Carmine Carafelli and Danny Pak were shut out for 30 minutes Friday night.
Quarterback Trent Ison wasn’t much better, completing just 3-of-10 passes for 30 yards.
The trio came through with the game on the line, leading Gibraltar Carlson to a dramatic 27-23 win over Woodhaven in a battle of unbeaten teams on Friday, Oct. 10.
Purdue recruit Izaiah Wright had another big game for the Marauders with 223 rushing yards on 31 carries, but the passing game was almost nonexistent for most of the game.
But when a Jacob Collins interception with a little over two minutes left gave Carlson a final chance on its own 25-yard line trailing 23-21, coach Jason Gendron had no choice but to go to the air.
The Marauders quickly moved down the field as Ison completed two passes to Carafelli for 39 yards and a 14-yarder to Pak.
That moved Carlson to the Woodhaven 28.
Wright, who topped 1,000 rushing yards for the season, took it from there.
He sprinted 21 yards into the red zone, then scored the winning touchdown on a 7-yard run with 59 seconds left.
The entire drive took just over a minute off the clock.
Punter Noah Latzy was an unsung hero for the 7-0 Marauders.
“Noah Latzy did a great job of flipping the field the whole night,” Gendron said. “He was awesome.”
Carlson has two Downriver League games remaining, but is firmly in the drivers’ seat for its fifth consecutive league title.
“I feel like we answered adversity all night,” Gendron said. “That’s good for us. It makes us battle tested and gives us confidence when we face those moments in big games.”
Bears get a share
Jefferson’s 53-14 victory over Grosse Ile coupled with Riverview’s 14-13 verdict over St. Mary Catholic Central allowed Jefferson to clinch at least a share of the Huron League championship for the first time since 2001.
Jefferson coach Rob Beaudrie knew that was a possibility going into the game, but wanted his players and staff concentrating on the task at hand.
“I told them I don’t want to know anything about it until the end,” Beaudrie said.
It seems his instructions were not obeyed.
“With about two minutes to go, I saw my coaches all talking and smiling on the sidelines,” Beaudrie said. “I said, ‘Okay guys, what’s going on?’”
Beaudrie was told the SMCC-Riverview score and shared the results with the players during his postgame talk.
“The guys were all going crazy,” Beaudrie said. “I am happy for my kids and coaching staff. Everyone has put in so much time.”
Jefferson stands alone atop the league standings at 6-0 with SMCC and Riverview both standing at 5-1. The Bears can claim the outright title with a victory over SMCC Friday.
If SMCC wins and Riverview takes care of Grosse Ile, the three teams would share the championship.
Jefferson junior quarterback Luke Beaudrie broke career school records for touchdowns (52) and points (348).
Trey Oldenburg had the best game of his senior season with four catches for 67 yards and a touchdown and kicked a trio of PATs.
“He finally broke out,” Beaudrie said.
Oldenburg took over on extra points when normal kicker Caleb Henry moved to long snapper because of an injury.
Beaten at their own game
Strong play in the trenches spurred a 6-0 start by St. Mary Catholic Central. The Falcons did not win the battles on the line during their 14-13 loss to Riverview.
“They executed up front better than we did,” SMCC coach Adam Kipf said. “We’ve had pretty solid line play all year. We took a step back in this game.”
Now the Falcons turn their attention to Friday’s game at Jefferson.
“We’re still playing for the league title,” Kipf said.
Historic production
Whiteford’s 84-0 win over Erie Mason Saturday night had local football historian Doug Donnelly scouring through the archives.
His research so far indicates that the Monroe County Region for most points in a game is 117.
Monroe (117-0 over Dundee in 1912) and Lambertville (117-0 over Ypsilanti Central reserves in 1928) achieved that number. Donnelly also found a 92-0 victory for Carleton over Wayne reserves in 1936.
Lambertville and Carleton, two schools which no longer exist, probably do not qualify since their big point production came again against junior varsity opponents.
Whiteford’s total appears to be the second-best in Region history.
Also topping 80 were Monroe Catholic Central (83-0 over Ida in 1959) and Erie Mason (80-42 vs. Britton Deerfield in 2019).
Mason’s momentum quashed
The loss for Erie Mason comes a week after the Eagles had matched their season high for points.
“This has been an extremely tough season,” coach Steve Bowers said of his winless Eagles. “We felt good after last week. It’s unfortunate we had to roll right into a matchup with a team like Whiteford. They’re a great football team.”
Mason finishes the season with games against Ottawa Hills and Summerfield.
“There’s no sugarcoating a loss like this,” Bowers said. “Nobody likes losing this way and it doesn’t feel good. We’ve got a long way to go as a team and as a program.
“We have a choice: we can let this game define us or we can keep showing up, working hard, holding each other accountable and fighting over these next two weeks to finish the season with something positive to build on.”
