McDonald wins to aid its playoff chances

By JEFF ZUPANIC

sports@vindy.com

BERLIN CENTER

McDonald head coach Dan Williams had two things to say about senior running back Alex Cintron on Friday night.

First, Williams was informed Cintron had 263 rushing yards and said “Wow” and then proceeded to say Cintron “has a real nose for the game.”

Turns out Cintron has a pair of pretty good legs too as his 32 carries and 263 yards kept McDonald unbeaten on the season and they finally got the better of rival Western Reserve in a game both teams needed for their respective playoff hopes.

Cintron rushed for three touchdowns in a 21-6 McDonald win.

“Our offensive line did just a phenomenal job opening up the holes and Alex didn’t hesitate. He just hit those holes,” Williams said. “He’s one of the two best players I’ve ever had here.”

The other kid? Senior quarterback Josh Celli, who rushed for 103 yards. Together, Cintron and Celli were McDonald’s offense. The duo combined for all 48 rushing attempts and all 366 yards gained.

“We’ve seen those guys for four years and they are good players,” said Western Reserve head coach Andy Hake. “They won this game. They deserve all the credit.”

McDonald (9-0, 6-0 Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference) snapped its three-game skid against WR. It had lost seven of the last eight against WR.

McDonald started with 13 straight runs for 86 yards to the WR 1 before throwing a pass on fourth-and-goal. Celli was under heavy pressure and his pass was complete to a lineman in the end zone but an ineligible man down field penalty negated the score and gave the ball to WR at the 8.

McDonald got the ball back five plays later and took a 7-0 lead just :30 into the second quarter on a 2-yard run by Cintron.

Western Reserve (7-2) maintained possession for nearly the entire second quarter. McDonald did not get the ball back until :16 remained until halftime.

In the meantime, WR put together a 20-play, 80-yard drive that was aided twice by offside penalties on McDonald on fourth down but did not get any points after Ryan Slaven’s pass fell incomplete on fourth down.

“That was frustrating because we never got the ball but also our defense made the play of the game by getting the stop right there,” said Williams. “If they score its 7-7 at halftime and they get the ball to start the third quarter. It’s a different game.”

Hake said getting nothing out of the drive was “demoralizing” when he thought about it after the game.

WR couldn’t muster any offense in the third quarter and Cintron scored twice to increase McDonald’s lead to 21-0.

WR finally got on the board when Slaven found Todd Henning for a 38-yard score with a little over 10 minutes remaining.

Williams praised his defense for holding WR to just 41 yards on 25 rushes. Both teams were on the outside looking in for the playoffs. McDonald’s win helped its cause.

“Now we need to take care of business at home against Lowellville next week and move on to Week 11,” Williams said.