Posen blanks mistake-ridden Au Gres, hosts winless Arenac
The Posen defense earned its second shutout in three weeks with a hard-fought 14-0 victory over Au Gres Friday night in the North Star League opener for the Vikings. It had been 20 games between the last shutout in 2000 against Hillman and the 56-0 pasting of De Tour in week two, but Howard Madsen?s defensive unit, which has been earning a bend-but-not-break reputation the last couple of weeks, didn?t wait as long for the next shutout.
Posen scored touchdowns on a four-yard run by quarterback Matt Ponik in the first quarter and a three-yard plunge by runningback Richie Kroll in the early minutes of the fourth quarter. The points were enough offense to keep PHS undefeated in 2003 (4-0, 1-0) and to keep a 16-game regular season unbeaten streak going. The Vikings will look to tie a school record of 17 straight with a victory against winless Arenac Eastern (0-4, 0-3).
THE WIN AGAINST Au Gres, which is the first in the defense of the NSL crown for Posen, was no walk in the park. ?They gave us all we could handle,? said coach Glenn Budnick.
The Vikes got that message on their first possession of the game when they were stopped by the Wolverine defense on a fourth-and-one. Au Gres got the ball after the stop, but fumbled it away. James Sobek was credited with the fumble recovery and Posen went back on offense.
The Vikings, after a timeout by Budnick, pushed the ball deep into Au Gres territory, but were stopped on a fourth-and-four at the Wolverines? 15-yard-line. Au Gres coughed up the ball on its second play from scrimmage, with Aaron Hincka getting there first, which set up the first points of the game. Three players later, Ponik tucked the ball and outran the defense to the right corner of the endzone. Richie Kroll ran in the two-point conversion with 2:49 left in the first quarter and the lead was 8-0.
THE WOLVERINES went three and out, punting the ball to the Posen 15, and the drive moved down the field, aided by a 31-yard run by Kroll, but the Wolverines stopped the Vikes at the Au Gres 10-yard line. That?s where the Wolverines started to assert themselves, driving to inside the Posen five-yard line, before one of the key plays of the game occurred with less than a minute left in the first half. Au Gres appeared to have scored, and the six points had been put on the scoreboard after a lineman recovered the ball in the end zone, but it was brought back on an inadvertent whistle.
The Wolverines got no points, and had to go back on offense, but it turned into disaster when Posen defender Matt Szczerowski sacked the quarterback on third-and-one. While spinning the QB around, the ball came loose and Matt was there to get it. The bend-but-not-break defense came through again when Au Gres started its first drive of the second half. A weak pass, which may have been tipped, was picked off by Ponik in the endzone. The Vikings drove the field again, but stalled in the red zone, and gave up the ball on downs.
The Wolverines failed to move the ball and had to punt. WHEN POSEN got the ball back, senior Ron Kroll broke a long 36-yard run to the three yard line in the early minutes of the fourth quarter. Richie Kroll, be
The Wolverines thought they scored again after returning the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, but it was called back on a holding penalty. Madsen?s P-Town crew preserved the shutout in the final minutes. Ron Kroll was the leading rusher with 96 yards on 14 carries. He was followed by Jesse Romel with 74 yards on the ground and 62 from Richie Kroll. Posen had 283 total yards of offense, while Au Gres had 221.
The game against Arenac will be the last warm up before the much-anticipated game against highly-ranked Mio, but Budnick?s going keep his troops focused at the game at hand for week five, not the one in week six.