Saints take 46-22 win over Hurons
by Richard Lamb– Advance Editor Rogers City?s 14-12 lead faded away in the wake of five unanswered St. Ignace touchdowns in a 46-22 loss to the Saints last week. This Friday, the Hurons face off against Indian River Inland Lakes (2-2), who defeated Central Lake (2-2) 14-7 last week. ?Inland Lakes runs a variety of sets but mostly what they seem to want is to get the ball to (senior running back Justin) Flowers,? said Huron coach Mike Kosiara. Last week Flowers had both touchdowns including a 37-yard burst in the first quarter and the winning score, a one-yard plunge in the fourth. Friday?s Huron game is the first contest away from Gilpin Field. Rogers City hosts Rudyard October 9 in the homecoming game, also the final regular season game at home for the season.
LAST WEEK against St. Ignace, the Saints took advantage of six Huron turnovers turning them into scores. The Saints scored first on a 65-yard pass play with 4:01 left in the quarter. Rogers City came back to take the lead. David Lewandowski?s 52-yard kickoff return set up the first touchdown. Rogers City needed eight plays in the drive to tie the score. Junior running back Keegan Urban followed the blocks of Cody Elowsky and Ben Tulgestke to the end zone on the first play of the second quarter to tie the score at 6-6. Pat Quaine connected with Tulgestke on the two-point conversion for an 8-6 lead. The Huron defense forced a St. Ignace punt and one play later, the Hurons had the lead. Brandon Haneckow lined up wide right, cleared the cornerback and looked for the pass. Quaine took the snap from center Alec Brietzke, in for the injured Zach Sobeck, looked left then locked in on Haneckow. Quaine delivered the ball to Haneckow?s hip and the senior wide receiver took it the rest of the way to the south end zone for a 14-12 Huron lead with 10:34 left in the half.
THAT LEAD lasted about six minutes before the Saints struck back with three TDs in less than seven minutes. The first came on a 65-yard run from senior quarterback Gerrit Mortensen with 6:57 left in the half. Mortensen connected with Austin St. Louis on a 50-yard pass, after the Hurons went four-and-out on its next possession. That gave the visitors a 20-14 lead with 4:34 left in the second quarter. The teams traded possessions, the Hurons fumbled once and punted once before the Saints struck again. This time Saints? senior fullback Caleb Litzner appeared to be stopped at the line of scrimmage, but he eluded a circle of Huron tacklers before busting loose for a 70-yard TD run with 49 seconds left in the half. St. Ignace led 26-14 at halftime.
ROGERS CITY?S FIRST possession of the second half started at its own 43 and ended 10 plays and five minutes later with a failed fourth down conversion. The teams traded punts until the Saints, with a Mortensen to Litzner 20-yard pass, lit up the scoreboard again. The score stood 33-14 in favor of the Saints with 41 seconds left in the third quarter. A turnover set up the next Saints score as a mishandled punt by the Hurons gave St. Ignace the ball on the Huron 22. This time Mortensen found John Evashevski for a 12-yard score and a 39-14 Saint lead with 9:44 left in the game. The Hurons grew tired of watching Mortensen direct scores against their defense, as he has for the past three years as a starter.
?He has got nine lives back there. The kids have to play perfect to stop a guy like Mortensen. A lot of times our guys who had outside containment were caught inside and he was getting out around them. When you play a team like St. Ignace, you can?t afford to make those little mistakes,? Kosiara said. Runs by Quaine and Lewandowski and a fourth down pass to Chris Vogelheim moved the chains for the Hurons to begin their last scoring drive. Then, on another fourth down, Quaine hit Vogelheim for a 14-yard score. Quaine?s pass to Haneckow on the conversion cut the Saints? lead to 39-22 with 6:06 left in the game.
A GREAT ONSIDES kick by Elowsky was recovered by Ben Tulgestke giving the Hurons hope. That disappeared as Saints? cornerback Cole Christiansen picked off a Quaine pass in the right flat and raced 55 yards for a TD. Kosiara?s speech to his team following the game included reminders on the need to play hard on every play. ?I told them we were our own worse enemy tonight. We kind of gave the ball away and gave St. Ignace the game. We didn?t play like we did last week (in a 45-20 win over Alcona) so we have got to come back and work hard,? he said. ?We can grow from it. It is one game. We have got to put it behind us and get ready for the rest of the season.?
Kosiara said he hopes to have a second chance against the Saints in a possible playoff match-up, but knows the team will have to play better. ?You can?t loose focus against this team and we did.
Friday?s game will be broadcast on 99.9 The Wave with Karl Grambau and Karl Momrik.
Statistics: Total offense: Rogers City 115 rushing, 293 passing, 408 total. St. Ignace 219 rushing, 222 passing, 441 total.
Individual: Passing: Quaine 18-of-36, 293 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT, 1 XP.
Receiving: Tulgestke 6 receptions, 67 yards, 0 TD; Haneckow 5/135/1; Vogelheim 4/80/1/0; Bellmore 1/11/0; Lewandowski 1/5/0.
Rushing: Lewandowski 18 attempts, 45 yards, no touchdowns; Urban 6/28/1; Bellmore 4/19/0; Quaine 8/16/0; Wilbert 5/7/0.
Defensive leaders: Tulgestke 6 tackles, 1 assist; Elowski 3 tackles, 3 assists; Vogelheim, Lewandowski, Wilk each with 4 tackles and 1 assist. Interceptions by Vogelheim and Haneckow. Fumble recovery by Tulgestke.