Devil of a time: McDonald defeats Reserve

By Jon Moffett

jmoffett@vindy.com

Berlin Center

Move over LeBron James, there’s a new No. 23 in town.

McDonald defeated Western Reserve in the battle of the Blue Devils 13-7, on Friday in a Division VI regional quarterfinal playoff game.

It was the 23rd straight win for McDonald over their heated Inter Tri-County League rival.

“We’ve got a great tradition here, and that’s part of our tradition with these kids,” said McDonald coach Dan Williams. “And now these seniors can go home and say they never lost to Western Reserve. Our seniors won six games — two playoff games and four regular season games — against them.”

McDonald’s biggest number is 12. They’ll play in the second week of the playoffs (week 12) against Dalton.

The biggest number for Western Reserve was 94. With 8:22 remaining in the game, Reserve fielded a punt at its own 6-yard line. It would take a 94-yard drive to win the game.

Reserve used a 16-play drive to move 93 yards and eat up nearly seven minutes of clock. That set up a fourth-and-goal at the McDonald 1-yard line.

But a false start penalty moved Reserve back to the 6. Junior running back Donnie Bolton was stopped about 3yards shy of the end zone on the ensuing play.

The ball, and the game, went over to McDonald.

Western Reserve coach Andrew Hake said the penalty hurt. But he said his team was the more physical in the latter part of the game.

“We beat them up,” Hake said, “We took up the whole fourth quarter and beat them up ... I thought we really beat their [butts] on that last drive, and I don’t mean any disrespect by that. But you saw what I saw.”

McDonald senior quarterback Matthias Tayala knelt down a couple of times to put the game on ice.

Fitting, since almost the entire game was play in snow globe conditions. The weather forced both teams to use the ground game more than the passing game. Only two passes — one by each team — were completed out of 15 attempts.

Western Reserve quarterback Jeff Clegg was a little banged up. But Hake said his plan was to run the ball regardless.

“If I had Peyton Manning [at quarterback], I would still run that offense,” Hake said.

Williams said his defense stepped up most when it was called upon. The team allowed only eight points per game during the regular season, he said, and kept a tough offense out of the end zone.

“Their backs were against the wall. They had to go 94 yards, and our defense rose to the occasion,” he said. “I can’t say enough about our defense, all year long.”

Western Reserve got 131 yards out of Bolton on 26 carries. And do-it-all senior wide receiver Ryley Sheptock had 65 yards on 14 carries. But the team also had eight penalties for 55 yards.

McDonald was led by the rushing duo of Tayala and senior fullback Zach Tura. Starting running back Nick Rota left the game with an ankle injury, and Tura got a majority of the load.

Tura rushed 16 times for 112 yards. Tayala added another 109 yards on the ground, including a 47-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

McDonald’s other touchdown came on a 3-yard reverse to wide receiver Justin Rota. Sheptock blocked the extra point.

Tayala said it was good to beat the rival again. He added it was a statement win for his school.

“I think we earned some respect tonight,” he said. “They didn’t respect us, I don’t know why. I mean, how many more times do we have to beat them before they respect us? But I think we earned some respect tonight.”