'Special group of guys.' Looking back at La Salle's dominating run to 2014 state title

Nate Moore remembers thinking he was the only one left in the La Salle locker room.

He was not alone.

It was just a few days after La Salle's undefeated season was snapped in a heartbreaking loss to St. Xavier . Moore, La Salle's head coach from 2013-2014, heard a loud bang in the weight room.

"I had no idea what it was," said Moore, who is now the head coach at Massillon Washington.

After hours that night, all-state senior defensive lineman Jordan Thompson was putting in extra work hitting the team's new, weighted driving sled.

"I vividly remember that," Thompson said. "He (Moore) didn't say anything. He just looked at me and got out of there."

Moore didn't need words. He had just one thought when he saw one of his stars going the extra mile.

"That was the moment I knew we weren't gonna lose again."

He was right. La Salle would outscore opponents 372-132 and win its five playoff games by an average of 30.8 points in a dominating run capped off by the program's first-ever state championship.

On October 18th, the school honored the history-making 2014 squad in a 10-year celebration of a team that started a state title three-peat.

"It's that point in the movie when all of the characters come back and they're slightly aged," Thompson said.

Victory over Moeller was turning point for 2014 Lancers: 'We started to think we could be really special."

If you go back a decade, nobody would've pegged La Salle as Greater Cincinnati's next football dynasty.

In 2013, Moore's first season, La Salle went 3-7 with five one-possession losses and missed the postseason for the third consecutive year.

"The first year taking over a program is a tough transition," Moore said. "We learned a lot in that 2013 season."

La Salle came back the next season and scheduled a season-opener against Colerain, a rivalry that continues today after a two-year hiatus (2019-2020). It was Tom Bolden at the height of his powers, having led Colerain to back-to-back DI regional finals. La Salle won, 41-20. Still, teams are finding themselves in August and Bolden's Cardinals were young.

Four wins later, La Salle hosted top-ranked Moeller, the two-time defending DI state champions with a 19-game in-state winning streak. The ultimate litmus test.

Final score: La Salle 34, Moeller 9.

"We started to think we could be really special," Moore said.

Thompson added: "Beating Moeller was probably the best feeling to do it at home. It's definitely something I won't forget."

Running back Jeremy Larkin led La Salle to the promised land

After blowing out Mount Healthy for a regional title, La Salle landed in the state Final Four against a confident Olentangy squad, also making its first state semifinal appearance.

"They (Olentangy) were confident in a way they probably didn't deserve to be," Moore said. "That got exposed early."

Try instantly. La Salle junior running back Jeremy Larkin returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown and the route was on. Larkin racked up six touchdowns in the 48-13 thrashing .

Larkin put together a season still talked about on the west side. Larkin, who went on to play at Northwestern and now coaches at Youngstown State , ran for 2,584 yards (45th in OHSAA history) and had 42 total touchdowns.

"We started clicking. I also had a great offensive line at that time. It was me, but I had a lot of help up front," Larkin said. "In the postseason, I loved the aspect of winning because I was part of Dan Fleming's basketball team. I knew how important it was to win that time of the year."

La Salle was hoping Larkin would become Cincinnati's first Mr. Ohio Football winner in over 20 years. The award went to some quarterback in southeast Ohio named Joe Burrow instead .

"I'll tell you know like I would've told you back then. I did not really care (about Mr. Football) because at the end of the day I'd rather have a team championship than a Mr. Football award," Larkin said.

'It was a beautiful moment.'

Though disappointed about the award, nothing could stop La Salle from making history. Larkin ran for 104 yards and two touchdowns and Jarell White, Nick Watson and Eric Greene each ran for scores.

Defensively, Avery Larkin had a pick-six, Thompson, Adam McBee and Kyle Farwick combined for five sacks and Drew Meister tallied a team-high eight tackles. La Salle rolled Nordonia at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, 55-20.

"We were just so focused and dialed in. I don't think there was anything that could've distracted us," Moore said. "It was a beautiful moment."

By the second half, the running clock had started, and La Salle began to soak it all in.

"Everyone sees Friday night. No one sees the summer when we're running in the heat and putting in that extra time," Thompson said. "To see it play out for everyone that was part of that team meant the world to me."

Ten years later, that class opened a new era for La Salle football. The Lancers would defend that state crown each of the next two years, then add a fourth in six years with current coach Pat McLaughlin in 2019.

"We had incredible leadership on that team," Moore said. "It was a special group of guys."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 'Special group of guys.' Looking back at La Salle's dominating run to 2014 state title