Madonna, Toronto set for key battle
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TORONTO -- There will be a lot on the line when Madonna invades Toronto's Clarke Hinkle Stadium Friday night.
The Red Knights are coming off a stretch of four losses, each against schools that are larger than themselves, and will be looking to stay in the thick of the Ohio Division VII, Region 25 playoff race and make a push for the postseason.
"We've played schools that are bigger than us, and we held our own in some of those games," Red Knights head coach Josh Franke said. "Now as we get into the part of our schedule where we play schools that are more our size, we're going to see how playing those bigger schools prepared us."
Toronto, despite being 2-5, is very much still in the thick of the playoff picture as it sits just one spot out with three games left, and Franke's message to his team about the playoff race is pretty simple.
"We're still in 17th, we have taken the motto of win and in. We control our own destiny in our minds and some of the goals we set for ourselves before the season are still in front of us," he said.
Madonna, meanwhile, lost for the first time to Cameron on Sept. 28 in a battle of top-five ranked, unbeaten W. Va. Class A teams.
Even with the loss to the Dragons, who defeated a second top-five Class A team over the weekend in Morgantown Trinity, the 4-1 Blue Dons are still fourth in the Class A rankings and will be looking to solidify their playoff positioning and stay in line to host in the first round.
"We played Tuesday, watched film Wednesday and practiced Thursday. I gave them the weekend off to recover. We're getting back to the norm again now," Madonna coach Dan Rovira said of the unconventional week. "It was different, it wasn't Friday night lights, it just wasn't the same. COVID is still around, but hopefully we don't have to do it again."
Rovira, taking into consideration who the opponents of the Red Knights were (Bellaire, Buckeye Local, Lakota, Edison and Barnesville), does not read too much into Toronto's losses in five of the last six.
"They've lost their last four, but if we played their schedule we would have, too," he said. "They play a hard schedule. I watched Barnesville, and Barnesville is a heckuva team. There's never a good loss, but they have played some very tough competition."
Madonna's passing attack and senior quarterback Santino Arlia, who threw the ball 63 times against Cameron and has eclipsed the 1,000-yard passing mark on the season despite playing in just four games (the win over Carrick was a forfeit), will provide a unique challenge for the Toronto defense.
"From our analytics, Madonna throws the ball about 90 percent of the time. It's almost like playing in a seven-on-seven," Franke said. "We have been doing a lot of those kinds of drills in practice to prepare. Every coach tries to run an offense that fits their personnel and that's what they are doing.
"The old adage is to let them dink and dunk because nobody has the patience to do that the whole way down the field. Weirton Madonna will 5- and 10-yard you all the way down the field. The old adage doesn't apply to them."
Hauling in those Arlia (58.6 percent completions, 14 touchdowns) passes are Evan Quering (31 grabs, 552 yards, seven scores); Jonah McKay, who had a breakout game against Cameron with 13 of his 16 grabs on the season; and Michael Burdine (14 catches, two touchdowns).
"It's almost like the opposite of most teams. Most teams want to run the ball, run the ball, run the ball and lull you to sleep to set up the pass and surprise you," Franke said. "Madonna will throw the ball, throw the ball, throw the ball and then surprise you with a run when you least expect it.
"It is going to be very important for our guys up front to not only get pressure on all the pass plays, but to be alert and be ready to stop a run when they try to surprise us."
As a team, the Dons have 433 rushing yards on the season, with most of them coming in the first two games, compared to nearly three times that passing. That is a number Rovira wants to see improve going forward.
"We have to run the ball, we have to. We don't want to throw the ball 73 times, we can't win that way. We have to figure out something to be able to run the ball this week," he said. "We need to do it to help our defense, it doesn't help them to throw it that many times and the clock is not running.
"My kids are all Steelers fans, and I told them, 'You know what's wrong with the Steelers? They can't run the ball.' You see these guys like Patrick Mahomes sling it, but the Chiefs can run ball. Look at Alabama, Georgia, all the good college teams, they run the ball.
"I wish we could run the ball 73 times instead of passing. We have to figure out how to get a run game going."
On the other side of the ball, Rovira knows Toronto's size, highlighted by Shane Keenan, a 6-foot-7, 285-pound tight end/defensive end who can be used to run the ball and is committed to play at Youngstown State, will be a big challenge to stop.
"They're huge. Shane Keenan is going to be a challenge," Rovira said. "Our guys are going to give a heckuva an effort to stop him. There's a reason he's a Division I recruit. They're big up front, and they have some nice skill."
"Speed is speed, size is size. Our kids are going to give a great effort. We have to make them drive them ball, try to get them to commit penalties and make mistakes and get them behind the chains.
"Our kids are going to come out and battle. We have to be patient -- we can't get frustrated."
Keenan averages 22 yards per catch and has hauled in 13 passes, two for scores. Quarterback Aiden Mick has tossed for 676 and four scores, completing 54.8 percent of his passes.
For the Red Knights, their final three games are against teams closer to their size with Madonna, Division VI Andover Pymatuning Valley and fellow Region 25 team Catholic Central.
"It's a relief to play a smaller school. We have been dressing in the mid-20s and Barnesville had more than 50," Franke said. "In the third and fourth quarter, you look at a kid in the eyes and see that he's giving you everything he has and is tired and you don't have a sub for him.
"So, it is going to be a relief to know the team on the other side of the field is kind of in the same situation and closer to the same size as we are."