McDonald pounds Southington, 61-8

Monday, August 28, 2006 Senior Matt Firment ran for 97 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. By DOUG CHAPIN VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT SOUTHINGTON — The McDonald High football team recorded 317 total yards in the first half, rolling to a 48-0 halftime advantage on the way to a 61-8 rout of Southington Saturday night at Chalker High School. The loss spoiled the debut of night football at the Wildcats' home field. "We had improved from scrimmage one to scrimmage two and from then to game one," McDonald coach Dan Williams said. "We've been talking about that all preseason, that we want to get better with time. "We had a good mix of running and throwing, and we executed well early," Williams said. "I was pleased we were able to throw four or five times, and we got all of our running backs into the mix." Senior running back Matt Firment ran six times for 97 yards — all in the first half — including touchdown runs of 20 and 13 yards. Junior quarterback Matt Krumpak completed all four of his pass attempts for 98 yards including touchdowns of 47 yards to Joe Witkoski and 13 yards to Scott Sentner. Witkoski also ran 16 yards for a score. McDonald also got second-half touchdown runs of 16 yards from Ben Davis and 72 yards from Donny Zarbaugh. Jack Breegle made seven of his nine extra point tries. The Blue Devil offensive line of Joe Herdman, Tom John, John Yakubov, John Jerome and John Redmond opened up gaping holes for the McDonald backs. Something's missing Williams did express some concern that his starters played in just the first half. "We were happy with our balance and that we got some younger kids in, but we want to play," Williams said. "We played a half in our second scrimmage and we played a half tonight. Windham played a full game Friday night," Williams said. The Blue Devils play host to Windham in week two. Southington scored with just over a minute remaining in the game on a 9-yard pass from Andy Forrest to Brandon Wick. The two also combined for the two-point conversion. The Wildcats will play their second home game under the lights Saturday against Sebring.