NORTH CANTON Hoover erased a 32-point halftime deficit Friday, rallying all the way back for a 38-34 win over McKinley at North Canton Memorial Stadium.

Senior tailback Erick Howard ran 34 times for 279 yards and three touchdowns as the Vikings forged a three-way tie atop the Federal League with Boardman and GlenOak with two weeks to go. Hoover plays GlenOak next week.

McKinley took advantage of three first-half fumbles by Hoover and DeShaun Montgomery's 28-yard interception return to take a 34-2 lead into halftime.

But Hoover recovered an onside kick to start the third quarter and was off and running from there.

Howard scored on runs of 42, 1 and 4 in the process of becoming Stark County's all-time leading scorer. Jordan Witt also scored on an 11-yard run and a 74-yard pass from Brett Tulodzieski.

Howard scored the go-ahead touchdown on his 4-yard run with a little more than two minutes to play.

Bryce Wilder led McKinley in rushing with 58 yards and two TDs. Kyle Ohradzansky threw two first-half touchdowns passes to Angelo Powell and Matt Ogletree.

But the Bulldogs had just four first downs in the second half and could not stop Hoover from storming back for the win.

Individual Scoring

M-Wilder 48 punt return (Forsythe kick)
H-Safety, Leek tackled Wilder in end zone
M-Powell 10 pass from Ohradzansky (Forsythe kick)
M-Ogletree 11 pass from Ohradzansky (Forsythe kick)
M-D.Montgomery 28 interception return (kick blocked)
M-Wilder 2 run (Forsythe kick)
H-Howard 42 run (Sarbaugh kick)
H-Witt 11 run (Sarbaugh kick)
H-Howard 1 run (Sarbaugh pass from Tulodzieski)
H-Witt 74 pass from Tulodzieski (Sarbaugh kick)
H-Howard 4 run (Sarbaugh kick)