Staff photo / Greg Macafee Canton McKinley’s Nino Hill breaks a run to the left side of the line of scrimmage Friday night against Warren G. Harding at Mollenkopf Stadium. Hall, who didn’t play in the first half, ran for 158 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries.

WARREN — Warren G. Harding stuck around with Canton McKinley as much as it could, but the Bulldogs delivered the final blow.

Following a 75-yard kickoff return by Harding’s Airiz Colemen-Bey with nine seconds left in the first half, Harding and Canton McKinley entered the locker rooms tied at 14. The second half was all about the Bulldogs though.

Behind Nino Hill, who carried the ball 11 times for 158 yards and two touchdowns, Canton McKinley scored 19 unanswered points and cruised to a 33-14 victory Friday night at Mollenkopf Stadium.

“We had the momentum going into halftime after the kickoff return, but they came and kind of took that momentum away from us,” Harding head coach Steve Arnold said. “They established the run and kept our offense off the field. We didn’t do too much offensively in the second. They just wore us down by running the football.”

After not playing in the first half for unknown reasons, Hall was the highlight of Canton McKinley’s first drive in the second half. He carried the ball on four of the seven plays as the Bulldogs marched 75 yards down the field. The junior running back capped off the drive when he scampered into the left side of the end zone from four yards out.

Hill found the end zone again at the beginning of the fourth quarter when he capped off a 56-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run. His score came four plays after he broke off a 34-yard run up the left side to put the Bulldogs in scoring position.

“That’s why he has Big Ten offers,” Arnold said. “I mean you saw his size, his speed, his elusiveness. He played a heck of a second half and they were a different team with him in the second half.”

The Bulldogs scored on their first drive of the game as senior quarterback Keaton Rode led his offense down the field. With 6:52 left in the first quarter Shaukeer Hatcher found the end zone from five yards out. He gave the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead after the point-after attempt was blocked by the Raiders.

The Harding defense then dug its heels in and stayed steady until the end of the half. After Rode showcased his escapability on the first drive, the Raiders were able to contain the quick signal-caller and stymied the Bulldogs’ offense.

“We made a few adjustments, but I think we just tackled better,” Arnold said about the changes the Raiders made from their first defensive drive. “Then we gave up a couple of big plays to McClellan, you can see why he has offers all across the country as well. He can hurt you offensively and defensively.”

On Harding’s lone scoring drive, they started on their own 43-yard line. After a short run from Antonio Smith, starting quarterback Drew McKowan found Devin Morgan down the left sideline for a 41-yard gain.

Senior running back Ryan Powell punched it in from five yards out three plays later to give the Raiders their only lead of the game.

Harding also dealt with injuries throughout as both Smith and Nehemiah Alexander went down with injuries and missed most of the game.

“That depleted our depth on the defensive line a little without him (Alexander),” Arnold said. “He and Antonio (Smith) both went down. Those are two of our better players, two senior players. So that hurt us a little bit. But I told the kids, we have no excuses. We have to come back and get ready to go.”

Despite the tough loss, Arnold learned a lot about his team. They are young and there will definitely be a learning curve for a lot of them. Now the challenge will be getting over that.

Arnold is positive they will be able to though.

“The game was a little fast for some guys today so we have to try and expedite that learning curve and teach them how fast this game can be at the varsity level,” Arnold said. “But we’ll get better and we’ll improve. These guys have experience and I’m telling you we are going to bounce back. I meant that’s a very good football team.”