The Blue Devils limited
Leetonia’s running game to just 55 yards.

By CHUCK HOUSTEAU

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

McDONALD — McDonald High’s Mike Thomas was well aware of all that was on the line as the Blue Devils faced Leetonia Friday night.

The junior wide receiver, who hasn’t played football since the eighth grade, had his biggest game of the season in a game that could go a long way in determining the Inter Tri-County Tier 2 championship and a home postseason berth.

Thomas caught six passes for 112 yards and a touchdown to help lead the Blue Devils to 26-14 victory at home.

McDonald (7-1, 5-0) took over first place in the ITCL Tier 2 standings with two games to go and should pick up plenty of playoff points with the win over the Bears (5-3, 4-1).

“This feels great,” Thomas said. “After taking off so many years from football and finally making it back, I just tried to lead the team the best I could.

“It’s good to come back and play and I’m just having a good time winning.”

Thomas effort exemplified the entire McDonald football team’s performance as they took care of business after getting stung on the Bears first possession of the game.

Leetonia’s Jake Kruegel returned the opening kickoff 44 yards and then on the first play from scrimmage scored on a wide-open scoring pass from quarterback Josh Selway that went for 46 yards.

“We had a breakdown in coverage,” McDonald coach Dan Williams said. “Selway got loose and hit [Kruegel] down the middle of the field.

“I give our kids credit. We came right back and put seven points on the board and evened the game up and from then on out I think we controlled the game.”

McDonald’s defense limited Leetonia’s impressive running game to just 55 yards and the Bears really never got anything going offensively until late in the contest when McDonald was up 26-7.

“This is like night and day from last week,” Williams said about a close 10-8 win against Southern. “Our defense came ready to play.

“We knew we had to play a solid defensive game but to hold them to 14 points is a credit to our defense.”

Offensively, McDonald used a balanced attack led by quarterback Matt Krumpak who completed 9-of-15 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns.

His first touchdown pass went for 51 yards to Kirk Manofsky to even the game.

The Devils also got a strong effort from running backs Joe Witkoski and Alex Sampson who combined for 180 yards rushing on the ground.

Sampson scored on a 2-yard run in the second quarter following a Steve Bada 21-yard field goal to give the Blue Devils a 17-7 lead at half.

Thomas scored his touchdown on a 21-yard scoring pass play that pushed the lead to 23-7 in the third quarter and Bada closed out the scoring for McDonald with a 20-yard field goal in the final quarter.

Leetonia did score a final tally on a pass from Selway to Kruegel late in the game but it wasn’t enough.

“We never really got in a rhythm offensively tonight,” said Leetonia coach Matt Altomare. “They had a good game plan against us.

“Our defense spent a lot of time on the field and we need to look things over and find out what happened out there.”