Updated: Saturday, September 26, 2009
Their coach, Ron Johnson, stood in the middle filled with pride and shouting out their praises after a 44-28 Federal League win over Jackson.
When he yelled, “Bring it in,” all the Bulldogs charged in together — their final symbolic act of coming together during a difficult week.
Box score/recap
“I’m as proud of them as any football team I’ve been around,” Johnson said. “And I told them that before we even played the game, because they’d been through so much this week and we hadn’t even played yet.”
Coming off their second home loss in three weeks, the Bulldogs and their coach heard more than their share of criticism from fans this week. Johnson, though, did what he could to make sure it did not divide the team.
“We circled the wagons, circled together as one,” he said.
Elijah Farrakhan and Bryce Wilder each went over the 100-yard mark for the second straight week to lead McKinley (3-2, 2-1).
Farrakhan ran for a career-high 192 yards, scoring twice. Wilder scored four TDs in rushing for 115 yards. Quarterback Kyle Ohradzansky added another 137 yards in total offense.
Their work, coupled with a strong performance by McKinley’s offensive line, helped the Bulldogs gain a season-high 498 total yards.
“We haven’t been stopped offensively all year. We’ve hurt ourselves,” said Johnson, whose team had three more turnovers Friday and had penalties wipe out two long TD runs.
Jackson’s offense had its moments, too, gaining 383 yards.
“What I’m proud of is our kids will not quit no matter what the score is,” Jackson head coach Beau Balderson said.
But Jackson (0-5, 0-2) could not keep pace with McKinley.
“We haven’t seen running backs that fast,” Balderson said. “In practice, you can’t simulate that type of speed. You just can’t. ... And we were kind of wide-eyed at first.”
After its first drive of the night stalled out in Jackson territory, McKinley scored on its next four possessions on its way to a 315-yard first half.
“We did a better job of remaining focused and finishing drives,” Johnson said.
Farrakhan’s 40-yard TD run through the middle of the line opened the scoring. Wilder scored the next two TDs on runs of 15 and 4 yards. The latter run ended a 94-yard drive in 10 plays after a defensive stand by the Bulldogs.
Led by Jamaal McClain, the interior of the McKinley defensive line stuffed Jackson’s Casey Irwin for no gain on a fourth-and-1 from the 6. Ohradzansky then keyed the 94-yard drive with two big pass plays — a 24-yarder to Matt Ogletree and a 31-yarder to Alex Parton.
McKinley led, 24-0, late in the half after James Forsythe’s 23-yard field goal before Jackson put together a scoring drive in the last minute. Grant Seanor’s 29-yard pass to Jake Batcho and 19-yarder to Irwin put the Polar Bears at the 1. Seanor then scored on a keeper.
Two fumbled punt returns by McKinley in the third helped Jackson stay close. The Polar Bears turned both mistakes into Seanor TD passes — 14 yards to Batcho and 16 yards to Irwin. But they never got closer than 10 points, and McKinley pulled ahead, 44-21, midway through the fourth.
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