Two teams that haven’t played since 1986 will clash when Dover makes the long journey to Mansfield to face the Mansfield Madison Comprehensive Rams Friday evening.
The Crimson Tornadoes (5-2), who are currently sitting in seventh place in the Division III Region 11 computer ratings, recorded a second consecutive win last Friday when they defeated the Wooster Generals, 48-28.
“It went well,” said Dover head coach Dan Ifft. “It was a little tough defensively for us because they were really a large football team, but we were able to get enough stops and get back on the field and score a little bit.”
Dover’s outstanding junior quarterback Jack Judkins had a big night through the airways, tossing three touchdown passes last week.
“Like I said, he’s really got uncanny accuracy, it’s just something he can do, whether he’s rolling out or sitting in the pocket,” Ifft said of Judkins. “He puts it pretty much where they’ve got to get it.
“And Daylen Clark had a heck of a game on both sides of the ball, and his brother, Dante Clark, had a great game defensively. (Two-way linemen) TJ Arnold and Jack McKinnon were their normal (great) selves, and a young man, Aidan Immel stepped up at linebacker for us.”
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The Tornadoes, who have been battling a myriad of injuries all season, had another standout go down last week.
“We just lost Jack McKinnon, he broke his hand pretty good and he’s out,” Ifft said. “It’s unbelievable for us. We’re without six or seven (injured starters) depending on what day it is. (Isaac) Blickensderfer is out all year, (Mayson) Royer is out all year and those were a lot of two-way guys.
"It’s not like anything I’ve experienced. I counted the other day; we dressed 38 kids for practice, and we had about another 10 standing on the sideline in street clothes.”
Ifft said he could not be more proud of many inexperienced Tornadoes who have stepped up with so many starters going down.
“It’s been very challenging but very rewarding in the same respect,” Ifft said. “You’re forced to do things a little differently from a coaching standpoint. Anybody can coach talent, so to speak, it’s when you get challenged that you find out if you can coach at all. We’re forced to tweak some X’s and O’s and tweak some of our alignments because we’ve lost this kid and that kid.
"From that standpoint, I’m real proud of the staff. They’ve taken the bull by the horns, and nobody has whined, and nobody has complained. It is what it is, it’s football and you get banged up. It’s just one of those unfortunate years for injuries, but we’re hanging.”
Dover will be facing a Madison Comprehensive (1-6) team with a 1-6 record, but the Rams have played teams tough. Four of their six losses were by a combined 15 points and all six of their setbacks have come to teams with winning records, including three unbeaten 7-0 squads in Shelby, Ontario and Ashland. Their lone win occurred in Week 4 when they bested Wooster, 35-24.
“On film, they do some pretty good things,” Ifft said. “Like I said about Wooster last week, they’re going to be all we can handle. The uninformed fan will say, 'Oh, they’re 1-6, this ought to be this or that', but seriously, they match up pretty well with us. They’re a pretty good-sized group up front.
“(Madison head coach Brent Besancon) likes to run the ball, he always has a tight end in the game and their basic plays are counters, buck sweeps, traps and isolations. They block well, and they’re coached well, and they work hard on what they do. When they need to throw, the quarterback is more than capable.”
The Rams are coming off a 35-21 setback to New Philadelphia last week.
The Tornadoes enter Week 8 averaging 32.5 points-per-game and allowing 23.5 ppg. Madison Comprehensive is scoring 20.8 points-per-game and surrendering 32 ppg.
“We’ve got to deal with them up front because they’re good sized, and that’s a concern every week for us,” Ifft said. “We’ve got to get our skill the ball, we’ve got pretty good skill kids, and we’ve got to get them the ball and see if they can make us right more than wrong.”
The Tornadoes own a commanding 23-6-1 lead in the series with the Rams, going back to the days when the two schools were both members of the original Cardinal Conference. Dover will officially rejoin the OCC in the fall of 2026 in football.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Next man up: Inexperienced Tornadoes stepping up as Dover starters go down
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