MONTAGUE – In order to make deep postseason runs, teams need their best players to have some of their best games.

Hayden McDonald has obviously had a lot of great games for Montague over the past three years, and helped the Wildcats win a state championship last season.

But now Montague is trying to repeat the feat in the Division 6 state playoffs, and the 6-foot-3, 295-pound McDonald is throwing everything he has into it.

The two-way lineman, an All-Stater on defense last season, had a monster game on Friday in Montague’s 41-7 victory over Central Montcalm in the district semifinals.

He finished with three quarterback sacks, and believes it was the best statistical performance of his high school career.

“It felt great,” said McDonald, who plays nose tackle on defense and had two sacks this season before his performance on Friday. “I was having a great game and my teammates were really cheering me on. It was a lot of fun. Three sacks were probably the most I’ve had in a game and it feels great.”

The importance of being at his best when the season is on the line isn’t lost on McDonald.

“I have to step up as a senior,” he said. “I have to lead the team the best I can, and it really helps to have a game like that.”

While McDonald has totaled 49 tackles so far this season, he admits getting a sack is a whole different feeling.

“It’s probably the best feeling in football..” he said. “You get to get up and celebrate with your teammates.”

Another person McDonald gets to celebrate with on the sidelines is his father, Matt McDonald, a Montague assistant coach who was Orchard View’s head coach in 2004 when the Cardinals won a state championship.

“That’s really special to me,” said the senior about having his father on the coaching staff. “He’s taught me everything I know. To have him as a coach, it’s helped create a stronger bond.”

That bond was showcased immediately following the 2020-2021 football season, when the Wildcats defeated Clinton to capture the Division 6 state championship at Ford Field.

“We have a great relationship,” said Hayden. “When we won the title, he was the first guy I went to. I gave him a big hug and we cried together. It was one of the best moments of my life.”

Hayden is hopeful that the Wildcats can duplicate that feeling again in 2021. They finished the regular season with a 6-3 record and won a share of the West Michigan Conference championship, and after reaching the top of the mountain last season, it’s hard to ignore the desire to do it once more.

“We’ve talked about it,” McDonald said about the possibility of repeating. “Right now we’re taking it one week at a time, though. We haven’t talked too much about it because of that.”

The Wildcats will be relying on McDonald’s senior leadership when they take the field on Friday on the road against Reed City in the district finals.

“He’s the leader of the offensive line,” said first year Montague head coach Justin Dennett. “It was all new starters around him this year. It was huge to have him there, and he understands the scheme so well that he gets everyone in the right spot. He makes sure that we’re executing correctly.”

While many senior football players have developed their skills as much as they’re going to, Dennett has noticed improvement throughout the season for McDonald.

“I’ve actually seen him improve quite a bit this season, especially on the defensive side of the ball,” the coach said. “He’s been really adjusting to how teams scheme him, and if you look at his production over the last few weeks, he’s making a ton of tackles and pressuring quarterbacks. He’s shown tremendous growth.”

When the Montague season ends at some point, McDonald will have some great options ahead of him, because he’s not only a great athlete, but an Academic All-Stater, which requires a minimum 3.5 grade point average.

“That’s really important to me,” said McDonald about putting just as much work into the classroom as the football field. “Getting those grades really helps me for the future. It will help me get a better scholarship and get to go to a good college, which will set me up for a better job.”