Week Six - Close Games and Championship Trophies

Week Six is finished and we are in the home stretch. The playoffs are shaping up nicely. There is even one team, the Carrollton Cavaliers who have made the playoffs for the first time ever and another team, the Dryden Cardinals who made the playoffs for the first time since 1996. The games this week were pretty close; we had a triple overtime, an underdog win, and two very, very close games. Just imagine, if y’all hadn’t went to the Phalanx and repeatedly told me that we needed some Lansing action, we wouldn’t have our three overtime game. Make sure you tell me if you have a game you’d like profiled. I can’t promise it will be the game that I use, but I’ll at least consider it! Let’s get into the action.

Mid Michigan

Bay City Western 28 Midland 21

Initially, I thought that Midland would win this game. With two top players out and a beat up quarterback named Matt Grew, Western showed that they wanted it more. From an account I heard this morning, early in the game Bay City Western’s student section was chanting “OVERRATED!” That ended pretty quickly because as they were chanting it, Midland scored. The first half belonged to Midland in part because of the mistakes that the Warriors made. Two drives went deep inside Chemic territory, but turnovers stopped those drives. It was close at the half, with Midland up 14-7. Early in the fourth quarter, Midland was up 21-14 and was poised to put more points on the board. They had fourth down at the Warrior four yard line. Bay City jumped offside and Midland coach Eric Methner pulled his kicking team off the field and sent his offense back in. Unfortunately, they fumbled and Bay City recovered, drove 97 yards and scored the tying touchdown. After another fumble on the ensuing drive by Midland, Bay City drove on a short field and got the winning score. My buddy at 7-11 told me at this point of the game, the Midland side was pretty quiet…so the Western student section started chanting, “WHY SO QUIET?” Midland drove one last time, but quarterback Andrew Maxwell was sacked on fourth down. For the game, Maxwell was 12 of 22 for 217 yards and no touchdowns.

Capital Area

Pewamo-Westphalia 31 Potterville 28 (3OT)

This game is for MSU88Chick. She loves the overtime games in the Lansing area, and this game was a thriller! Much better than Laingsburg’s 73 point win over Bath. Led by junior quarterback Chad Titmus and his two touchdown passes (16yds and 65yds) Potterville had an early lead in the game. With that lead late in the fourth quarter, disaster struck.  A bad punt snap allowed P-W to get the ball on the Potterville 36 yard line. Shortly after, Charlie Hengesbach (6 of 16 for 130 yards and a TD) tossed a 25 yard touchdown pass to Cody Martin to tie the game and send it into overtime. Bryce Starr and Jesse Thelen scored for their teams in the first overtime forcing a second period. Both teams were stopped so they each attempted a field goal and both teams missed. In the third overtime, Dustin Wieber forced a Potterville fumble, giving the ball back to P-W. This time, Matt Souza kicked a 17 yard field goal to give Pewamo-Westphalia the victory. P-W is now in the driver’s seat for the Central Michigan Athletic Conference Championship.

Northern Michigan

Frankfort 20 Kingsley 7

On the second play of the game, Frankfort’s Wade Luxford intercepted a Josh Nix pass and ran it back to the Kingsley eight yard line. Three plays later, Devin Gokey scored. After a three and out by Kingsley, the Panthers marched 60 yards capped by Luxford’s 13 yard touchdown run. Luxford also scored in the second quarter on a 26 yard run by quarterback Wade Luxford. Kingsley did get on the board before halftime though, on a Maurice Sims six yard touchdown run to finish a 13 play, 66 yard drive. Even though the Stags drove deep into Frankfort territory in the second half, they were unable to score. When they gave the ball back to Frankfort with 10:39 left in the fourth quarter, they expected their defense to hold and give them the ball back. Unfortunately for the Stags, Frankfort never gave the ball back. The Panthers were led by Kyle Brouillet who had 97 yards on 13 carries and Wade Luxford, who had to be the game’s MVP, who had 74 yards on 14 carries, an interception, and a touchdown run. Now Frankfort needs a win over Benzie Central (0-6) to win the Northwest Conference title.

Detroit

Novi 28 Livonia Stevenson 27

With a touchdown by Paul Favorite, Novi pulled within one with 1:45 left in the game. He also had the two point conversion to get the one point lead. Stevenson wasn’t finished though. They marched down the field and had a chance with time about to expire. Unfortunately for Stevenson, an incomplete pass in the end zone is how the game finished. Favorite had 93 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns. Their quarterback, senior Chris Bellamy, was eight of 14 for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Even the young guys got some big stats. Sophomore linebacker Krister Engja had 20 tackles for Novi. On the Stevenson side, Austin White, a junior running back, carried the ball 18 times for 157 yards and a touchdown. Livonia quarterback Jacob Gudeman went nine for 20 for 141 yards and a touchdown.

West Coast

Muskegon 29 Hudsonville 26

6,000 fans got to see a homecoming win over Hudsonville, but not in the usual fashion. For two teams that typically grind it out on the ground, both teams utilized the arms of their quarterbacks to try and win the game. For Muskegon, quarterback Elan Banks went 22 of 31 for a school record 318 passing yards (two of his passes went for touchdowns). The Big Reds were lucky though. They made their share of mistakes as is evident by their five turnovers (fumbles). It was far from over in the fourth quarter as Hudsonville rallied with two touchdowns to take a 26-22 lead. Eagles quarterback Casey Blackport was 14 of 30 for 233 yards and two touchdowns. Jordan Jonker, running back for the Eagles, had a 67 yard run on Hundsonville’s first play of the game and added a 72 yard fumble recovery in the fourth quarter that was a momentum shifter. For Muskegon, Jason Hannett had 133 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown. The margin of victory, three points, was essentially scored in the third quarter when Jubenal Rodrigeuz hit a 27 yard field goal.