Team

Springfield

Record	Div.	Conf.
8/3	Div. VI	Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference

Team

McDonald

Record	Div.	Conf.
8/2	Div. VI	Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference

By ERIC FORTUNE

sports @vindy.com

NEW MIDDLETOWN

Springfield High football coach Sean Guerriero had a simple strategy for Friday’s game against McDonald.

“We are going to put the ball in Gram’s hands and see where he takes us,” Guerriero said.

Graham Mincher scored on a 1-yard run with 1:28 left to rally the Tigers to a 24-21 victory.

Mincher ran 18 times for 143 yards and completed 19 of 34 passes for 183 yards and two TDs for the Tigers (2-0), who led 17-7 midway through the third quarter before McDonald rallied in the fourth.

“The good thing is that our kids are fighting for four quarters, but we still had missed opportunities throughout the game,” Guerriero said.

McDonald opened the scoring with a 2-yard run by Ben Carkido with 3:57 left in the first quarter. The touchdown capped a 14-play, 70-yard drive that chewed up eight minutes off the clock.

“If we could have done that all night long, we would have been much better off,” McDonald coach Dan Williams said. “We did what we wanted to do early on.”

The Tigers (2-0) had success on their first possession driving to the Blue Devils’ 14 before turning the ball over on downs.

After forcing a three-and-out, Mincher found Cody Allen down the Blue Devils’ sideline that initially looked to be intercepted by Joe Sudol only to see it deflected into the waiting hands of Allen, who took it in from 45 yards out to tie it up at 7 all with 6:50 left in the second quarter.

The Tigers tacked on a field goal to make it 10-7 at the half.

“We missed a lot of opportunities,” Mincher said. “I was pretty upset at halftime. We had good field position in the second quarter and couldn’t come away with any points. We got a field goal, it’s good, but you always want to get a touchdown. We felt we should have at least been up by two touchdowns in the first half.”

Springfield extend its lead to 10 after Mincher hit Jake Ford from 30 yards out to make it 17-7 at the 8:26 mark of the third quarter.

“Coming out and getting a touchdown to put us up 17-7 was huge,” Guerriero said.

After back-to-back punts from McDonald, Springfield again was on the move only to see another drive stall in McDonald territory.

“Tonight, I didn’t throw the ball like I normally do. I got down on myself a bit,” Mincher said. “In the second half, I missed some key throws, and I put that blame on myself.”

McDonald cut the deficit to 17-14 early in the fourth quarter on a two-play drive that featured runs of 46 and 32 yards by Jake Reckard. Then, thanks to a good punt return by Reckard, McDonald started its next possession at the Tigers’ 20. Five plays later, Joe Perry scored from 6 yards out to give the Blue Devils a 21-17 lead with 5:47 left.

“When we went down 10, you think maybe it is over and they are going to run us out of here,” Williams said. “We had a good punt return, and then a couple of good runs from Jake Reckard and we had stolen momentum.”

But Mincher drove the Tigers 71 yards in five minutes to earn the victory.

“We gave up to many fourth downs,” Williams said. “They were punt formation several times and Mincher scrambled around. He’s a great player. We struggled containing him tonight and that is what it came down to tonight on the final drive.

“It was a back-and-fourth game. We grew up tonight, even with a loss. You learn a lot from losing. You hate to say that. You never want to lose, but you do learn a lot. I think our kids will come back stronger.”