Jackson shines in the spotlight, freezes Canton McKinley's bid for outright crown
By Keno Sultan
Stark Count Prep Press writer
www.starkcountypreppress.blogspot.com
CANTON--Jay Rohr knows the feeling.
As a high school senior under the tutelage of Jackson Polar Bears commander Phil Mauro, it was 23 years ago in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,000 at North Canton Memorial Stadium, Rohr came to life as he rushed for over 200 yards as Jackson inflicted an unlikely 20-10 loss on a North Canton Hoover team that was undefeated and favored to win the Federal League title outright.
23 years later as a 41-year-old father of four and in his third season as head coach of his alma mater, history was on Jackson's side again but of an even greater significance.
Riding two first quarter touchdowns on their first three possessions, the Polar Bears leaned on their defense and made life a hectic conundrum for a Canton McKinley offense that was averaging 32 points during their five-game winning streak and with timely blitzes and repeated sacks of Bulldogs quarterback Kam Montgomery along with forcing two turnovers, Jackson quashed a 17-game losing streak to McKinley and obtained a monumental 20-7 victory inside Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium that put a red light on the Bulldogs path for an outright Federal League title at least till next Friday.
Jackson now heads home to the pristine confines of Robert Fife Stadium next week with a chance to own a share of the league title against their archrival North Canton Hoover, who at press time downed Lake 18-17 on a walk-off field goal.
Jackson's victory over McKinley was a carbon copy of Rohr's senior season as the Bulldogs reminded him very much of the Vikings team that had a high powered offense that scored in a variety of assortments but was held to 10 points, the same as McKinley's team was held to a single touchdown. Rohr recalled that game briefly before acknowledging his respect for Bulldogs head coach Antonio Hall and his team for going out with class and dignity.
"You know, that's a long way back. I certainly remember my teammates and coaches and obviously that was a special day," Rohr said. "Again I have to give Coach Hall and this McKinley football team credit. There's a reason they were undefeated in the Federal League and 6-2 overall. Our team is blessed. We have a team that believes in each other, believes in the coaches, believe in the culture and I couldn't be anymore prouder of our players."
The Bulldogs will rue a variety of missed opportunities that for the second straight year in a row has them waiting to see if they will claim the league outright on a late Friday. Last season, it was GlenOak scoring on the final play to stifle their bid for the outright title which they captured anyway when Green shut out Lake. Only this time, their bid for an outright crown may have been extinguished for good.
McKinley looked nearly nothing like a team that was averaging over 32 points during their five-game winning streak against a Jackson team that has only surrendered an average of 14 points over the last four weeks.
Not only did missed opportunities puncture the Bulldogs winning streak but repetitive penalties once again made it's presence felt like a nagging spouse who failed to stop harassing their partner repeatedly and for the first time, Hall had a look in his eyes that made it abundantly clear his patience was withering away with the miscues.
"Taking nothing away from Jackson, I think it was more us. It was us putting ourselves behind the chains and penalties and I think it was us not executing and us not picking up blitzes in certain situations across the board," Hall said. "We had some key drops in situations and couldn't move the chains to get something going. Turnovers across the board."
Jackson's second drive dictated that the contest was going to be played on their terms. On a second-and-five from the McKinley 43, quarterback Lucas Ecrement completed a short pass to running back Kristian Satterfield and with a Bulldog defender missing a sure tackle, Satterfield raced all the way to the McKinley three yard line and a single play later, Satterfield scored the first of two Jackson touchdowns and Cooper Mizeur's extra point kick issued the visitors a 7-0 lead they did not relinquish.
Jackson's third possession was aided by a McKinley personal foul on a late hit and several plays after the flagrant transgression, Polar Bears back Foster Stanley scored on a one-yard run and with over 11 minutes having been played, Jackson concocted a 14-0 advantage.
The advantage allowed Jackson defenders to blitz repeatedly, something they did not do in losses of 40-23 and last season 27-7. Their repeated sacks of Montgomery made life enjoyable for the purple and gold front seven led by veteran linebacker Jordan Warmath.
"We have a lot of veterans. Our defense is the backbone of our team right now. I love our offense and special teams and they do a good job too. We knew we brought back a lot of guys defensively and we trust those guys. We have players too who believe and we are just blessed."
McKinley provided a faint pulse near the end of the first half when senior running back Nino Hill got going. Running on eight straight plays, Hill accounted for McKinley's lone score on a two-yard touchdown run that pulled them within a touchdown of the Polar Bears at 14-7.
Jackson answered with a vital drive before the half and once again aided by a McKinley personal foul, found themselves deep in Bulldog territory. Mizeur kicked a 38-yard field goal at the intermission to put the Polar Bears back up double digits. Mizeur added on another 38-yard field goal on their opening possession of the second half that took up six minutes of the third quarter making the score 20-7.
When asked if his team was intent on getting a lead and playing keep away, Rohr did not see that as the case as his team just played Jackson Polar Bear football.
"We didn't approach it that way. We just played. Again even at halftime I was asked what did we do and we just did nothing. We just had to continue to play like we did in the first half. We played together, we played physical tonight," he said.
For McKinley, they head into next weekend's battle with Massillon a team with more question marks than answers for the second year in a row. At press time, the Tigers posted a 45-14 win over Warren Harding and will bring a 7-2 record into the 135th game that very easily may be 9-0 if not for slightly missed breaks against state champions Bergen Catholic (NJ) and DeMatha Catholic (MD).
Last season, McKinley absorbed a humiliating 35-0 thrashing at home to the Tigers that was marred by a post-game altercation that saw police from Canton and Massillon get involved. When asked if his team will have an agitated morale going into Paul Brown Tiger Stadium based on their eight-game losing streak to the Tigers not to mention the hatred that boiled over from last season's setback, Hall could not commit to that.
"I don't know for sure what our mindset is going to be but we need to fix some things before then," he said solemnly.
Jackson has not won a league title since 2017 when Tim Budd was head coach of the Polar Bears. Their opportunity to capture a crown will come next Friday and it is a challenge that Rohr and his family of Polar Bears are excited for with an opportunity to end a four-year losing streak to North Canton and their long tenured head coach Brian Baum Sr.
"North Canton Hoover is our next game. We are going to approach it one practice at a time and one game at a time. We will start tomorrow in the film room and we'll get back to practice on Monday and we are looking forward to playing them next Friday," Rohr said.
Jay Rohr knows the feeling of ending a team's shot at an outright league title. Next week, they have a chance to be rewarded for their accomplishment that they hope will conclude with a shared title inside Robert Fife Stadium.
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