Morrow delivers Bulldog victory
By Greg Gulas
Canton McKinley rallied for a 21-20 win over Boardman, which lost its fourth game.
BOARDMAN — Alaun Morrow’s 13-yard touchdown run with 5:33 remaining in the game proved to be the game winner, as Canton McKinley defeated Boardman, 21-20, Friday in a Federal League game at Spartan Stadium.
With the Bulldogs leading 21-14 and less than a minute to play, Spartans quarterback Rob Boyd connected with Ken Jones from 16 yards out to cut the Canton McKinley lead to one point pending the conversion.
When the Bulldogs were called for offsides, Boardman coach D.J. Ogilvie decided to go for the win but running back Damien Jarrett came up short of the goal line and the Bulldogs held on for the road victory.
“I really feel for our seniors because it was their last home game and everyone just played their hearts out, only to come up short,” said Ogilivie.
“A few breaks didn’t go our way but that’s the nature of the game. This was a typical Federal League game.
“I chose to go for the two-point conversion because you have to get a yard and a half in overtime if you expect to win. We just came up a little short.
“I would still call Damien’s number if I had to do it all over again,” Ogilvie said.
It looked like it would be all Spartans at the outset as Boardman’s Colby Clayton intercepted a pass by McKinley’s Kyle Ohradzansky on the game’s first play.
Jarrett scored the first of his two touchdowns from 26 yards out on Boardman’s very first play of the game as the Spartans raced out to the early 7-0 advantage.
Jarrett finished with a team high 131 yards on 22 carries.
“We never gave up and wanted this win badly. We fought hard right to the end but it just wasn’t to be for us tonight,” Jarrett said.
A 3-yard run by the Bulldogs’ Monterae Williams at 5:58 of the opening stanza knotted the score at 7-all.
Jarrett then scored his second touchdown of the night, this time from a yard out for a 14-7 Spartans advantage a little over a minute into the second frame.
When Williams dashed into the end zone from 62 yards away at the 8:51 mark, the Bulldogs (6-3, 6-1) knotted the score for the second time.
After the break, Ohradzansky then found Alaun Morrow from 13 yards out for a 21-14 McKinley lead with 12 minutes remaining.
The Spartans’ offense was held in check in the second half as they could manage just one first down until that final drive of the game; a drive that produced five chain advances and their final touchdown on the night.
“It was a difficult loss for us last week so we wanted this one really bad. We kicked it up a notch on both sides of the ball in the second half,” Monterae Williams said.
The Bulldogs racked up 289 yards offensively to Boardman’s 228 and held a 17-13 first down advantage.
A telling statistic was time of possession where Canton McKinley held the ball nearly six minutes (26:54 to 21:06) longer than the Spartans (5-4, 2-4).
Williams lead all rushers with 173 yards on 24 carries; an average of 7.2 yards.