Weather conditions truly put a damper on any Fenwick championship celebration Friday night.

A driving rain the entire game made getting off the muddy field the No. 1 priority after a 27-14 win at Carroll.

But the cheers were long and loud on the dry and warm bus as the Falcons enjoyed one of the school’s most meaningful victories.

They finished the regular season 8-2 with five straight wins. They went 6-1 in the North Division of the Greater Catholic League, gaining a tie for the championship with Alter. It is the first time Fenwick has earned any football title since joining the GCL in 2005. It’s last football crown came in its last year in the now-defunct Mid-Miami League in 2004. This was one of the few regular-season football titles in school history.

Next up is the state playoffs. Fenwick will finish somewhere in the top five in Division IV, Region 16. It needed a win Friday and loss by Norwood to host a first round game. But Norwood defeated Western Brown, 39-29.

The unofficial playoff pairings were all over the internet long before dawn today. But the official pairings will be released by the Ohio High School Athletic Association Sunday afternoon.

“After we were 3-2, no one probably gave us a chance of getting part of the championship or making the playoffs,” said Fenwick coach Fred Cranford. “But we knew the only thing that could beat us was ourselves. If we didn’t make mistakes we knew we were good enough to get it done.

“No one was thinking about playoffs coming into this game. The focus was on winning and getting a part of the league title because it hasn’t happened very much in school history.”

Frank Catrine had 156 yards rushing and three TDs on runs of 9 and 67 yards and a 32-yard pass from Ricky Davis.

Carroll finished 2-8 overall, 2-6 in the GCL North, played well at times but couldn’t stop the Fenwick running game, which produced 342 yards in 35 carries. Patriots quarterback Forrest Cordova has a decent night throwing the ball in the bad conditions, completing 19-of-37 for 137 yards and TD passes to Juan Soto and Tom McArdle.