Austintown-Fitch Beats McDowell 21-12

Tagged under: District 10, Game Photos-Videos, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

Shane Lux | October 11, 2025

Austintown – Austintown-Fitch scored 21 consecutive points to down McDowell 21-12 Friday night at Greenwood Chevorlet Austintown Falcon Stadium.

Thus far in 2025, the Buckeye State has not been kind to McDowell, as following Friday night’s defeat, the Trojans dropped to 0-5 against Ohio-based schools while having a 3-0 record against Pennsylvania-based schools.

Last season, McDowell won a thriller, 38-35, over Austintown-Fitch. On Friday night, despite jumping out to a 6-0 lead in the second quarter, McDowell was unable to overcome miscues and mistakes.

“I’m proud of my guys,” said McDowell head coach Aaron Slocum. “It was what it was tonight. We made some mistakes at critical points in the game, but that’s football. I’m proud of the effort and the way guys played.”

Likewise, the Falcons have been rolling since a season-opening 28-14 loss to Hudson, by winning their fifth straight game.

Early on, it was the Trojans that had the upper hand as they took the opening kickoff and drove 70 yards in 18 plays, taking a 3-0 lead on Joseph Clark’s 22-yard field goal. The drive ate up over eight minutes of game clock.

During the midway point of the second quarter, Clark nailed his second field goal of the night from 27 yards out, giving the Trojans a 6-0 lead at the 6:33 mark of the second quarter.

Kameron Bastow had a 49-yard reception from Lucas Sult on the drive.

The Falcons then got their offense going and immediately took the lead when Fitch’s all-time leading rusher, junior tailback Deondray Richard, ran 25 yards, along with a 15-yard facemask penalty against the Trojans, which led to quarterback Collin Kalaher connecting with Brady Evans a play later for a 40-yard touchdown, putting Fitch ahead 7-6.

After forcing a punt, Richard was at it again as he took a screen pass 55 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the Falcons’ next drive.

Deondray Richard rushed for 113 yards on 13 carries, while catching two passes for 56 yards and a touchdown. Last week, during a 14-7 victory over Massillon Perry, Richard became the all-time leading rusher at Austintown-Fitch High School.

“This means a lot to us. Last year, we lost a really tight game 38-35,” Richard said. “We wanted to come back and show them who we are. I give all the credit to my lineman, so everything I get goes through them. I couldn’t do it without them. I just want to keep going and make sure nobody can ever touch that record.”

McDowell got the football back with 1:07 left in the first half at their 46-yard line. The Trojans drove to the Falcons’ 2-yard line in the closing seconds with no timeouts following a 16-yard completion from Lucas Sult to Kingston Dickerson.

With the clock running, the ball was snapped on the ground between Sult’s legs, with him recovering the ball back at the 18-yard line, losing the 16 yards they had gained on the prior play, while not being able to spike the ball for a field goal before the first half clock ran out.

Things then went from bad to worse as Mark Fitzgerald then intercepted Lucas Sult and ran it back 17 yards for a touchdown, giving Fitch a 21-6 lead with 7:03 to play in the third quarter.

“When you have an opportunity to score before the half, you have to be able to do that,” said Slocum. “Then we come out after the half and have the pick six that really puts us behind the eight ball. We were able to move the ball. We just couldn’t capitalize.”

Despite the Falcons recovering an onside kick, McDowell’s defense stepped up and forced a punt. In fact, the Trojans forced four punts and recovered a fumble on the five possessions of Fitch in the second half, not counting them kneeling out the clock in the closing minute.

Following the interception return, McDowell responded with a 9-play 84-yard drive, being capped off on Kameron Bastow’s 9-yard reception from Sulton, 2:38 to play in the third stanza.

The 2-point conversion pass failed, keeping the contest at 21-12.

Bastow caught a game-high ten passes for 131 yards, while Lucas Sult completed 16 of 26 passes for 178 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

McDowell held a 343-281 advantage in offensive yards.

With the Trojans down nine points in the fourth quarter, their best opportunity to make it a one-score game came when they took over at the Falcons’ 48-yard line with 7:51 to play.

They drove to the 13-yard line, where they faced a 4th-and-2 with just over four minutes to play. Tailback Brody Bonsell got the call, but came up 1 yard short of the sticks, turning the ball over on downs.

“If it’s a little longer there, then you probably kick the field goal right there,” said Slocum. “We only needed a couple of yards. I thought we had a good play call right there, but we came up a little short and couldn’t get the first down. I thought that was it, but we recovered a fumble and came back to do the same thing all over again. So, it was a case of missed opportunities. We just didn’t get it done.

Despite this, Bonsell still had another big night, rushing for a game-high 126 yards on 26 carries.

McDowell got the football back one final time, but to no avail; the Trojans turned the ball over on downs, and their record fell to 3-5.

Things won’t get any easier as they travel to Steubenville next Friday night; the Big Red defeated them 44-21 a season ago.

Austintown-Fitch improves to 6-1 on the season and will make the short trip to Boardman next Friday night.

Game Highlights:

Austintown-Fitch 21 McDowell 12

Score by Quarters

McDowell – 3 3 6 0 – 12

Austintown-Fitch – 0 14 7 0 – 21

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

M – Joseph Clark 22 yd field goal, 3:34 – 18-70

Second Quarter

M – Clark 27 yd field goal, 6:33 – 6-45

AF – Brady Evans 40 yd pass from Collin Kalaher, (Jaxon Faulkner pat), 6:15 – 2-80

AF – Deondray Richard 55 yd pass from Kalaher, (Faulkner pat), 2:54 – 1-55

Third Quarter

AF – Mark Fitzgerald 17 yd interception return, (Faulkner pat), 7:03

M – Kameron Bastow 9 yd pass from Lucas Sult, (pass failed), 2:38 – 9-84

Individual Stats

Rushing: M – Brody Bonsell 26-126, Deonte Flemings 6-30, Lucas Sult 9-11, Kameron Bastow 1-(-3), Team 1-(-16). Totals: 43-148. AF – Richard 13-113, Kalaher 2-1, Junie Higgs 7-30, Team 1-0. Totals: 23-144.

Receiving: M – Bastow 10-131, Kingston Dickerson 4-50, Bonsell 2-10, Owen Haffey 2-10, Zach Neff 1-4. AF – Richard 2-56, Evans 2-51, Altahire Iluono 2-20, Deandre Reed 1-1, Higgs 1-9, Isaiah Porch 1-0.

Passing: M – Sult 16 for 26, 178 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, Flemings 3-for-4, 17 yards. AF – Kalaher 9-for-18, 137 yards, 2 TD.

Interceptions: AF – Fitzgerald.

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews