12/05 - 10:00 AM Football Final Complete Box Score »

COLUMBUS, Ohio – With one quarter to play in the 2014 Division IV football state title game, senior linebacker Jerome Baker looked at Benedictine coach Joe Schaefer and said, “Wherever you need me, put me in. Let’s go.”

In the fourth quarter, the Ohio State commit played from the wildcat for all but one play offensively, and he shined. Before Friday's game, a 21-14 win over Kettering Archbishop Alter, Baker had only played from the formation a handful of plays this season.

Schaefer decided to stick with his senior as the decision maker for the entire fourth quarter and it paid off. Baker finished with 12 carries for 89 yards and two rushing touchdowns, the first and last for the Bengals on the day. Both of his touchdown rushes came out of the wildcat formation. And it all happened on the field that he will run across next year as a Buckeye.

“It’s really amazing,” Baker said of playing at Ohio Stadium. “I’ve been here when there’s 108,000 people, screaming and yelling, but there’s nothing like having my family and my friends and just the Benedictine family here.

“To come here and win and know I’ll be back here for the next four years, there’s no feeling to describe this.”

The Bengals dressed in Ohio State’s locker room. Baker said on his prior visits to Ohio Stadium when he was a recruit, he remembered the area where the linebackers dressed.

“Sure enough, that’s where I sat,” he said.

Baker’s junior teammate Justin Layne has a Buckeye offer. Layne, a standout wide receiver for the Bengals, had an interception for a touchdown and finished with five receptions for 96 yards – including a 27-yard reception from Baker to Layne to start the fourth quarter.

“Words can’t explain how I feel right now,” Layne said.

If Ohio State coaches and fans were watching, they saw an OSU commit and a prospect who left everything on the field in the name of a championship. Sounds like just the way Urban Meyer likes them.

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