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| Once Again It's a Devil Showdown |
| For the third time in three years, the Devils of Western Reserve and McDonald are playing a pivital game that will not only shape the ITCL league race, but will also have statewide implications on the OHSAA playoff pairings. McDonald currently sits in fifth place in Region 21, while Westeren Reserve is in at #7. With both teams in the latest AP poll (McDonald #7, Western Reserve #10), there are also statewide media polls that are at stake too. "Mcdonald thrives off of tradition. They carry that with them and they use it as a 12th man. They believe in themselves. Are they beatable? Sure they are beatable. Every team is beatable. They have confident players and a confident staff. If someone wants to beat them they must play fundamentally sound football. You can't turn the ball over and you have to play sound defense. It is not a magic wand that beats Mcdonald its believing and executing," Reserve's coach Andy Hake would remark about playing McDonald. "You grow up with it, its all any one talks about" McDoanld's quarterback Nicola Accordino would recently comment. "You see McDonald written across your chest. You know your playinng for many, many more people than just yourself," McDonald head coach Dan Williams explained in a interview from last week about the tradition. Last year Reserve was in a somewhat similar situation when they met during the regular season with identical 6-0 records and first place in the ITCL on the line. The night began with a big touchdown run by Nick Cupan and McDonald went on to win in convincing fashion 47-6. A game that evrything that could go wrong did for Reserve. However the re-match in McDonald in the OHSAA playoffs proved to be more of what was expected and anticipated. The re-match started with McDonald scoring again early, after that the two teams played a fierce smah-mouth, defensive style game with McDonald pulling out a 21-7 victory. On that night Alex Sampson would carry for 195 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Ewing would only pass for 77 yards and a touchdown. But this is a new year, Sampson has graduated and Ewing has another year of experience to draw upon. |
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| This game will be a contrast in styles as Reserve is more comfortable moving the ball through the air, while the McDonald's tradition is to pound their opponents by the running game. The key players in these oppossing offenses will be Reserve's senior quarterback Shane Ewing and McDonald's senior fullback Nick Cupan. Ewing has completed 77 of 122 passes for 1343 yards and 17 touchdowns. Those stats lead the entire ITCL in passing. He has also rushed for 416 yards and 6 touchdowns. For McDonald, Cupan leads the Lower Tier in rushing with 723 yards on 97 carries and 19 touchdowns. Those 19 touchdowns are tops in scoring in the entire ITCL. Although offensive numbers grab a lot of the attention, both of these teams excel on defense. Reserve has given up 738 rushing yards, and 405 passing yards, while McDonald has surrendered 727 yards rushing and 308 yards passing. Only a 108 yard difference in the two squads. On the season, Reserve has given up 5.71 points per game compared to McDonald's 7.42 points per game. "When you are involved in a big game it always comes down to defense. The defense and turnovers category most of the time tells the tale of the game. We have stressed how important these aspects of the game will go in determining the winner to our kids. Both teams have shown that they both can play great defense and the match-ups are going to be fun to watch," Hake would remark. What makes those impressive defensive numbers even more remarkable is that some of those points have been surrendered well after the outcome of the games were decided against back-ups and j-v players. "We have a good line getting pressure on the QB, that's were it starts," Nick Cupan would say in a recent interview. He would continue, "Linebackers stopping the run, and DB's stopping the pass." So what will be the key to winning this game? It usually comes down to the fundamentals. "In order for us to win we must play smart and not give them a short field. We have to make them earn every thing they get. NO BIG PLAYS! And if we do give up a big play, our reaction to it will determine a lot regarding this one. Make no mistake about it, we respect Mcdonald and they deseve all the credit they get," Hake said. For any fans that want to feel the playoff atmosphere three weeks before they start, this will be the game to watch. Whoever wins this game will certainly carry the momentum neccessary to finish the season strong and roll into the playoffs. Get set for a great Devil showdown! |
| Game Notes: -McDonald currently has a 21-game winning streak in the series -McDonald has a 17-game regular season winning streak -Western Reserve has a 9-game regular season winning streak -Western Reserve has only given up more than one score once this year -CalPreps Prediction: Western Reserve (Berlin Center, OH) at McDonald (OH), 7:00pm [projection: McDonald (OH) 31-19] |
| Player and coaches photos courtesy of The Vindicator |