Jake McDonald made his 325th and final tackle for the Marion Indians Friday night, ending a brilliant career that saw him rank among the state leaders this season.

McDonald collected 135 tackles in nine games this year, which ranks third in Class 3A and 10th in the entire state. He also collected 21 tackles for loss, which leads Class 3A and ranks third in the state.

Unfortunately for McDonald, he won't make any more tackles because Marion finished with a 4-5 record and failed to make the playoffs. The Indians had high hopes, but lost four straight games after beginning the year with a 4-1 mark.

"Honestly, I think our biggest problem this year was ourselves," said McDonald, a sturdy 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker. "We were in every game, but we kind of shot ourselves in the foot in each one of our losses.

"Peanlties and turnovers and mental lapses just killed us," he said. "It's not an indicaton of what kind of team we have."

McDonald is naturally disappointed with the losing record and failure to make the playoffs, but said he enjoyed his final season of football with the Indians.

"This has probably been my favorite year of football my entire career," he said. "Of course I wish the wins would have been a lot better, but I've still had an absolutely amazing feeling.

"Just being a senior, I have amazing teammates. It's been a great year for me. I know we would have liked more wins and everything, but sometimes it's not meant to be."

McDonald made 62 tackles for Marion in 2009 as a sophomore. He had 128 tackles last year, then raised his total to 135 this season. He finished his career with 36 tackles for loss, spending considerable time in the opponents' backfield.

McDonald made a career-high 23 tackles against Union High School this year and recorded his 300th stop against Wes Burnside, Union's outstanding tailback.

McDonald weighed approximately 185 to 190 pounds as a sophomore, but he's grown to 220 the last few years and gotten faster.

"I've put on some muscle," he said proudly. "My goal has always been to play college football, and I just decided that I needed to go hard in the weight room and just work as hard as I could."

McDonald said he could bench-press 200 pounds as a sophomore, but presses 310 now. He also can squat 450 pounds or more, an impressive figure for a high school senior.

"I was really fortunate to be able to play as a sophomore, just to get that experience. And going into my junior year, it really helped me," he said.

"This past off-season I really made it my goal to work hard and get stronger and faster so I could be the best player I could be my senior year."

McDonald has received phone calls from the University of Dubuque, Coe and Upper Iowa and has received letters from other in-state schools. He'd love to join Iowa or Iowa State as a walk-on, but they haven't invited him yet.

He just wants a chance to play. "Wherever I can go," he said.