McDonald vs Springfield

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McDonald vs Springfield

By Jon Moffett

jmoffet@vindy.com

New Middletown

It was a little chilly at Springfield High on Thursday night, but that’s because you-know-what had frozen over. And the devils were left out in the cold.

Only one week into the 2010 season, and the Mahoning Valley may already have one of it’s biggest upsets. Springfield used a late field goal to defeat McDonald High with a 9-7 victory.

It’s the first regular-season defeat for the Blue Devils since a 14-12 loss to Wellsville in week 10 of the 2007 season.

You have to go all the way back to a 14-7 loss at Leetonia in 2006 for McDonald’s last regular-season road defeat.

Behind center for the Tigers was senior quarterback Brad Ferraro. He said it was the team’s goal to knock McDonald off early to end the streak.

“When I saw the [game-winning] kick go up, I was thinking ‘finally,’” he said. “Every streak comes to an end, and it’s great for us to end it. I’m really happy we did that.”

Down 7-6 with 14 seconds left, senior kicker Jake Noble, who also starts at left tackle, lined up for a 37-yard field goal attempt.

Noble, listed at 6-foot-2, 270 pounds, had missed an extra point earlier. But his kick sailed clean through the uprights and gave the Tigers the lead.

“I can’t even explain it; it’s just amazing,” Noble said of the winning kick. “It was a good snap, good hold and the line blocked. And everything fell into place.”

Noble, who only began kicking field goals this year, said he’d miss every extra point attempt if he could get more exciting finishes.

Springfield got out to an early lead on the Blue Devils with a touchdown in the first quarter. McDonald won the toss and chose to receive. But on his first career pass attempt, senior Matthias Tayala was picked off.

Ferraro lead the Tigers down the field with 18 passing yards, and another 6 on the ground. Junior running back Tommy Mastran capped off the drive with a 21-yard touchdown run.

Mastran finished with 35 yards on eight carries. Ferraro ran for 88 yards on 18 tries, and threw for 112.

But the story of the game for the Blue Devils was Tayala.

Head coach Dan Williams said the 6-foot-2 senior had only been with the team for about two or three weeks. A standout basketball player and track and field thrower, Tayala’s athleticism was what Williams coveted.

“He did things today that we thought he could do,” Williams said. “In the scrimmages he didn’t look real sharp, but today he came out and did everything we asked of him. He’s a playmaker.”

Tayala was flanked by basketball teammates Nick Rota at running back, and his twin brother Justin at wide receiver. And though there was familiarity, Tayala struggled. He threw two interceptions in his first two drives — though the second pick bounced right off his receiver’s hands — and lost a fumble. He didn’t complete a pass on four attempts in the first half.

But Tayala rebounded to go 4-of-5 for 88 yards in the second half. His 39-yard pass to Justin Rota, and a 10-yard scramble set the Blue Devils up for their touchdown.

Fullback Ryan Vernell pounded his way from 9 yards out to give the Blue Devils the lead and a ton of momentum.

But Ferraro stayed composed. He scrambled and threw short passes to set the field goal unit up for the game-winner.

“I think for us to beat a good-caliber team with a great tradition like McDonald shows our kids that we’re improving, fighting and never giving up,” said Springfield coach Sean Guerriero. “For us to come through and fight like we did, I think we did a lot of positive things.”