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Week 8 MHSAA Football Review

With Week Eight now in the books, there is only one final week before the postseason begins! Anticipation is building across the state to see if “our boys” will make a run at a state championship. At other schools, anticipation is building to see if “our boys’ basketball team” will do well. That’s not exactly the sentiment you want going into the final week of the regular season, but for squads not making the playoffs, it’s all they have. That’s not what I’m all about right now though; Week Ten is on my mind as well as finishing strong with my freshman team. The self-proclaimed “ATM – Automatic Touchdown Machine” told me he wants to finish with a strong game and “Talks A Lot of Smack” is still talking smack. Luckily, he likes to talk it to his teammates and rarely runs his mouth on the field. I’m still waiting on him to break a long run for me that he claims he did while I was going to the locker room to get the headphones. Now that I got my guys excited by talking about them in my article, let’s get to last week’s action.

Detroit

Wyandotte Roosevelt 43 Allen Park 7

When a team wins like this, you have to wonder what went so right. According to running back Tyler Dunn, it’s easy to do when you have huge linemen giving you great blocks on every single rushing attempt. Dunn only carried the ball eight times, but ran for 115 yards and scored two touchdowns while also scoring twice on receptions. Quarterback Kevin Matejko completed nine of his 13 passes for 121 yards and three touchdowns. Kyle Matejko ran for 98 yards and a score on ten rushes. Devan Stewart caught two passes for 39 yards and two scores. For Allen Park, quarterback Austin Millner completed three of his seven passes for 11 yards. He also ran nine times for 88 yards and his team’s only score. Kyle Oakley ran seven times for 24 yards.

West Coast

Edwardsburg 42 Berrien Springs 13

For those who like old school, punch you in the mouth and tackle you soundly, this was the game for you. These two teams hit each other so hard that five starters ended up with injuries that knocked them out. Two lightning delays caused the game to take about four hours to complete. The Wing T offense for the Eddies helped propel them to a nice win. They rushed for 360 yards and scored four times while also getting points from a kickoff return and a blocked punt. Adam Kendall rushed for 98 yards on four carries and scored once. Quarterback Ethan Zimmerman ran for a 49 yard score in the first quarter as well. For Berrien Springs, neither score came from the offense. Alex Padla recovered a fumble and ran 64 yards for a touchdown. In the fourth quarter, Chris Rodgers returned a kickoff 84 yards for the final score of the game.

Mid-Michigan

Ithaca 55 Carrollton 13

The Yellowjackets stung the Cavaliers last Friday. Before Carrollton’s final drive of the night, Ithaca had held them to 13 rushing yards. That’s amazing considering that Carrollton has three good running backs. Yellowjacket quarterback Travis Smith completed 17 of his 22 passes for 186 yards and four touchdowns. Charles Schnetzler caught two of them (six receptions for 57 yards) and David Brown and Markes Gadlen each chipped in a scoring reception. Smith also carried the ball 14 times for 47 yards and one more score. Garrett Miniard ran the ball in from 16 yards out while finishing with eight carries for 39 yards. Gadlen also returned a kickoff 93 yards to set up a one yard touchdown run. For the Cavaliers, quarterback Ray Flores completed seven of his 23 passes for 186 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions. He also ran four times for a negative 10 yards, but scored a rushing touchdown. Cameron Goschke ran nine times for 24 yards and also nabbed four receptions for 104 yards. Roman Mathews caught one ball for 17 yards but it went for a score.

North

Cedarville 13 Bellaire 0

This game was won up front.  Jason West kept Bellaire quarterback Reece Koepke on his toes all night with a monstrous pass rush from the defensive tackle and defensive end positions. Koepke finished with 104 rushing yards on 26 carries. He also completed seven of his 13 passes for 86 yards. For Cedarville, Kaden Barbeaux ran 18 times for 138 yards and scored on a 16 yard running play. Bobby Krackowski completed seven of his 17 passes for 94 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. That TD pass went to Matt Hill.

Capital Area

East Lansing 17 Grand Ledge 0

The first half was a defensive struggle. East Lansing got on the board with a 26 yard field goal by quarterback Alex Carlson as time expired. Two touchdowns in the first half were brought back because of penalties. Carlson completed nine of his 16 passes for 74 yards and two touchdowns while running five times for an additional 65 yards. . Elijah Hamilton-Wray caught a 28 yard score in the third quarter while Chris Hagan caught a three yard scoring pass on the first play of the fourth quarter.  Hagan also caught another pass for eight yards. Efe Scott-Emuakpor caught four balls for 32 yards. Grand Ledge used two quarterbacks. Jalen Brady completed eight of his 15 passes for 79 yards while Nathan Megge completed seven of his 15 for 33 more. Brady rushed 10 times for 12 yards while Megge ran five for 15. Blake Dahlstrom pulled in four receptions for 40 yards to lead their receiving corps.