ROGERS CITY – The Inland Lakes football team doesn’t just keep winning.
It keeps shutting teams out.
For the fifth time in six games this fall, the Bulldogs held an opponent scoreless, cruising to a 51-0 victory at Rogers City on Friday, Oct. 3.
With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 6-0 on the campaign.
Inland Lakes relentless throughout on defense
There weren’t many times the Hurons (4-2) moved the ball, but they did find success on their second drive of the game, which put them in scoring position.
With the Bulldogs struggling with tackling, Inland Lakes coach Travis Meyer called a timeout and challenged his guys to get their act together.
Meyer’s timeout worked as Inland Lakes elevated its play and took control the rest of the way.
“(Rogers City) tested us early and our guys maybe weren’t ready to play,” Meyer said. “We ended up calling an early timeout just to kind of challenge them and clarify expectations, and they really met them after that.”
Efficient offense
Even after Rogers City recovered an onside kick to start the game, the Bulldogs stood tall defensively and handed the ball back to the offense, which saw senior Andre Bradford explode for a 40-yard touchdown run to put the Bulldogs up early.
Once Inland Lakes got the ball back, its offense took advantage of great field position and finished off a short drive with a 3-yard TD run from senior Wyatt Hanel, which helped push the Bulldogs’ lead to 16-0.
The Bulldogs kept their foot on the pedal in the second quarter, receiving TD runs from Hanel (6 yards), Bradford (7 yards) and junior Landon Fenstermaker (25 yards) to increase their advantage to 37-0 by halftime.
“I think it’s a great win,” Bradford said. “This is the first year in a long time that we’ve actually been near the top for playoff points, so I think being undefeated just keeps us rolling, keeps us wanting to play football every week, and a loss would probably hurt us pretty badly, but I think we’re to the point where we’re playing so well as a team that I think it’s going to be tough to knock us off right now.”
Inland Lakes wrapped up a productive offensive night when Bradford broke loose for another 40-yard TD score in the third quarter, and senior quarterback Ty Kolly connected with junior Collin Maves on a 13-yard TD pass in the fourth.
Homecoming next week
Currently second in the Michigan Sports Writers 8-player Division 1 rankings, the Bulldogs are feeling good about themselves as they head to Week 7, which will be a 7 p.m. homecoming clash with the Pellston Hornets on Friday, Oct. 10.
As dominant as Inland Lakes has been on both sides of the ball, the Bulldogs are taking everyone they face seriously as they make a push for a playoff berth and a second consecutive 9-0 regular-season campaign.
“I’m excited for homecoming against Pellston, it’s going to be a good game, it’s going to be rowdy,” Bradford said. “We’re looking forward to it.”
Defensively, Fenstermaker and Hanel each intercepted a pass for Inland Lakes.
Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf at jgreenleaf@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @sportsCDT
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Inland Lakes football defense feasts again, improves to 6-0 with win at Rogers City
Reporting by Jared Greenleaf, Cheboygan Daily Tribune / Cheboygan Daily Tribune
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