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11/6/05

No big plays, but still no problem for Bulldogs

Sunday, November 6, 2005 By CHRIS BEAVEN

Scott Heckel McKinley’s Will Sheeler breaks loose on a 15-yard run during the second quarter Saturday night at Fawcett Stadium.

CANTON - They created such high standards during the regular season, Saturday’s playoff opener qualified as a quiet night.
Big plays did not come with ease to the McKinley Bulldogs for one of the few times this high school football season. No long runs by tailback Morgan Williams. No long returns of kicks or turnovers. Only one long pass to receiver Joe Morgan.
All that said, McKinley still put together a workmanlike, if not an impressive, effort in a 35-17 win over Brunswick in a Division I regional quarterfinal game. A crowd of 12,376 watched at Fawcett Stadium as the Bulldogs improved to 11-0 behind three touchdowns by Williams.
The Blue Devils played McKinley tougher than anyone this season, but the Bulldogs used two fourth-quarter TDs to put the game away. It is the second straight year McKinley beat Brunswick in the playoffs.
“We knew they were going to fight, fight and fight us,” McKinley head coach Brian Cross said. “ ... We didn’t play our best game, but it was good enough. And that’s all that counts at this time of year.”
McKinley, ranked No. 2 in the state, advances to play Elyria, a 21-9 winner over Toledo St. John’s. The site of Saturday’s 7 p.m. regional semifinal will be announced today.
McKinley did not breathe a sigh of relief until fullback Mike Kirksey scored on a 17-yard run with 1:44 left in the game. It was McKinley’s third straight TD drive, giving the Bulldogs a 35-17 advantage.
“Our fullback had a big game for us,” Cross said.
Kirksey delivered 59 yards rushing and had a key 11-yard catch. Also big was Williams, who rushed for 109 second-half yards to key the McKinley offense. Williams finished with 175 yards on 28 carries, becoming the second Bulldog to surpass 2,000 yards in a season. He has 2,110.
“I didn’t think he ran his hardest in the first half, but then he stepped it up a notch, and we needed that,” Cross said.
Williams capped scoring drives of 74 and 65 yards earlier in the second half with TD runs. He scored from 20 yards out with 2:40 left in the third. His 3-yard TD run came with 7:13 left in the game.
Each time, though, Brunswick had answers to keep things interesting. Quarterback Anthony Lanzara scrambled and willed his way to 244 yards passing, hitting 20 of 36 attempts with two TDs.
“He’s the best player we’ve seen this season,” McKinley linebacker Joe Grimsley said.
“I thought we had them covered pretty well,” Cross said. “But their quarterback scrambles around so long, and we took our eyes off the receivers and watched him. And all he needs is about two steps, and he’ll drill the ball in there.”
The Blue Devils, in the playoffs for the fifth straight year, took the field under difficult circumstances. One of their ballboys, 12-year-old Kody Salzman, was killed in a four-wheeler accident earlier Saturday.
“He’s been with us for three, four years,” Brunswick head coach Rich Nowak said. “He was one of our guys.”
Nowak said, “In the grand scheme of things,” Saturday’s game does not matter.
“But it was nice to be together as a team,” he said. “... It was a tough thing (for the players). But they wanted to play, they wanted to play hard.”
Brunswick took the opening kick and immediately put together a nice drive. But two penalties stalled it after reaching the McKinley 29.
The Bulldogs responded with an 80-yard TD drive the first time they touched the ball. Williams ran the ball 10 of the 14 plays, and scored on a 1-yard run with 2:14 left in the first quarter.
“Our offense really picked us up tonight,” Grimsley said. “And it’s always easier to play with a lead.”
McKinley’s next possession lasted just four plays, long enough for their second score with 9:29 left in the half. Dan Grimsley lofted a perfect deep ball to Morgan, who ran under and scored on the 60-yard play.
Brunswick closed the half with a 14-play, 79-yard drive that produced a 22-yard field goal by Branko Rogovic.
McKinley had a chance to break the game open early in the third. But an illegal block nullified a 60-yard TD run by Kirksey. That was one of eight McKinley penalties.
“That’s something we have to eliminate,” Cross said. “But we didn’t lose our cool. ... There was no panic or anything. We weren’t at our sharpest, but we got it done.” Reach Repository sports writer Chris Beaven at (330) 580-8345 or e-mail