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McDonald tops Mineral Ridge for 1st win

MINERAL RIDGE — The McDonald football program has churned out one winning season after another for decades.

However, a relatively young group of Blue Devils this year started out 0-3 for the first time since 2003.

On Friday night at the Joe Lane Sports Complex, the youthful Blue Devils “did some growing up,” according to Devils coach Dan Williams.

Spearheaded by a pair of four-year starters — Logan Hawk and Nathan Gilligan — McDonald defeated arch-rival Mineral Ridge 21-14 to log its first win of the season.

Mineral Ridge falls to 2-2.

Hawk rushed for 184 yards and a touchdown while Gilligan ran for 130 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Gilligan also sacked Mineral Ridge quarterback Mark Bunch on the final play of the game to seal the win.

“We’re very young on both sides of the ball, so tonight we relied heavily on Logan (Hawk) and Nate (Gilligan),” Williams said. “These two have been there before, they are four-year lettermen who have been through it all with this program.

“These two young men, they weren’t going to give up on this team and they weren’t going to let this team give up on itself. Tonight this team did some growing up thanks to the help of some great senior leadership.”

Following a scoreless first quarter, McDonald opened the second period with a 12-play, 97-yard drive to take a 7-0 lead.

Gilligan provided the bulk of the offense on the drive, including a 45-yard run on the first play of the possession which got McDonald out of the shadows of its own end zone. Gilligan capped the drive with a two-yard run to paydirt.

McDonald took a 7-0 lead into the locker room, however Mineral Ridge scored on the opening possession of the second half to tie the game at 7-7.

Bunch, who completed 17-of-33 passes for 207 yards, hooked up with Mason Miller (7 receptions, 95 yards) on a 24-yard scoring strike midway through the third quarter.

McDonald quickly answered with an 11-play drive, capped by another Gilligan two-yard touchdown run.

The Blue Devils then appeared to gain a comfortable 21-7 advantage on Hawk’s 30-yard score with just 3:42 left in the game.

However, the Rams put together a quick scoring drive to cut their deficit to 21-14 with 1:38 left on the clock. Bunch connected with Aaron Myers on a nine-yard touchdown pass.

Mineral Ridge’s attempt at an onside kick failed, but the Rams forced McDonald to punt following a three-and-out.

Mineral Ridge gained possession at the McDonald 44 with 54 seconds left in the game. The Rams drove as deep as the 10-yard-line before an intentional grounding call backed them up to the 20 with eight ticks left on the clock.

Gilligan then got to Bunch to end the game.

“This is what McDonald-Mineral Ridge is all about,” Williams said. “That’s a really good team we just beat. We knew there was no way they were going to quit and we knew that they had the ability to strike very quickly.

“It’s been a pet peeve that we haven’t been able to stop anyone in the second half. Tonight we gave up some big plays but we made some even bigger plays when we had to.”

Hawk believes the win can spearhead McDonald into a strong finish to the season.

“To win a game against our backyard rival, it’s going to go a long way in turning things around,” Hawk said. “We never gave up, we never got down because of the slow start. If anything it gave us more reason to work harder.”

“This could be just the momentum we need to make this a special season.”

sports@vindy.com

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