SPORTS

Week 2: Friday night football’s fantastic five

Rob McCurdy
Reporter

Mansfield Senior at Canton McKinley

Records:

Mansfield Senior 1-0; Canton McKinley 0-1.

Last week:

Mansfield Senior over Big Walnut 20-19; Akron Hoban over Canton McKinley 49-0.

Tygers:

Senior High put the clamps on Big Walnut’s rushing attack in the second half, limiting the Golden Eagles to 68 yards ... Brian Benson was a workhorse, running 18 times for 108 yards and making plays at linebacker on defense ... Tyquan Vickers was held en check with 53 yards on 19 tries, but he scored twice, including off a 15-yard swing pass ... Marvin Parker also had his name called a lot on defense.

Bulldogs:

McKinley is one of the state’s most storied programs, but it suffered a big loss on the road in the opener ... Hoban features three future Big Ten players and led 21-0 after the first quarter ... Dan Readon is in his first season in Canton, but he led Youngstown Ursuline to three consecutive state championships in his tenure ... This is the first year of the McKinley-Timken merger ... The Bulldogs are strong at receiver and defensive back, led by 6-4 senior wideout LePear Toles, a basketball recruit with offers from Kent State and Akron, and also by 6-2, 190-pound corner Kadeem Trotter who will play at Akron.

Madison at River Valley

Records:

Madison 0-1; River Valley 1-0.

Last week:

Shelby over Madison 20-6; River Valley over Upper Sandusky 32-7.

Rams:

Madison was limited to 6 of 20 passing for just 25 yards last week against Shelby ... Highly recruited junior Tyrell Ajian only got seven touches in the game, running six times for 34 yards and making a catch for 3 yards, but he did pick off a pass on defense ... Punter Curtis French had two go for more than 50 yards ... The Rams ran 38 times for 148 yards.

Vikings:

RV rolled up 208 yards of offense in the first half at Upper ... The team used nine different running backs ... The Vikings lost two fumbles and had 55 yards in penalties ... Their defense only gave up 163 yards of offense with 65 coming via the pass ... Sam Troutman returned a punt 69 yards for a score.

Lexington at Shelby

Records:

Lexington 1-0; Shelby 1-0.

Last Week:

Lexington over Ontario 26-19; Shelby over Madison 20-6.

Minutemen:

Lexington snapped an 18-game losing streak and earned its first home victory since Sept. 10, 2012 ... Hunter Biddle, a 6-foot, 175-pound running back, accumulated 204 yards rushing on 21 carries and ended with a pair of touchdowns ... The team rushed 45 times for 316 yards ... Cory Swartzmiller had a 58-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Whippets:

Highly recruited sophomore quarterback Brennan Armstrong was limited to 8 of 18 passing for only 52 yards with a TD and an interception, but he ran for 222 yards on 29 carries and two scores ... Linebacker Josh Stahl had nine tackles, while defensive end Derek Rose posted five tackles with two sacks ... Dillon Thornsberry and Carter Brooks both had interceptions.

Ontario at Clear Fork

Records:

Ontario 0-1; Clear Fork 0-1.

Last week:

Lexington over Ontario 26-19; Fredericktown over Clear Fork 17-14.

Warriors:

Quarterback Alex Vredenburgh was 15 of 27 for 127 yards with a TD, but three interceptions ... He ran for 42 yards on 20 carries, including one touchdown ... The Warriors were stopped on a crucial second-half goal-line stand against Lexington ... Ontario got a 70-yard touchdown run from Treyvian Jordan.

Colts:

Clear Fork trailed 14-0 at halftime, then scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to tie it ... Jacob Steward completed a 21-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Lyon early in the fourth ... With under three minutes to go, Trevon Trammel took it in for a 31-yard TD run ... With less than a minute remaining, Fredericktown’s Zack Calabretta booted a 20-yard game-winning field goal, then the Freddies salted it away with an interception.

Centerburg at Lucas

Records:

Centerburg 1-0; Lucas 1-0.

Last week:

Lucas over Lowellville 70-0; Centerburg over Utica 35-20.

Trojans:

Centerburg only gave up 57 yards through the air, but Utica hit them for five yards per carry on the ground ... The Trojans were one of four Mid Ohio Athletic Conference Blue Division teams to get a win ... Centerburg has been to the playsoffs the last two seasons, making it to the Divison VI regional finals a year ago.

Cubs:

Mason Galco scored on runs of 72, 46, 50 and 54 yards to finish with 239 yards on just 11 carries ... He added nine tackles and two for a loss on defense ... Alex Switzer blocked a punt in the end zone and recovered it for a TD at Lowellville ... Jeb Grover picked off two passes, returning one 27 yards for a score ... Ryan Cook led with 10 tackles ... Lucas attempted only two passes ... The Cubs went to the second round of the Division VII playoffs a year ago, while Lowellville was 5-5 last year and a playoff team in 2013.

Rob McCurdy is a sports writer at the News Journal and can be reached at rmccurdy@gannett.com or 419-521-7241. On Twitter follow @McMotorsport.