Week Five - Close Games And The End Of A Reign

The regular season is half way over and the playoffs are beginning to loom on the horizon. Many teams have played themselves one game away from the playoffs while others are more or less eliminated. How is your school doing? Are they in contention or have they been eliminated? This past week’s slate of games had many close games so let’s get into it.

West Coast

Muskegon Orchard View 39 Spring Lake 23

The first half was crazy. In total, 50 points were scored in the first half with Orchard View holding a 27-23 lead at the break. Coming out of intermission, the Cardinals of Orchard View put together an 11 play 92 yard drive for a score. One of the big plays for OV was a 71 yard return for a touchdown by Jaquan White. The Lakers of Spring Lake played a good game. They had a 54 yard touchdown run by Andrew Skendrovic (who scored twice on the night) and a 50 yard run by quarterback Matt Rhem. Tailback Matt Latsch had 99 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns in the game for Muskegon. Orchard View remains unbeaten in the Lakes Eight Conference and has a great shot at winning the title if they can get past Fruitport this week and Fremont on October 17th.

Centralish Area of Michigan

Millington 20 Essexville Garber 19

Garber played tough in the first half. Millington rallied in the second half. After being down 13-0 at the break, Millington scored 20 unanswered points. The Dukes got the game started in the first half with an Andrew Aho five yard touchdown run. Aho finished the night with 196 yards on 34 carries. Then Garber scored again when Shane O’Mara picked off a pass and ran it in from 15 yards to put the Dukes up 13-0 at the half. In the third quarter, Kyle Hemingway got the Cardinals on the scoreboard with a one yard touchdown run and Ryan Ill recovered a blocked punt in the end zone to go up 14-13 within the first minute of the fourth quarter. Two minutes later, Hemingway ripped a 60 yard touchdown run but the extra point attempt failed for the Cardinals. Jake Hebert, Garber quarterback, threw a 13 yard touchdown pass to Mike Schroeder with a little over five minutes left, but the two point conversion failed. That put the score at 20-19 with Millington holding a slim lead. After Millington punted the ball back to Essexville, the Dukes drove to the Cardinal 31 yard line, but a Hebert pass was picked off by Josh Williams. It was a homecoming win for Millington.

Detroit

Rochester Adams 28 Southfield 26

So much for 100+ points in this game! Adams started out quick and held a 19-0 lead in the middle of the second quarter but Southfield running back Tim Keith didn’t like it. So he ripped off touchdown runs of 5, 53, and 82 yards in the second quarter to give his Bluejays the 20-19 lead at the half. Antwon Robinson picked of an Andrew Waszak pass and ran it 84 yards to pay dirt in the third quarter of play. On the kickoff after that score, Adam’s Cody Wilson returned the ball to Southfield’s 17. Beau Barterain scored a few plays later. After taking the lead on a field goal, Rochester Adams held a slim 28-26 advantage. This is when Joe Reynolds made the first of his two big plays. He caught a HUGE pass on 3rd and 15 to keep the clock moving. Unfortunately for Adams, Sidney Avery forced a fumble with under two minutes remaining, giving the ball back to Southfield. That’s when Reynolds came up with his other big play. With Southfield quarterback Eddie Beal completing a pass to the 30 yard line, Reynolds guessed they would throw to 6’4” Deandre Sutton. He guessed right and picked off the pass. Adams was able to run out the clock with the ball back in their possession.

Yooperland

Kingsford 42 Menominee 21

Some may say that Menominee had some boys on the injured list. Others may say that the Maroon’s defense was exposed in the past few games. Still other people will say that Kingsford played a heck of a game and just plain beat Menominee. The Flivvers had a 21-0 lead at the half. They were helped by Adam Mattord’s 177 yards on 16 carries and Sean Williams 145 on 13 for the game. Every time that the Maroons were successful in the second half, Kingsford responded with a score of their own. Kingsford out rushed Menominee 344 to 156 and out gained them in total offense 452-349. Flivver quarterback Chris Siegler went five of 11 for 108 yards and a touchdown. Mattord and Williams each had a long touchdown run in the third quarter with Mattord hitting a 57 yarder and Williams getting a 44 yard run.