waiting for their moment to be out there on Friday nights that had unbelievable sophomore or junior years,” Alexander said. “They just happened to be behind a great senior class in 2025.”

The Warriors have never had more wins over a five-year period than they have from 2021 through 2025 (56-11). Their 36-5 mark over the last three seasons tie Walsh’s 1997-99 stretch for the best-ever as well.

If they can win 10 games next fall, it will be the first time in school history the Warriors have had double-digit victories in four consecutive seasons.

Alexander, meanwhile, is 61-13 over the last six years, including a 14-6 mark in the playoffs.

Despite all that, the glory days of the 1990s – which included five Final Four appearances in a span of seven seasons – are still the summit. Walsh’s lone state title came in that same era (1999).

Alexander knows that’s the end goal once again.

“We’ve gotta win the big one,” he said. “We’re very happy with this senior class getting us over that hump to win a regional final. They laid the groundwork that that’s the new standard.

“Now we have to take it to the next level and bring home a state championship.”