By Phil Keren

Correspondent

Mogadore’s 2025 football season ended on Friday when the Wildcats ran into an undefeated McDonald team that seems to be peaking at exactly the right time.

“Hats off to them,” said Mogadore head coach Matt Adorni following his team’s 42-21 loss to McDonald in the Division VII, Region 25 Regional Final at Nordonia High School.

“They were a little quicker than they even appeared on film, they were real strong in the trenches… “Pretty much everything they dialed up was working. Credit to them. They were well organized, as we nknew they would be.”

While McDonald (13-0) seemed to click on all cylinders, Mogadore (11-2) had four turnovers and some penalties at inopportune times.

Adorni observed it was a “tough night. Nothing seemingly went our way, and we kind of needed some things to go our way.”

Both teams scored on their opening possessions, albeit with much different styles. McDonald chewed more than 6 minutes off the clock on the game-opening drive that covered 63 yards in 13 plays and ended with a 1-yard scoring run by senior running back Drew Zajack.

Mogadore countered with a quick score on a play change. On the Wildcats’ second play of the contest, senior running back Dylan Benedum raced through the Blue Devils’ defense and broke away for a 58-yard touchdown. That big play tied the game at 7 with 4:22 left in the first quarter.

Benedum said his touchdown run came on an audible called by Adorni.

“We lined up to run a pass and Adorni must have read something on the defense,” Benedum said. “He (changed) the call for me to get it, and I think everyone just was on the same page. Conner went up and made an amazing block. I found some open field, broke a couple (tackles), I just knew I had to go (and) try to get us back on the board.”

On its ensuing possession, McDonald marched 68 yards in seven plays and took a 14-7 lead on the first play of the second quarter when quarterback Kyle Puckett connected with wide receiver Jordan Perry on a 29-yard scoring pass.

On the subsequent kickoff, Mogadore junior wide receiver Kade Thomas returned the ball 79 yards to the McDonald 8-yard line. The Wildcats were unable to cash in on their opportunity.

Two plays later, a Mogadore fumble was recovered by McDonald defensive lineman Amari Carayoi. The Mogadore defense tightened up and forced the Blue Devils to punt. Several plays later, Wildcat junior quarterback Maddox Smith ran to his left, found some open space, avoided a couple of tackles and pulled away down the sideline for a 51-yard score.

Big play No. 3 for Mogadore tied the game at 14 with 6:25 left in the second quarter.

Mogadore’s defense often pushed the McDonald offense to a third or fourth down situation, but the Blue Devils seemed to find a way to get the first down each time.

Case in point: Facing fourth-and-goal from the Mogadore 3-yard line, McDonald scored on a crisply executed reverse play to take a 21-14 lead at halftime. Puckett handed off to senior running back Casey Miller, who then flipped the ball back to sophomore running back Josh Krumpak, who was running in the opposite direction. Krumpak then won a footrace to the corner of the end zone.

In the second half, Mogadore was hindered by three turnovers, two of which McDonald turned into touchdowns. Midway through the third quarter, a Mogadore drive ended when a fumbled Wildcat snap was recovered by Carayoi.

McDonald again used its punishing running game to put together a 12-play, 52-yard drive that culminated with a 6-yard scoring run by Miller at 2:29 of the third quarter to put the Blue Devils

ahead, 28-14. “They pound the run,” Benedum said. “They’re really good at what they do. They got a lot of different stuff and again we just had some trouble stuffing some gaps at times and that ended up giving up the big plays and giving up the big yardage that we couldn’t afford to give up.”

As it did on two occasions in the first half, Mogadore again answered a McDonald touchdown with a score of their own. This time it was Smith lofting a spiral to Thomas in the front corner of

the end zone. Thomas hauled it in with a defender tightly covering him. That made the score 28-21 with 1:05 left in the third quarter.

It was then McDonald’s turn to record a big play when Miller scored on a 36-yard touchdown run to put his team ahead, 35-21, at the start of the fourth quarter.

The Blue Devils’ defense recorded interceptions on each of Mogadore’s final two possessions.

Krumpak closed out the scoring with an 8-yard touchdown run.

Adorni noted McDonald did a lot of things well and that versatility made them tough to defend.

“It wasn’t like you could sit there and try to take away one thing,” Adorni said.

Another challenge? The Wildcats hadn’t seen a team play from under-center all season.

“This was schematically different than anything we’ve seen all season,” Adorni said.”…We knew that was going to be tough to defend. Their kids follow their blocks really well. We missed some tackles. We were sloppy in tackling. There were times we were trying to make big hits (and were) a little out of control in some spots. We didn’t quit and that’s what we’re proud of.”

On the other side of the ball, Adorni said, “We felt good about moving the ball and we did move the ball well in spots tonight. (We) just couldn’t get them off the field.”

Despite the season-ending loss, Adorni said he felt like 2025 was a great bounce-back season for the Wildcats’ program.

“We’re super-proud of what we were able to accomplish this year and get back off the mat (after) a .500 season last year and be able to make a run,” Adorni said. “This is really important to our program, kind of re-establishing it. We’re super-proud of everything that got us to this point.”

This team formed a strong bond that Adorni felt played a key role in their success.

“Our locker room had a strong bond,” Adorni said. “They accepted the big class of freshmen. They had to play some roles on the team. They accepted those guys early and really made it a fun atmosphere.”

Two of Adorni’s seniors, Lehner and Benedum, said they loved playing for a program steeped in tradition.

“It was awesome,” Lehner said. “I love every single one of my teammates, all my coaches. I love all of them.”

Benedum added: “It’s been absolutely amazing. I can’t say enough…you come through, guys that are seniors they take over, they mentor you. Next thing you know, a couple years later, you’re the senior mentoring (your teammates) and it’s one of the best feelings. These coaches, they love the players like nothing else. They prepare us every week, week in, week out. There’s just nowhere like Mogadore for football.”