WAPAKONETA — Versailles beat Columbus Grove 30-13 on Friday at Mercy Health/Wapak Ford Field to advance to its second state final in three years.

The Tigers (13-2) will face Kirtland (14-1) in the Division VI football state championship game this Friday at 10:30 a.m. at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.

The last time the Tigers were in Canton was in 2021 in the Div. V state final Kirtland; they won 20-16 against an undefeated Kirtland team.

It wasn’t an ideal start for the Tigers in Friday’s Div. VI state semifinal. Senior Michael Osborne was picked off on the team’s first possession, and Columbus Grove took it down to the Versailles 4-yard line.

From there, the Bulldogs scored a 4-yard rushing touchdown on fourth down to go up 7-0 early.

Versailles coach Ryan Jones said they expected a great team like Columbus Grove to make some great plays. He was thrilled to see how his team responded after that.

“Really proud of the way they fought through some of those adversities, especially that interception early on. That was a great performance there. Defense did a great job all night,” Jones said.

From the second quarter on, it was all Versailles.

The quarter started with a 26-yard field goal make by senior Joel Gehret. On the ensuing kickoff, Versailles recovered a fumble and set up shop at the Columbus Grove 7-yard line. Osborne snuck it in from one yard out to take a 10-7 lead 49 seconds into the second quarter.

After a Bulldog punt that gave the Tigers the ball at the Columbus Grove 46-yard line, Versailles drove down and Gehret scored on a 1-yard rushing touchdown.

With seconds left in the first half, Osborne found junior Jace Watren for a 23-yard touchdown pass to be up 23-7 at halftime.

Sort of like in the first half, Columbus Grove scored on their first possession of the half on a 6-yard touchdown run after they drove down the field.

Versailles got the stop on the two-point conversion to keep it a two score game. At the start of the fourth quarter, Gehret made it a three score game on a 2-yard touchdown run.

With 9:22 left in the fourth quarter, Osborne got an interception to give Versailles the ball on their own 3-yard line.

Leaning on their running game, Versailles drove down the field and eventually turned it over on downs with only 1:46 left in the game.

Jones said the players ran hard in the run game and the offensive line did a great job technique wise to open up holes against a bigger Columbus Grove defensive line.

“Proud of the way our offense responded after that initial drive in third quarter where the Bulldogs put it in the end zone. And we were able to march the ball down the field and get a touchdown,” Jones said. “Then toward the end here in the fourth quarter, when we needed to run the ball when everyone knew we had we moved it down the field and drained the clock. We didn’t get a score out of it, but what we got was just as good.”

The defense stepped up huge as well with three interceptions. Senior A.J. Griesdorn helped set up the late touchdown in the first half on an interception on fourth down. Osbrone’s interception helped the team bleed out the clock. Bergman had an interception to ice the game late.