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LEETONIA--When your quarterback has 350 total yards and six touchdowns, it tends to make a coach pretty comfortable with what he has.
For McDonald (6-1), that is what senior quarterback Dom Schadl did for coach Dan Williams against Leetonia (6-2) Friday night. Behind 235 rushing yards and six touchdowns, Schadl led sixth-seeded Blue Devils past the third-seeded Bears 41-24 and onto the Division VII regional semifinals.
"He's a gamer man, the kid is unbelievable," McDonald coach Dan Williams said. "We have been riding him and the whole team has been on his shoulders the whole year. We have a couple other guys though and we threw the ball today a little more than normal.
"We had some guys make some big plays and then with (Nathan) Gilligan and (Logan) Hawk and that one-two punch and obviously Schadl they do a good job as well. Our offensive line blocked really well and they have been doing that all year. We just have to continue and keep improving as we move on."
The Blue Devils raced out to a 14-0 lead after two touchdowns from Schadl in the first half and then Schadl scored two more to make the score 28-0 heading into the half.
However, Leetonia and Marco Ferry came out strong in the second half, scoring a quick touchdown, recovering an onside kick and the scoring another quick touchdown to make the score 28-16 and put some pressure on McDonald.
Ferry scored both of the third-quarter touchdowns and ran for 110 of his 180 yards in the third quarter.
"I told our kids at the half, we can't relax," Williams said. "We have to go out and play. Then they scored a couple quick ones on us and our kids had to come and rise up and answer the challenge.
"We gave up a few there but we knew we had to finish our drives and keep the lead at three scores.
"That was our thing coming in, we had to surround him (Ferry)," Williams said. "We surrounded him and tackled him. He's a heck of a player and he broke a few in the second half to show how good he was. We just felt like we had to get to him and get him before he gets a head of steam because he's fast. We did that for the majority of the game.
"We are just so proud of this group," Leetonia coach Paul Hulea said. "With what happened in the first half and then to come back the way we played third (quarter). In all phases, we just played outstanding in the third quarter. I am really proud of this group, I am proud of our seniors and we have nothing to be ashamed of. We fought until the very last gun and we played as hard as a team can play and that's what it is all about."
After Ferry's second touchdown, he left the game with an injury but returned to play on the next offensive possession. There was a small break with four minutes left in the third quarter after an official was ran over during a play and had to be stretchered off the field. The rest of the game was officiated by a four man crew.
With the game at 28-16, Schadl led another drive down the field and capped it off with his fifth touchdown of the night to make it 35-16.
In the fourth quarter, Ferry forced a fumble on defense after chasing down Nathan Gilligan and stripping the ball loose. The Bears capitalized on the miscue with a 38 yard pitch and catch from Dylan Lennon to Jaedon Finley. The score was 35-24 after the successful two-point conversion by Ferry.
However, as the story of the night went, Schadl scored his sixth touchdown of the night and made the game unreachable for the Bears.
The final score was 41-24.
"The big thing is we don't want this game to take away from the whole season," Hulea said. "We won a league championship, we had two home playoff games, we are the first team in our league to ever win a playoff game.
"Those are some great things that these kids accomplished this season and our seniors, I am so incredibly proud of them. There freshman season they were 0-10 and the easy thing to do for those kids would have been to bail, move on and do something else or go to a different school but they stayed and here, worked hard and they did things the right way.
"They have done a great job this year leading this football team and my heart goes out to them because they are hurting right now but tomorrow they will wake up and realize they accomplished a whole bunch of great things."
"Very happy with this teams effort and fight," Ferry said. "We never let the scoreboard determine how we play and I am very proud of how we play in the second half. We always come out and play the second half strong and Coach Hulea makes great adjustments and we follow that.
"We are all just a family and we work hard. We play for the person beside us and we know what is at stake so I think when everyone is close like that it makes everyone play a lot harder."
"The kids just came out and played harder and they played hard in the first half too," Hulea said about the third quarter spark. "We got the ball and we finally finished a drive and they did a great job. I am just really proud of them."
Ferry finished with 27 carries for 180 yards and two touchdowns. Finley finished with 38 yards receiving and a touchdown and 15 yards rushing and a touchdown.
McDonald will play the winner of No. 2 Lucas and No. 10 Independence next Friday. That game will be played at 7 p.m. today after being postponed Friday due to weather.
"We have some things to work on," Williams said. "Lucas and Independence are great football teams. So we will have our hands full this next week."
McDonald lost to Lucas last season in the divisional quarterfinal 21-20 in overtime. Lucas was the eventual state runner-up.
"I think our kids will have a little bit of confidence," Williams said about facing Lucas again. "I do like the fact thought that if Independence wins they will come to our place and we will play at home. So we are excited about that too and are hoping we get the upset down there in Lucas and maybe we get a home game.
"When you are at home in a playoff game you have a great advantage."
Leetonia will travel to Sebring next week to finish the regular season.
Game notes
¯ Freshman Hayden Cibula broke the Leetonia single-season sack record in the second quarter.
¯ The EOAC finished 1-7 in the playoffs.
¯ The concession stand sold out its stockpile of 50 Chick-fil-A sandwiches by halftime.
MCDONALD: 14-14-7-6--41
LEETONIA: 0- 0-16-8--24
SCORING
M--Dom Schadl 7 run (Tyler Agler kick)
M--Dom Schadl 5 run (Tyler Agler kick)
M--Dom Schadl 14 run (Tyler Agler kick)
M--Dom Schadl 8 run (Tyler Agler kick)
L--Marco Ferry 10 run (Marco Ferry run)
L--Marco Ferry 3 run (Dylan Lennon run)
M--Dom Schadl 8 run (Tyler Agler kick)
L--Jaedon Finley 38 pass from Dylan Lennon (Marco Ferry run)
M--Dom Schadl 39 run (kick failed)
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MCDONALD LEETONIA
First downs 22 9
Total Yards 419 258
Rushes-yards 41-323 37-220
Passing 96 38
Comp-Att-Int 6-8-0 1-5-0
Punts 0-0 4-121
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-0
Penalties-Yards 8-65 6-70
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INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING--McDonald, Dom Schadl 27-246-6, Nathan Gilligan 7-45, Logan Hawk 7-32; Leetonia, Marco Ferry 27-180-2, Jacob McCool 4-13, Dylan Lennon 2-12, Jaedon Finley 3-15.
PASSING--McDonald, Dom Schadl 6-8-96-0-0; Leetonia, Dylan Lennon 1-5-38-1-0
RECEIVING--McDonald, Dominick Carkido 3-31, Nathan Gilligan 2-51, Logan Hawk 1-14; Leetonia, Jaedon Finley 1-38-1.
FUMBLE RECOVERIES--Leetonia, Marco Ferry.