Blue Devils hang on to edge Tigers

By Tom Williams

williams@vindy.com

Springfield vs McDonald

Gallery

MCDONALD

The Springfield High football team needed one big stop to give the offense a chance to cap a major comeback.

But the Tigers were unable to prevent McDonald’s offensive line from surging just enough to allow quarterback Ben Carkido to get a yard on a fourth-and-1 play with 1:23 remaining.

That first down at the Springfield 42 allowed the Blue Devils to run out the clock on a 19-14 victory Friday night.

“We never considered [punting],” said McDonald head coach Dan Williams, who celebrated his 100th victory with the Blue Devils.

Williams had good reason to be confident in his line and running attack. Midway through the third quarter, the Blue Devils (2-0) dominated on the ground in jumping out to a 19-0 lead.

“They really picked it up,” said senior running back Cameron Ifft of linemen Albert Yates, Jake Billock, Jake Lowry, Bill Woolfrom and Matthew Howard. “Our line really stepped up — we played excited.”

Ifft scored second-quarter touchdowns covering 4 and 3 yards for a 13-0 halftime lead.

After forcing the Tigers (1-1) to punt to begin the second half, the Blue Devils marched 71 yards on nine plays, capping the drive with Caleb Dimery’s 7-yard touchdown run for a 19-point lead.

That’s when the game became very interesting as Tigers quarterback Graham Mincher successfully executed a hurry-up offense that produced two scoring drives.

“We needed a change to speed up the offense,” Springfield head coach Sean Guerriero said. “Going into the no-huddle gave us that boost.

“They end up controlling the ball for most of the first half,” Guerriero said. “Our offense wasn’t in a rhythm.”

That changed once Mincher started hitting his targets. He completed eight passes in an 82-yard march capped by Mincher’s 5-yard touchdown run with 39 seconds to go in the third quarter.

The Tigers’ next drive covered 81 yards and took 17 plays. On fourth-and-goal from the 11, Mincher hit Ryan Kohler for a touchdown that sliced the deficit to five.

Ifft recovered the ensuing onside kick, setting up the Blue Devils’ final sequence.

Dimery led the Blue Devils with 86 yards on 14 carries. Ifft had 76 yards on 10 tries and Jake Reckard 63 on 14 carries.

Reckard set up the first touchdown when he caught a short pass from Carkido and was chased down by Kohler for a 39-yard gain.

“Kohler was a step away from pick-sixing it,” Williams said. “It was that close. We got lucky there.”

Mincher completed 20 of 25 passes for 134 yards.