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By Jonas Fortune
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 06:36 p.m. EST, Nov 18, 2009
Canton McKinley has momentum on its side heading into a Division I regional final Saturday.
History favors Massillon.
So what will happen when the Bulldogs and the Tigers meet for the 119th time at 7 p.m. Saturday in InfoCision Stadium at the University of Akron?
There is plenty of room for debate.
Massillon appeared to be the preferred pick by prognosticators when the two teams met at Fawcett Stadium three weeks ago in the season finale, but McKinley used its impressive talent and explosive offense to propel it to a 35-21 victory.
Now the Bulldogs are quickly becoming a state favorite. The win over Massillon (9-3) allowed McKinley (8-4) to slip past Hudson for the eighth and final playoff spot.
The Bulldogs outscored Toledo Whitmer, the No. 1 seed, and Federal League champ GlenOak by a combined score of 82-20.
Senior running back Bryce Wilder has six touchdowns and 287 yards in the two games, allowing junior quarterback Kyle Ohradzansky enough time to connect with receivers Angelo Powell, Matt Ogletree and Alex Parton.
Ohradzansky has completed 13 passes in the playoffs for 354 yards and four touchdowns. He is averaging more than 27 yards per completion.
The Tigers haven't been as explosive offensively, but relied on solid defense instead.
Last week, the Tigers limited Twinsburg's spread offense to seven points. The week before, they held the reigning Mr. Ohio, Erick Howard of North Canton Hoover, to 99 yards on 38 carries.
A McKinley football team has never beaten Massillon twice in one season. Of course, Canton High School accomplished the feat back when there weren't enough teams to fill out a regular-season schedule. But the last time it happened was 105 years ago.
Since then, the two schools have played each other twice in a season on five occasions (1963, 1980, 1994, 2001 and 2005). This will be the third time the schools have met with a regional championship on the line (1994 and 2005).
In 1994, McKinley senior kicker Josh McDaniels missed an extra point in overtime and the Bulldogs lost the 100th meeting 42-41. However, they got revenge at the Akron Rubber Bowl two weeks later with a 27-20 playoff win.
The Bulldogs crushed Massillon 38-3 in the 2005 regular-season finale only to have the Tigers return the favor, once again at the Rubber Bowl, with a 21-3 win in a regional final.
The Tigers swept the season series in 1963 and 2001.
Does any of this mean anything for this game?
''It's the next game,'' McKinley coach Ron Johnson said. ''We want to be 1-0 this week.''
Jonas Fortune can be reached at jfortune@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Varsity Letters high school sports blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/varsity_letters/. Also on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ABJ_Preps.
Canton McKinley has momentum on its side heading into a Division I regional final Saturday.
History favors Massillon.
So what will happen when the Bulldogs and the Tigers meet for the 119th time at 7 p.m. Saturday in InfoCision Stadium at the University of Akron?
There is plenty of room for debate.
Massillon appeared to be the preferred pick by prognosticators when the two teams met at Fawcett Stadium three weeks ago in the season finale, but McKinley used its impressive talent and explosive offense to propel it to a 35-21 victory.
Now the Bulldogs are quickly becoming a state favorite. The win over Massillon (9-3) allowed McKinley (8-4) to slip past Hudson for the eighth and final playoff spot.
The Bulldogs outscored Toledo Whitmer, the No. 1 seed, and Federal League champ GlenOak by a combined score of 82-20.
Senior running back Bryce Wilder has six touchdowns and 287 yards in the two games, allowing junior quarterback Kyle Ohradzansky enough time to connect with receivers Angelo Powell, Matt Ogletree and Alex Parton.
Ohradzansky has completed 13 passes in the playoffs for 354 yards and four touchdowns. He is averaging more than 27 yards per completion.
The Tigers haven't been as explosive offensively, but relied on solid defense instead.
Last week, the Tigers limited Twinsburg's spread offense to seven points. The week before, they held the reigning Mr. Ohio, Erick Howard of North Canton Hoover, to 99 yards on 38 carries.
A McKinley football team has never beaten Massillon twice in one season. Of course, Canton High School accomplished the feat back when there weren't enough teams to fill out a regular-season schedule. But the last time it happened was 105 years ago.
Since then, the two schools have played each other twice in a season on five occasions (1963, 1980, 1994, 2001 and 2005). This will be the third time the schools have met with a regional championship on the line (1994 and 2005).
In 1994, McKinley senior kicker Josh McDaniels missed an extra point in overtime and the Bulldogs lost the 100th meeting 42-41. However, they got revenge at the Akron Rubber Bowl two weeks later with a 27-20 playoff win.
The Bulldogs crushed Massillon 38-3 in the 2005 regular-season finale only to have the Tigers return the favor, once again at the Rubber Bowl, with a 21-3 win in a regional final.
The Tigers swept the season series in 1963 and 2001.
Does any of this mean anything for this game?
''It's the next game,'' McKinley coach Ron Johnson said. ''We want to be 1-0 this week.''
Jonas Fortune can be reached at jfortune@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Varsity Letters high school sports blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/varsity_letters/. Also on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ABJ_Preps.
Comments
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Akron, OH
Posted 10:18 PM, 11/18/2009
Teams that poach players deserve to lose. Looking at you, J Hall.
Karma has spoken. Massillon loses this weekend.
Youngstown, OH
Posted 10:12 AM, 11/19/2009
Hey Jonas! I know you and your fellow writers are all predicting McKinley, but I think Massillon will prevail this weekend!! McKinley has been hot lately, but to keep that momentum throughout this stretch is tough. I credit Coach Johnson and his staff, but with one of America's great high school rivalries playing out, the Tigers will triumph!! By the way, I attended the UA vs. KSU game, and what a beautiful place InfoCision Stadium is to watch a game. It would have been even better if KSU would have won!! Keep up the good work!
Mogadore, OH
Posted 01:21 PM, 11/19/2009
There was decent crowd (but not capacity) at InfoCision for the game between two nearby college rivals, UA & KSU. Any bets on whether or not the nearby high school rivalry will draw a larger crowd?
Suwanee, ga
Posted 10:06 AM, 11/21/2009
DLR
20,000 is is great crowd for MAC game in Akron. A decent crowd is 10,000 that attended the Temple. Crowd of around 20,000 for MAC games in stadium who capacity is 25,000 to 30,000 is a great crowd.
