Canton McKinley bites back with victory over Cleveland Heights
By Keno Sultan
Stark County Prep Press writer
www.starkcountypreppress.blogspot.com
CANTON--It was one thing for former Cleveland Heights football standout Travis Kelce to announce his engagement to hotly popular singer Taylor Swift.
It was another for the Canton McKinley Bulldogs to return to the engagement of winning.
After last week's 24-14 loss to St. Augustine Prep (NJ), it didn't take McKinley long to return to the form that allowed them to decimate Warren Harding two weeks ago. The Bulldogs used a pivotal second quarter that saw them score 21 points and repel the alma mater of the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl winning tight end with a 34-12 victory in the nightcap of the Pro Football Hall of Fame High School Classic at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
Most imperatively, it was the first home victory for Bulldogs field general Renzy Parnell. 27 years ago he was a senior at Garfield High School in Akron that gave top-ranked and defending Division I champion Canton McKinley all they could handle in an 18-13 loss to the eventual back-to-back state champions.
Now as a 43-year-old head coach, he is now a part of the McKinley family and from the looks of things, he is destined to be there for the long term. It didn't take long for them to establish the tone of the evening on their opening series. Facing an early fourth down, senior quarterback Trent Hayden fired a strike to speedy receiver Elijah Finn, who sped past two Tigers safeties and sprinted into the end zone for a tone-setting touchdown that issued the host Bulldogs a lead they did not relinquish on the night.
It was a culmination of offensive production along with an attacking defense that proved to be the catalysts for the McKinley triumph and most importantly, their play allowed them to relax and let the game come to them at that point.
"We have been talking about starting fast. They responded, they executed. And for us defensively, we played as well too," Parnell said. "However, we still have to finish drives and we were able to put the game away in the second half though."
The Tigers ventured into the game with an 0-2 start having graduated a lot of players from last year's team inherited by Heights alumnus and first-year head coach Bryce Jones, a former standout who graduated from Heights in 2012 and went on to play in the NFL with the Houston Texans as a cornerback.
Jones replaced Mac Stephens, who left for Garfield Heights after 10 seasons atop the Height post. They showed flashes of the kind of team they might be in the years to arrive. They have a difficult road ahead at 0-3 but the fact that they did not wither away when the Bulldogs were one score from activating a state-mandated running clock shows the potential that lies ahead for them.
McKinley was able to successfully run the ball with sensational sophomore Kyelin West. West's 27-yard run on the Bulldogs opening possession of the game was a portent of things to come on the evening. He finished the evening with 135 yards rushing on 20 carries and a touchdown. Overall, McKinley rushed for 234 yards as a team. Xion Culver, a senior chipped in with 63 yards on 12 carries and a second quarter touchdown that spanned eight yards.
Parnell was pleased with the play of his backs.
"We will absolutely count on them both. The thing I love about both of them (West and Culver) is they are versatile and they both block for each other. You have to include Shad Davis and Isaac Brooks as well," he said.
McKinley quarterback Trent Hayden passed for 186 yards with two touchdowns to Finn and a 40-yard strike to D.J. Britt.
Cleveland Heights scores came via an eight-yard score from LaMarques Greenwood and then a late touchdown by Asher Wilson as the contest neared its conclusion.
The Bulldogs will host GlenOak, who defeated Cleveland East Tech 50-6 in the first of the three contests on the day. Two years ago, the Eagles shocked McKinley on the final play of the game in which Adrion Burt threw a game-winning three-yard touchdown pass to Austin Morrison, denying the Bulldogs an undefeated Federal League season (they ended up winning the league title outright when Lake defeated Green)
If anyone knows how to stop McKinley, it would be 17th year GlenOak head coach and alum Scott Garcia. And when the two schools meet next week, it will be a game that will have an early forecast as to who will get an early leg up on the league standings.
Parnell is hotly aware of what the Eagles will bring and knows his team will have to clean up their miscues, penalties for one thing as they were flagged for seven on the evening.
"They put up 50 points today and that's impressive. They play hard, they are coached well and we have to get ourselves together because it's going to be a tough one," he said.
It was one thing for Travis Kelce to announce his engagement to Taylor Swift. But it was another for the McKinley Bulldogs to return to their winning engagement.
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