SIMPLE TWP. – McKinley’s football team punished GlenOak on Friday night, but how much pain the Bulldogs can inflict on the rest of the league remains debatable.
The 35:6 victory over the Golden Eagles (0:4) in the league opener was a tough fight. The defense also had to be seen.
McKinley limited GlenOak to a total of 36 yards and gained 592. The team was ahead in first downs by 29-5.
How do the Bulldogs feel about playing against a Perry team that defeated the previously undefeated Lake team on Friday?
“That’s a good question,” said head coach Antonio Hall. “I don’t know myself. I know when we do it right, it looks great, but we still have a lot of things to get right.”
Senior quarterback Kam Montgomery, a starter in his first year, made a move.
“Tonight was his best performance as far as the game goes,” Hall said. “He took what they gave him. He’s seeing it more. It’s slowing down for him.”
The 6-foot-5 Montgomery and proven wide receiver Keith Quincy, who had 970 receiving yards as a junior, had their best night together on a team with high expectations.
Montgomery threw for 268 yards and two touchdowns (on 17 of 20 passing) and ran for 79 yards and a touchdown on six carries. Quincy caught eight balls for 148 yards and a touchdown.
“Even though we won, we have a lot of mistakes to correct,” Montgomery said.
Referring to Perry, he said, “It’s important to approach every game as if it were the state championship.”
Montgomery said there is no question that the team’s goal is to win a state title. Quincy said the same.
Hall is a big fan of ambition, but parts of the GlenOak game were a reality check. The Bulldogs committed penalties in the game that cost them 131 yards.
“You can’t be a good playoff team and have a 106-yard penalty at halftime,” he said.
GlenOak has played against McKinley in football in almost every year of its existence.
The first meeting took place in 1977, shortly after GlenOak was formed by the merger of Glenwood and Oakwood, around the same time that the McKinley merger swallowed Lincoln and Lehman.
The series’ golden year was 1985, when a GlenOak team coached by Bob Commings survived a late hook and scissor kick from McKinley star Percy Snow to win 21-18 in a packed Fawcett Stadium. McKinley won a rematch in the playoffs 14-7 and landed in the state finals.
The crowds at McKinley-GlenOak aren’t what they once were, but this time it was big and loud. The heat on the field is still there, as it was in GlenOak’s 7-3 win at McKinley last year.
It was a special moment for GlenOak head coach Scott Garcia, who played for the Golden Eagles in the 1980s. For McKinley, it was a flop that cost the Pups the Federal League title.
Hall was an All-Ohio McKinley senior in 1999 when the Bulldogs beat GlenOak 46-0. His first job as a high school assistant was with Garcia’s Golden Eagles.
“Scott is a mentor,” Hall said. “I was on his team when GlenOak beat McKinley. It was Dom Robinson’s last year as McKinley’s quarterback.”
When kick-off began on Friday, it was 27 degrees and the late-arriving crowd was crowded together.
McKinley’s defense dominated, but a missed field goal, personal fouls and fumbles prevented the Bulldogs from pulling away and looking like they were the team to beat in the Federal League.
McKinley quickly took an 8-0 lead after the defense pinned GlenOak on fourth-and-25 and the offense scored on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Montgomery to Quincy.
McKinley’s fourth scoring opportunity ended with a 75-yard interception return by Adrion Burt, who spotted Montgomery on a rollout, rushed toward the ball on the throw-in and was soon free.
After a failed conversion pass, the score was 8:6. The Bulldogs relied on their top receiver Quincy, who caught four passes on a 70-yard touchdown drive and capped it off with a 12-yard touchdown run by Nino Hill with 2:03 minutes left in the half.
“We took what they gave us,” Montgomery said of the Quincy shooting.
A single play covered many mistakes. Montgomery threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Xavier Harris with seven seconds left in the half. The score was 21-6.
Veteran linebacker David Potter demonstrated the courage of the Golden Eagles with a brilliant tackle that stopped the Bulldogs on fourth down and goal from the three-point line.
However, McKinley’s defense continued to stifle GlenOak’s offense.
A third-quarter touchdown drive, capped by Stephon Thomas’ 10-yard run, increased the Bulldogs’ lead to 28-6.
GlenOak, 0-4, hopes for better luck next week in Lake.
“We made mistake after mistake tonight, which you can’t do against a team like McKinley,” Garcia said. “The guys play hard, they work hard and they do a lot of good things.”
“I don’t know if anyone in the state has played four tougher games than we have.”
An indication of McKinley’s potential is a 26-19 win in Week 1 over Warren Harding, who then defeated Akron Buchtel and Perry.
The 2-2 Bulldogs lost to Avon (4-0) and a Michigan great, Detroit Cass Tech.
GlenOak takes some hope from last year, when the Golden Eagles had a 1-3 record before going on a 6-1 winning streak.
