The Tigers were the Division VI state runners-up in 2019 and dominated their first two opponents in 2020, winning by combined scores of 76-7. So, no trickery was needed.

That’s exactly why McDonald never saw them coming.

Springfield used a little deception to pull away from the Blue Devils in a 49-13 Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference victory at Springfield High School.

“We like to mix it up,” Tigers coach Sean Guerriero said. “We’ve got a couple of them in the back pocket, so we thought, if we don’t use them (they’ll go to waste). We install them and we go over them once a week.”

Correspondent photo / Charles Marsh Springfield’s A.J. Ross, left, runs out of the grasp of McDonald’s Dominic Schadl during Friday’s game in New Middletown.

It looked like they practiced them much more than that.

Junior quarterback Beau Brungard threw for 225 yards and four touchdowns for the Tigers (3-0, 3-0). He hit AJ Ross for a 16-yard strike on their first drive, and then connected with Clayton Nezbeth for 38 yards early in the second quarter for a 14-0 lead. Then the trickery began.

The Tigers ran a double-reverse pass to perfection, with Brungard hitting a wide-open Clayton Nezbeth for a 38-yard TD and a 21-0 lead midway through the third quarter.

McDonald (2-1, 2-1) was finally able to answer. Quarterback Dom Schadl, who ran for 180 yards on 22 carries, busted loose for his second long run of the game, going 67 yards to the Springfield 7. Three plays later, Schadl powered his way into the end zone for a 5-yard TD to get the Blue Devils back in the game with 41 seconds in the half.

The momentum didn’t last.

Springfield took over at its own 45 after a solid return, but it faced second-and-1 at the McDonald 43 with 15 seconds left in the half. Brungard faked a swing pass to the running back, and then hit Jakob Joyce on a post route. Just as Joyce caught the ball, he flipped it to his right, and Lukas Yemma snatched the ball out of the air and raced down the sideline for a 43-yard touchdown on a well-executed hook-and-ladder.

The score made it 28-7, Springfield, with 6 seconds left in the half. It was a deflating blow for McDonald.

“They’re backbreakers,” Blue Devils coach Dan Williams said. “We’re in good situations. It’s 21-7, and then they got the hook-and-ladder. It was 14-0 when they did the Philly Special sort of thing. Those are backbreakers, and they were in situations where we’re looking to get a stop and get off the field.

“They’re hard to defend,” he added. “You never expect them. We didn’t see them on film. If you see it on film once or twice, you can prepare for it and maybe have your kids eye balling certain things, but we haven’t seen anything like that from them.”

Springfield got the ball to start the second half put the game out of reach.

After picking up a first down on third-and-1, Nezbeth raced through a big hole in the middle of the McDonald defense for a 61-yard TD and a 35-7 lead. Clayton Medvec hauled in a perfectly placed 30-yard TD from Brungard later in the third quarter to start a running clock.

Nezbeth finished with 102 yards and three touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving). Brungard completed 11-of-19 passes and also ran for 55 yards on six carries. While the Tigers have cruised through the first three games and look primed for another postseason run, Brungard said they’re not looking ahead or in the past.

“Coming off of last year’s season, we’re trying to keep our head straight and not focus on last year’s success,” he said. “We had to put that behind us and just know that it’s a new season, and we have to work just as hard as we did last year to get to that point. I think our guys are doing that. We’re taking everything seriously – every practice, no days off. We want to get back to that point.”

Springfield hosts Lowellville next week, while McDonald welcomes rival Mineral Ridge.