H.S. Football: Marcus McMahon runs for 247 yards and four touchdowns in Midview win

WESTLAKE — Early in the second quarter of Midview's 48-14 win over Westlake on Friday, the game was still very much in the balance. The Middies led 14-7, but had just gotten a stop near midfield and taken over at their own 35. On the first play of the drive, they handed the ball to senior running back Marcus McMahon, who broke a couple of tackles, bounced outside and sprinted 65 yards down the sideline for his second touchdown of the night. "It was thanks to my o-line," McMahon said. "They were just padding up on everybody up the middle, doing their job." The teams traded touchdowns on their next two drives and with under three minutes to go in the first half Midview led 28-14, but Westlake was driving, trying to make it a one-score game going into the half. The Demons were about to cross midfield when Moe Abdelhady's third-down pass was picked off by sophomore Ian Regan and a couple minutes later the Middies were taking a 21-point lead into the break after McMahon's third touchdown. "It was huge," Midview coach Jack Armstrong said about the interception. "We have a lot of young guys and are replacing a lot of guys on defense, so it took them a little bit to settle in, but once they did we didn't give up a score in the second half so I was proud of the defense." Midview opened the third quarter with a couple of stops and two more touchdowns, the first on a 30-yard pass from Shay Williams that was dropped perfectly into the diving arms of Zachary Wallace in the front of the end zone. The second came from McMahon, who capped the stellar start to his senior season with a 2-yard touchdown run, his fourth of the night. McMahon finished with 247 yards and four touchdowns, 220 of the yards and three of the touchdowns coming in the first half. In the second quarter, in addition to the 65-yard touchdown, McMahon broke off a number of long runs that showed off Midview's physical domination. "If they don't tackle, or tackle low, we're just gonna keep going and keep pushing it," McMahon said. "We're gonna be more physical than them and just keep driving." With McMahon at the front, Midview's offense battered Westlake throughout the game, which was no shock to Armstrong. "(McMahon) worked his butt off this offseason," Armstrong said. "He was always the one giving the hit and never the one receiving it. That's part of believing what we do here, and he's one that sets the tone with that. So I'm not surprised by it." Physicality was clearly a focus for Armstrong in the offseason and he was thrilled with the way his team came out in the opening week of the season. "They believed in the brand of 'we're going to be the most physical football team' and we saw that," Armstrong said. "We wore them down with that, and I couldn't be more proud of them." While Friday's win was led by the Middies' ground game, one of the most important plays of the night came through the air when Williams found Brennen Newton in the corner of the end zone on fourth-and-20 to put them up 14-7 near the end of the first quarter. Midview had just given up a touchdown and was in danger of ending a long drive with nothing when Williams and Newton connected for the score. "Sometimes you throw the ball to one of your best athletes and you've got to trust him to bring it down," Armstrong said. Midview came into this year looking to build off the success of last season, and it couldn't have dreamed up a better start to the year. "It feels amazing," McMahon said. "We worked so hard for this in the offseason, and it's just a great feeling that our hard work paid off." Contact William Cunningham at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.