'That's what we be about': Canton McKinley too much for Jackson in Federal League football
JACKSON TWP. — It was a weird, wacky night for the Canton McKinley offense, filled with big plays, big mistakes and somehow big mistakes that turned into big plays.
The Bulldogs defense, however, brought the sanity and the sledgehammer to this high school football game at Fife Stadium.
McKinley punished the Polar Bears on Friday and beat Jackson 27-7 to clinch at least a share of the Federal League title.
The Bulldogs (7-1, 5-0), who can earn the outright championship with a win at home against GlenOak next week, sacked quarterback Lucas Ecrement 10 times. They shut out Jackson after its opening drive, earning their 17th straight win against the Polar Bears.
"We wanted to crush them," McKinley senior linebacker Ja'Diss Jackson said. "Physicality. That's what we talk about every day. We want to be the most physical, dominant team.
"That's what we talk about and that's what we be about."
The Bulldogs certainly were about getting to and hitting Ecrement. The Polar Bears have struggled to protect the talented sophomore as the season has progressed, and that continued Friday.
Nine different McKinley players registered sacks, with Robert Brown's two leading the way. Jackson had one sack as part of a 14-tackle night for him.
"Without watching the film, I think this was Ja'Diss' best game," McKinley head coach Antonio Hall said.
The Polar Bears looked sharp on their opening possession, marching 77 yards in 10 plays. Carson Pastorius' 5-yard touchdown run had Jackson up 7-6.
Then Jackson registered two first downs over its next six possessions. The Polar Bears finished with 139 yards of offense after that opening drive.
"Lights-out defensive effort," Hall said. "Can't say enough about them. ... They were hitting the quarterback all night. They were playing solid coverage. They're playing great football."
It's hard to describe what kind of football the McKinley offense is playing.
Twice McKinley snapped the ball over the head of senior quarterback Keaton Rode.
The first time, Rode tracked it down, rolled right and found a wide-open DJ Britt for a 49-yard touchdown on the game's third play from scrimmage.
Early in the second half, it happened again. This time, junior running back Nino Hill scooped it up. Hill ran to his left and somehow had the presence of mind to pass the ball to Dante McClellan, who ran through several tackles for a 53-yard gain. That set up Rode's 3-yard TD run two plays later to put McKinley up 27-7.
"Just how we drew it up," Hall said with a chuckle.
Rode enjoyed a big night, accounting for all four McKinley touchdowns. He completed 13 of 20 passes for 205 yards, two TDs and no interceptions. He added another 54 yards and two more scores on 12 carries.
Rode also kicked a 23-yard field goal after having a long TD run negated because of holding. He missed three PAT kicks. A fourth attempt went awry when the snap was high.
"Again, penalties, bad snaps, our Achilles heel," Hall said. "We can't seem to get over that hump. GlenOak is looking good. They're improving and they have athletes, too. They're playing physical. So if we do that stuff next week it's going to be a long week."
The junior McClellan caught five passes for 93 yards for the Bulldogs, who have won six straight games. Keith Quincy, another junior, caught four passes for 47 yards and a touchdown.
Ecrement completed his first four passes of the night, then went 8-of-23 the rest of the way, finishing with 114 yards and no interceptions. He broke off runs of 40 and 28 yards but totaled only 69 yards rushing because of the sacks.
Noah Colando caught five passes for 47 yards for Jackson (4-4, 2-3), which has lost three straight and plays at Central Catholic next week.
"A few weeks ago, everyone was praising us and (telling) us how good we were," Jackson head coach Jay Rohr said. "Then reality strikes, right? Our kids are fighters. I truly believe in them. We've got a great senior class. I say that week in and week out, and they're certainly not going to let us quit."
McKinley's Federal League championship is its second straight after sharing the title with Lake last year. The Bulldogs weren't celebrating anything Friday, excepting maybe all those sacks they piled up.
"Honestly, as of right now, we're really focused on bigger things," Ja'Diss Jackson said. "Yeah, we want the Federal League championship. But we want more than that. We want to beat Massillon. We want a state championship. We want to beat everyone and dominate."
Reach Josh at josh.weir@cantonrep.com
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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Ohio high school football: Canton McKinley vs Jackson | Federal League
