NEW PHILADELPHIA – Some folks were saying the McDonald football team had a bit of a Cinderella-story vibe to it entering Friday night’s Division VII state semifinal against Hillsdale.
The No. 3-ranked Blue Devils were playing in their 100th season, had tied their program record for wins and featured one of the best senior classes in school history.
But the problem with a glass slipper is it never holds up against a sledgehammer.
Scoring touchdowns on their first four drives of the game – three of them on plays of at least 42 yards – the Falcons showed they weren’t big fans of fairy tales in a 41-14 dominance of McDonald at frigid Woody Hayes Quaker Stadium.
Behind yet another showstopping performance from senior running back Owen Sloan, No. 5-ranked Hillsdale lit the storybook on fire and instead continued writing its book on redemption.
One season after getting blown out in the state championship game, the Falcons (13-1) are headed back to Canton, this time to face second-ranked St. Henry (13-1) for all the marbles.
“After the experience of last year, we knew what we needed to do to get to this point,” said Sloan, who finished with 240 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries. “We’re prepared for it now.”
“I feel this is the best game we’ve played to date,” eighth-year Hillsdale head coach Trevor Cline said. “Even though we might not always be the biggest team on the field, they sent the statement tonight that they were prepared to do everything they could do to get back to Canton.”
It took the Falcons almost no time to establish control of the contest.
After forcing a punt, Hillsdale got on the board on its first offensive play from scrimmage when Sloan ripped his way past the line and outran everyone for a 79-yard touchdown.
Following a quick three-and-out for the Blue Devils (13-1), junior quarterback Kael Lewis settled in for the Falcons on their second drive. He completed his first five passes – the last of which went for an 8-yard scoring strike to sophomore Ayden Salyer.
With Brock Bower’s second of five PAT kicks in the game, Hillsdale had a 14-0 edge less than 10 minutes after kickoff.
“When you have Owen Sloan, he establishes the run early,” Lewis said. “That (79-yard touchdown), that makes it pretty easy on my part and opens up the pass.”
McDonald got a little bit of momentum on its next drive, progressing inside the Hillsdale 30-yard line. But Sloan broke up a pass from senior quarterback Kyle Puckett on third down, then Bower intercepted him at the 7-yard line on the next play to end the first quarter.
It was the 10th career interception for Bower, tying the program record set in 2005 by Chet Minniear.
Two plays later, Hillsdale struck again when Lewis hit wide receiver Hayden McFadden on a screen pass. It was the senior speedster’s only catch of the night, and with a key block from Salyer, he busted it up the right sideline for a dazzling 89-yard touchdown and a 21-0 gap.
“In the first half, anything that (offensive coordinator Tom) Williams called was working,” Cline said. “He called a great game tonight and put us in a great position for the guys to make plays.”
The Blue Devils finally broke through after that, getting a long kickoff return from sophomore Josh Krumpak to set up a 6-yard touchdown run by senior Casey Miller.
Miller was the clear-cut standout for McDonald on the night, finishing with 103 yards on 15 carries and another 41 yards on four catches.
Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, McFadden returned the ensuing kickoff to near midfield. Four plays later, Lewis found Davis Radcliffe with a quick-hit pass to the left that the sophomore took 42 yards to the house to spread the lead back out to 27-7.
“They’re balanced and they’ve got weapons all over the field,” 26th-year McDonald head coach Dan Williams said. “(Sloan) is really good and their line played really well, too.
“They can beat you in different ways … and they played good defense.”
To stay afloat, the Blue Devils tried to establish some kind of offensive surge late in the first half.
They moved the ball with chunk plays from Krumpak and Miller, but after a third-down sack by sophomore lineman Carston Stephens at the Hillsdale 10, the Blue Devils couldn’t capitalize.
“We knew they were big, but we could slow them down if we were more physical, stronger and more disciplined,” said Stephens, who added a second sack of Puckett in the second half.
Lewis was intercepted by Jordan Perry with 1:02 left before halftime, giving McDonald another breath of hope with the ball again inside the Falcon red zone.
But a penalty and a big hit from sophomore Deacon Boreman stunted the Blue Devils’ chances and sent Hillsdale into halftime with a 27-7 lead and the ball coming out of the break.
“Our defense came up big for us again tonight,” Cline said. “We put them in a bad situation a couple times, but our guys stepped up and made plays when they needed to.”
“Early on, we moved the ball, but we just didn’t cash in,” Williams said. “We didn’t make the plays early in that first half that we should have. We needed to stay close going into that second half to have a shot.”
McDonald hadn’t given up more than 28 points in a game all season, yet the Falcons nearly had that by halftime.
As he has been for each of the last two seasons, Bower proved to be a jack-of-all-trades performer again. The senior had his team-high four catches for 27 yards at the break, and also finished with 60 yards on four carries.
That dual-threat talent was another key cog in the Hillsdale offense.
“This week happened to be a little bit more of me (in the game plan), so it feels good,” Bower said. “The O-line did a great job blocking and the receivers did amazing out in space as well.”
Lewis, who finished his night an efficient 11-of-14 passing for 177 yards and three touchdowns – his fifth game this season with at least three TD passes – said it felt like the offense could do no wrong.
“The (defensive stops late in the first half) definitely gave us momentum,” he said, “but we had that approach that they weren’t going to stop our offense, we’re deadly.”
Hillsdale didn’t miss a beat coming out after halftime, with Sloan establishing his dominance yet again on the opening drive of the third period.
His 2-yard touchdown made it 34-7, and the senior capped the Falcons’ scoring in the fourth quarter with a 7-yard run.
It was the third consecutive game with at least 200 yards rushing for Sloan, who became the first-ever Hillsdale running back to surpass 2,000 rushing yards in a season while also going over 5,000 for his career.
“(Individual milestones are) always in the back of your mind,” Sloan said, “but at the end of the day, I’m not gonna get that number if we don’t make it this far. That’s all on the team.”
“What he was able to do tonight was unbelievable,” Cline added. “He was dealing with some pain during the week and at one point I wasn’t quite sure if he was going to be able to play. He came out here and was the best player on the field.”
The Blue Devils got a third-quarter score on a 1-yard run from Krumpak, but Hillsdale’s Aiden Hoffman picked off Puckett on the team’s next drive.
McDonald could never get closer than 20 points in the second half. Puckett finished with 115 yards on 10-of-19 passing, but that was nowhere near enough to counteract Hillsdale’s 521 yards of offense.
“They’ve got the whole package – there’s a reason why they got (to the state finals) last year,” Williams said, “and there’s a reason why they’re back there this year.”
Now it’s a return to Canton for a second consecutive chance at a state title against another team from the vaunted Midwest Athletic Conference at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 6.
St. Henry held off 10th-ranked Columbus Grove (10-4) by a 13-10 score one week after knocking off juggernaut Marion Local, 24-7. Those Flyers topped Hillsdale in last season’s Division VII title game.
For its part, St. Henry is a six-time state champ, with its last title coming in 2006.
“We’re looking forward to the opportunity play another MAC school,” Cline said. “We understand that the MAC is the standard and that is what we’re trying to get to. … Our guys will be ready for the moment.
“This is what we’ve worked for since the day after the state championship last year.”
(Photos by Tom Theodore)