Quarterback back in action
Joel Scully reminded Flat Rock fans what they have been missing Friday night.
The junior quarterback, who had missed the previous two games with a high ankle sprain, didn’t start Friday’s 51-14 win over Milan, but came on to complete 5-of-6 passes for 192 yards and 2 touchdowns.
“He’s slowly coming back, but he’s not 100 percent,” Flat Rock coach Buck Reaume said. “He finally started practicing Thursday. We didn’t want him to re-injure it.
“We didn’t start the game very well. We came out flat and needed a spark, so we put him in. He really gave us a shot in the arm.”
Tough road home
There can’t be a team in the state with a tougher schedule in the final two games of the regular season than Bedford.
The Mules make a trip Friday to play a Saline team ranked No. 3 in Division 1, then come home to finish against Detroit Cass Tech, which is No. 1 in Division 1.
“We’ve had a tremendously difficult schedule,” Mules coach John Phillips said. “Six of the nine teams are playoff bound.”
Because of that tough schedule, Bedford still may be able to lose the next two games and make the playoffs at 4-5.
“We took a lot of criticism for scheduling Cass Tech, but they will bring a lot of (playoff) points,” Phillips said.
Strong opening statement
New Boston Huron got off to a great start during a 56-14 win over Airport Friday with 21 points in the first quarter.
“Last year they jumped on us,” Huron coach Tom Hoover said. “They scored on a trick play, then tried an onside kick and got it. We told the guys they’ve got to be prepared to start this game.”
The 3-4 Chiefs did that with a trio of touchdowns in the opening period including two on runs by Jamil Brown. The junior son of former NFL star Gilbert Brown finished with 144 rushing yards.
Huron also got 111 rushing yards and a TD on 10 carries from sophomore Mark Moore.
“Around midseason of his JV year as a ninth grader, he started busting some long runs,” Hoover said. “He was playing defensive back for us, but we threw him over on O because we had a couple of kids going through some (injury) things. He hits the hole hard. He’s very explosive. He has a bright future.”
Learning on the job
Monroe’s Timmy Richards is getting better each week.
The sophomore, who was thrust into the quarterback job because of an injury, had the best game of his varsity career Friday in a 21-14 loss to Ann Arbor Pioneer.
He was the leading rusher for the Trojans with 24 carries for 115 yards and a touchdown and also completed 8-of-19 passes for 115 yards.
Positive signs for Milan
The final score showed Milan on the short end of a 51-14 score against Flat Rock, but Big Reds coach Jesse Hoskins found some good things in the sixth straight loss for his team.
Milan actually scored first and moved the ball effectively at times with Shawn Ballard rushing for 111 yards.
“We started fast with a turnover and a touchdown, but Flat Rock was able to regain momentum,” Hoskins said. “There were some signs of improvement tonight that we can build on for the final two weeks.”
Getting offensive
Dundee lost its rivalry game against Ida 63-28, but put its progress was on display — especially on offense.
The Vikings scored more points against Ida than anyone else this season.
“We fought hard tonight,” Dundee coach Jason Carpenter said. “We only had 26 eligible healthy bodies and our guys battled. Some of our freshmen and sophomores stepped up and played well. It bodes well for the future.”
Ida coach Jeff Potter tipped his hat to the Vikings.
“Credit to them,” he said. “Their kids played hard.”
But Potter was not pleased with some uncharacteristic mistakes by his 6-1 team.
“We had a couple of breakdowns,” he said. “We need to get better. We’re just lacking consistency right now.”The Blue Streaks face a big test this week with 5-2 Clinton coming to Hemelgarn Field.
Clearing the century mark
Former Summerfield coach Erik Johnson recently topped 100 career wins.
He went 60-33 at Summerfield and owns a 41-43 mark at Britton Deerfield.
His Patriots are 6-1 this season and are expected to make a long run in the 8-player state tournament. They were 10-2 last season and reached the state semifinals.
BEST OF WEEK 7
RUSHING YARDS
Izaiah Wright, Carlson 223
Rocco Pillarelli, Whiteford 181
Luke Beaudrie, Jefferson 157
Jamil Brown, Huron 144
Braden Bydlowski, Ida 125
PASSING YARDS
Brayden Mason, Dundee 245
Joel Scully, Flat Rock 192
Luke Beaudrie, Jefferson 132
Cash Moczdlowsky, Huron 132
Reece Kalb, Summerfield 115
RECEIVING YARDS
Camden Fairchild, Dundee 109
Evan Szalay, Flat Rock 158
Dayton Miller, Huron 107
Gavin Albring, Ida 91
Trey Oldenburg, Jefferson 67
Allen Roof, Summerfield 67
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Takeaways from Monroe County Region football games in Week 7
Reporting by Niles Kruger, The Monroe News / The Monroe News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
