The win completed a perfect 10-0 high school football regular season for Alter, earned the Knights an outright Greater Catholic League Co-Ed North Division title and finally secured a home playoff game.
Alter unofficially vaulted to No. 4 in Division IV, Region 16 and will open the playoffs next week at Fairmont’s Roush Stadium. Their opponent could be Dunbar (9-1), which eliminated City League rival Belmont from playoff contention also on Friday, 54-28.
CJ (6-4) had a five-game win streak snapped and needed to beat Alter to make the Region 16 playoff field.
“I went down the side and saw my two friends make the best double-iso block I’ve ever seen and I cut back and the rest is history,” said McKelvey, a speedy and physical receiver for the Knights. “This has been a goal since the beginning of the season. We talk about our goals and it’s state, we want to win state. We’ll prepare for our next opponent and hopefully keep this going.”
Alter bunched four quick scores on CJ in the first quarter. Top running back sub John Bivens had touchdown runs of 63 and 24 yards. Holden Rushing, the GCL Co-Ed’s leading rusher, scored on runs of 32 and 9 yards.
J.P. Schimpf had a 74-yard catch-and-run from quarterback Ryan Markoff and and Matt Ruffolo kicked a field goal of 39 yards. That all added up to an equal-opportunity offense that CJ had no answer for.
“I just can’t find a weakness,” CJ coach Marcus Colvin said. “From their kicker to the punter to tackling and the physical play up front. Everybody thinks CJ and Alter hate each other, but there’s a lot of respect there. I hope they get a chance to run the table (win a state title) and represent the GCL very well.”
The knock on Alter is the Knights have beaten just two winning teams, but that’s no fault of theirs. Nine of their games ended with running clocks. And the Knights rose to this 10-0 challenge magnificently.
Alter coach Ed Domsitz was unsure if this was Alter’s sixth or seventh 10-0 team. What is certain is the Knights are headed to the postseason for the 16 straight season. It’s also the 13th time since 2000 they’ve won at least 10 games.
“The kids buy into that tradition,” Domsitz said. “Now, they’ve established their own legacy and hopefully, there’s more to write.”
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