Bulldogs come up short but show prowess in turnover free scrimmage
By Keno Sultan
C-Town Radio announcer and statistician
CANTON--Most coaches would not walk away from a scrimmage feeling good after a defeat despite not having turned the ball over.
For Antonio Hall, that is an exception.
In game situation conditions Friday night at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, the Canton McKinley Bulldogs were paced by three touchdown passes from quarterback Keaton Rode as McKinley overcame two early deficits to hold a 19-14 lead before a final Cleveland St. Ignatius rally derailed the host Bulldogs bid for a victory as the Wildcats scored on a six-yard touchdown pass on their final down with a minute remaining to come away with a 20-19 victory in the final scrimmage for both teams.
Hall no question will have wanted to come away victorious but the fact his offense did not turn the ball over was a bright spot that pleased him even in defeat.
"That's what you expect early on in the season. If we can improve on that next week, it will be a great start. I was pleased with our effort and our execution. But at the end we lost focus and that cost us the game," he said.
Rode was the bright spot for the Bulldogs as he threw three touchdown passes, two of them to Keith Quincy and the other to junior Dante McClellan, who figures to be a key asset to the Bulldogs receiving corps. He managed the game very well and made intelligent decisions while protecting possession of the football according to Hall.
"He's a tough kid. He wants the moment. He wants the ball. He wants that pressure and he wants to be that guy and we opened up our offense for him this season and got him some weapons and put him in better situations and so far he has capitalized," he said.
For the Wildcats, their last possession impressed first year general Ryan Franzinger. Franzinger, a 2002 St. Ignatius graduate was the team's longtime defensive coordinator before being promoted to head coach and replacing longtime commander Chuck Kyle. Franzinger was a part of the 1999 and 2001 Division I state championship winning teams and was the lead blocker for record setting running back Dan Murphy as a Wildcats sophomore.
Like McKinley, Ignatius did not turn the ball over on offense and that is an asset which elicited a healthy smile from Franzinger.
"That's one of our goals and as a coach you should be impressed. That's what you set out to do and we did that. That's a good point," he said.
For both teams, the regular season kicks off next week as the Wildcats will travel to Springfield to challenge the two-time Division I state finalists while McKinley will travel to Warren Harding for an opening week road test against the Raiders.
Harding was a dismal 2-8 last season and graduated quarterback Dalys Jett, who now is enrolled at Walsh University. Hall is not placing any stock on last year's Raiders record and knows what his team will be up against next week at Mollenkopf Stadium.
"That doesn't matter. They are a tough team. I know the head coach (Steve Arnold) really well and he's a great friend of mine. They are big up front, strong, physical and they have two really good running backs," he said. "Their record last year doesn't mean anything to us. This is a tough, physical Warren team we are preparing for."
No comments:
Post a Comment