Canton McKinley commences league play against Panthers

 Canton McKinley commences league play against Panthers

By Keno Sultan

C-Town Radio announcer and statistician

CANTON--24 years ago was the inaugural meeting between the top-ranked and two-time defending Division I state champion McKinley Bulldogs and the Perry Panthers in a state playoff regional semifinal.

It was the final game in a Bulldog jersey for Ohio Division I player of the year and two-way lineman Antonio Hall in the form of a 7-0 loss to the Panthers, who had excused undefeated Massillon from the playoffs a week earlier.

Since 1999 and aside from GlenOak, Perry has attained unprecedented success against the Bulldogs as they have captured a staggering nine of the last 11 contests between the two schools, most recently last season's 38-28 victory in which McKinley used two punt return touchdowns from Marice Hill to assume an early 14-0 first quarter lead only to have it evaporate in the form of a 38-14 scoring run by the Panthers sending the Bulldogs to an 0-4 start.

Friday night at Wakefield Stadium, McKinley will begin their march toward a second straight Federal League title and if they are to have aspirations of winning the league outright, they will have to accomplish obtaining a victory in what will be a hostile crowd at 7 p.m. as they wrap up a two-game road trip.

Hall knows better than anyone else that Perry will not self destruct against themselves. 

"Perry is a physically adept team. They execute real well and they play with a high intensity and we will have to match that. They execute the wing-T real well and they have the players who do well in their system," he said.

Perry is coming in at 2-1 on the high of a 42-6 win over Euclid and are two points from a 3-0 record with their only loss, a 16-14 setback to Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary in the second week of the season. 

Running back Ryder Hartshorn powers the Perry rushing attack. With him on the ground, the Panthers will love nothing more to have a short evening. That will lead to difficulties for the McKinley defense unless they can key in on him and not let him be a factor.

Last season, Hartshorn and DeAndre Church gashed McKinley in the second half sapping them of their momentum. When asked if he feels Hartshorn is a better back than Church, Hall thought that was premature.

"That's too early to tell. Once he (Hartshorn) gets going north and south, it's hard to stop him. We have to try to get to him and not let him get to the second and third level," he said.

Last week, McKinley took a big 1-2 from Dublin Coffman in the opening quarter. Being down 7-0 early is one thing, but turning the ball over for the first time and having an interception returned for a touchdown is a whole different matter being down two scores. It was easy for them to become unraveled on the road and turn to desperation. Instead they turned to determination and the results were validated as the defense returned to it's attacking persona and the end result was a 24-14 win over a Shamrocks team that was undefeated.

Adversity after the Avon setback presented McKinley with a new challenge. The Bulldogs answered the bell and were left standing with their hands raised in the air. Hall could not help but to be proud of senior quarterback Keaton Rode, who had his first turnover all season but responded like the veteran leader he is.

"He prepares real well like no other quarterback in the state. He is intelligent, cerebral and he has a lot of commitment that he puts a lot into the game and in film study to get better," he said.

Hall did not make anything of McKinley's nine previous losses to Perry as he is 1-1 against the Panthers. However he knows for his team to be a factor in the league race, they do not want to start out with a loss and have to eventually win the rest of their contests to be a league champion. A victory for the Bulldogs will assist their aspirations for winning that coveted league title outright.

A loss won't necessarily eliminate them from contention but at the same time, it is rare that teams with two league losses win a portion of the title let alone outright.

Hall has spoken to his team about the urgency of the situation and expects his team to play as if their reign as champions depended on it.

"Our kids know what is at stake. We don't need to put no other emphasis on it. We have to play like we know how to play and execute. We have to settle into the game and not let Perry have any success or their crowd is going to get into it and the team as well," he said.

24 years ago, Antonio Hall's final game as a McKinley Bulldog ended with a loss to Perry. Now he and his battalion of Bulldogs have to stop Perry from a 10th win in the last 12 meetings.

NOT SCARED OF #1 RANKING

Three times Perry has played McKinley when the Bulldogs were the top-ranked team in Division I and all three times the Panthers prevailed not only in 1999 but also in 2017 and 2018 with the latter spoiling what will have been the first undefeated McKinley-Massillon showdown since the 2005 season. Kerry Hodakievic was the losing head coach to the Panthers in 1999 while Dan Reardon (now at Youngstown Ursuline again) was the losing head coach in 2017 and 2018, losing their undefeated records after two straight 8-0 starts.

OTHER LEAGUE CONTESTS

Lake, the other co-champion of the Federal League travels to GlenOak, Green is on the road at Jackson and North Canton Hoover makes the trek to Louisville to battle the Leopards.

SPEAKING OF STATE

In 2015 and 2016, Perry opposed Cincinnati LaSalle for the Division II state championship at Ohio Stadium. Despite breaking in a new head coach in Jim Hilvert (now at Baldwin-Wallace), the Lancers defended their crown with a 42-0 win over the Panthers but found themselves trailing 7-0 through three quarters before scoring two touchdowns in the final quarter to emerge victorious 14-7. Just two years prior to that, Perry endured an 0-10 season in Keith Wakefield's second go-around as head coach but swiftly turned the tables on their way to two state championship appearances.

Keno Sultan can be reached at 330-445-4575 or email at KenoSultan@hotmail.com.