McDONELL 22, GILMAN 14 - Macks’ execution just a little bit better

McDONELL 22, GILMAN 14

The Gilman Pirates had more explosive plays Friday, but McDonell Central’s ability to convert on key downs and possess the ball tipped the outcome in its favor 22-14 in a highly-anticipated midseason football matchup in the North Central East Conference played at Dorais Field in Chippewa Falls.

The Macks’ top big-play threat, wide receiver David Andersen, caught two firsthalf touchdown passes and running back Dawson Moulton ground out 134 rushing yards on 36 carries and caught the backbreaking 48-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter to put the Macks up 22--8.

Gilman got within one score with 3:00 to play, but the Macks, again, couldn’t be stopped and ran out the clock leaving both teams with 2-1 league records and 3-1 overall records at the mid-point of the eight-player season.

“Just a good, hard-hitting football game,” Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said. “Both teams played good enough to win. It was just that one team played a little better.”

In the toughest test Gilman has had so far, the Pirates learned how small mistakes and a play or two can make a big difference against good competition.

It can be argued the biggest swing in the game took place right away in the first quarter. McDonell’s defense forced a quick three-and-out to start the game. Taking over at its 42, the Macks’ offense took more than eight minutes off the clock by methodically pushing deep into Gilman territory. The Macks converted a fourth and four on a 6-yard run by Moulton and eventually got inside the 1yard line, where a penalty, a sack by Gilman’s Max Ustianowski and another penalty put the Macks in a fourth-andgoal situation from the 19. But quarterback Grant Smiskey lofted a ball to the left side of the end zone where Andersen went up and grabbed it with two Pirates nearby to put the home team up 6-0.

“We thought that first drive was big where we almost had them stopped twice and they converted on fourth down,” Rosemeyer said. “That was about the only pattern they could run, the fade. We were there. We just didn’t time the ball up very well. The old 50-50 ball went 100 for them.”

Gilman appeared to have a quick answer when Chad Konsella ripped off a 22-yard run and Tony Syryczuk went for 27 on the first two plays of the ensuing drive to get the Pirates to the 16-yard line. But on fourth and two from the 8, Syryczuk was dropped for no gain. Gilman forced a quick punt and got the ball back at its 43. A 26-yard pass from Dawson Krizan to Syryczuk set up Krizan’s 19-yard touchdown run. The two-point pass to Syryczuk gave Gilman its only lead at 8-6 with 7:46 left in the first half.

But McDonell countered with another grinding drive, going 80 yards in 18 plays, taking 6:11 off the clock. The Macks converted an early third and short, got out of a first and 15 by converting on fourth down and got a 12-yard catch from Moulton on third and 10 on the drive, which ended with 1:35 left in the half on Andersen’s 10-yard catch over the middle.

Both teams tried to rely offensively with some misdirection, trying to get the other to flow too hard in one direction. McDonell caught the Pirates a couple of times in key spots.

“We weren’t real sound with our gap control,” Rosemeyer said. “If we were, some of their 5- and 6-yard gains would’ve been 2- to 3-yard gains. We just weren’t real good at getting our outside gaps covered as well as we thought we could. On some of those throwback passes they had, we had them scouted but just didn’t execute. We knew they had them in their playbook. We had a few films from them last year and they had done that last year. We knew they had that potential. People were supposed to sit there and they kind of got lost in the wash and went too much with the flow.”

Gilman got tackles for loss from Lee Zagorski and Cooper Krug and Taydyn Angell hung on to Moulton to hold him to 5 yards on third and long to force a punt to start the third quarter. The Pirates had something going behind a 15-yard run and Krizan and a 17-yard run by Konsella, but Andersen’s interception, the only turnover of the game, killed that drive.

McDonell turned that possession into its third passing touchdown when Moulton snuck out of the backfield on a wheel route down the right side and scored uncontested. Again, Rosemeyer said the Pirates had that look scouted well, but just didn’t execute when the Macks pulled it out.

Needing two scores, Gilman instead was stopped on fourth and went three and out on its next two possessions.

“We were able to do some things with some motion because they’re very much a man-to-man team and they key running backs well,” Rosemeyer said. “We tried to get our running backs going the wrong way from where the play was going. Against a lot of teams those gaps open up for us and against those teams, if we hit those gaps, we’re going to score touchdowns. But they’re pretty fast. We had some big gainers, but they weren’t touchdowns where in other games they have been.”

A short punt gave Gilman the ball at the Macks’ 44 midway through the fourth quarter and the Pirates took advantage. A 19-yard third-down completion to Konsella and a 17-yard connection to Syryczuk set up a 1-yard score for Konsella, but when the Macks covered up the ensuing squib kick, Gilman never saw the football again.

Gilman finished with 254 yards of total offense, including 102 through the air and 152 on the ground. McDonell, who lost 5827 at top-ranked and unbeaten Owen-Withee the previous week, had 362 total yards with 187 passing yards and 175 yards on a pedestrian 3.2 yards per carry.

“I think we had eight plays over 15 yards and they had four or five,” Rosemeyer said. “We had a few more chunk plays, but we just couldn’t sustain drives and couldn’t convert the fourth downs. There were those 50-50 balls. They caught a couple of them and we didn’t catch any of them really. We averaged 6 yards a play and they averaged 5 yards a play. It’s just that they ran 68 plays to our 37.”

The Pirates aim to get back on track Friday when they host rival Thorp, another team that comes in at 2-1, 3-1, for homecoming at 7 p.m.