The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
INTERNATIONAL CITY
The scoreboard at George Daniel Field displays the Canadian flag as the Lorain High School Titans maching band plays the Canadian national anthem before the start of the Titans game with Clarkson Academy football team from Ontario on Sept. 22. The Titans
Lorain welcomed Clarkson Academy from Mississauga, Canada, and showed the Mustangs the speed and physicality of Titan football in a 42-21 win on Sept. 22 at George Daniel Field.
Lining up with players listed at 6-foot-7, 330-plus pounds and bigger, Clarkson was just the type of playoff level opponent Lorain coach Dave McFarland wanted his team to see at this stage of the season.
Lorain’s playmakers came up big in the third quarter and gave the Titans a signature win.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our young people. I think we’re getting better every week,” McFarland said. “Physically, that was an imposing team. I mean their size was enormous and I told (athletic director Bryan) Koury, I said this is great scheduling because this is like a first-round playoff game for us. So, I was real happy with how we responded and the physicalness of football. It’s a physical game and we got punched in the mouth and we punched them
in the mouth, so I’m happy with the physicalness.”
In a close ballgame after a couple of miscues late in the second quarter, the Titans began to use their speed against the big players of Clarkson.
Senior Tyshawn Lighty took the second-half kickoff 82 yards to the Clarkson 14-yard line. Two plays later, sophomore Daylin Dower deliver his third rushing touchdown to put the Titians back in control 26-14.
‘In the third quarter, we said, ‘Hey, we gotta come out and we’ve got to have energy’ and Tyshawn took one back and offensively we get it going,” McFarland said. “I think I’ve got the best back in the state of Ohio and once Daylin got going, look out.”
After missing the second half of last week’s win, Dower put to rest any notion that his shoulder injury was serious. On just his second touch of the game, Dower weaved and cut through the Clarkson defense for a 49-yard touchdown score.
Dower rotated in with senior Dakota Mincy and Tyshawn Nelson, but made his mark in the ground game with 97 yards on just 12 touches.
Looking to get Dower involved in the passing game, the Titans clamped down on the Mustangs’ first drive of the second half and gave the ball right back to the offense. Two
plays later, Dower caught a screen pass and sprinted 55 yards to the house to go up 34-14.
“I went in there a little sore, but the coaching staff had faith in me to get job done and then I went in there and got it done, nothing else to it,” Dower said. “I’ve got to run everything like its my last run so every run has got to be something special for me.”
Working around the big guys up front, the Titans’ game plan focused on offtackle plays to get around the logjam of girth in front of them. Dower said the game plan was key to the win.
“I’ve got this competitive spirit in me; heart over height,” Dower said. “I give a lot of credit to the front five. They worked really hard this week and knew they had a challenge coming in this week. They put their heads down and pushed through it for us. Big credit to them.”
Even though Clarkson is in just its second year of existence, the Mustangs travel far and wide to play. With pressure on Lorain’s secondary, the Titans needed someone big to come up.
Mincy came through, grabbing two interceptions.
“They are bigger, way bigger than us and coach told us to stay focused and watch for the passes, so I watched No. 1 and picked it off,” Mincy said. “Like I said earlier, this was going to put us on the map, Lorain is definitely going to get put on the map for that one.”