Advertisement

Chesaning trailed most of the night before putting 22 points on the board in the fourth quarter, earning the Indians a Division 5 district title and a trip to Madison Heights this coming week where they will shoot for a regional championship against the undefeated Eagles.

For much of the evening, it didn't appear that Jim Szappan's team would be playing anyone next week.

"We shot ourselves in the foot a few times tonight, with missed opportunities and costly penalties," commented Szappan after the big win. "But our motto all year has been to never, never, never give up and that's what we did. We just kept chipping away and never stopped believing."

The Indians, who trailed 7-0 at intermission, squandered three golden opportunities to score in the first half. A holding penalty on a long run deep into Cardinal territory negated Chesaning's first serious chance to score and an incomplete pass on fourth-and-seven from the Millington 28 stalled another drive early in the second quarter to which Millington responded with a nine-play, 72-yard march of its own to go up, 7-0, with seven minutes left in the half.

Still, the Tribe almost tied it up just before the break when they put together a six-minute, 14-play drive that stretched from their own 32 to the Millington 7-yard line. But Chesaning turned the ball over on downs and the Cardinals ran out the final 43 seconds to take their 7-0 advantage into the locker room.

Millington appeared to take control of the contest when Cardinal QB Dustin Griesing scored his second TD of the night on a four-yard burst up the middle. The successful PAT made it 14-0 with 5:59 left in the third.

But Chesaning pounced on a short kick-off by the Cardinals and quickly marched 58 yards in five plays, capping the drive with a 10-yard scoring pass from Bitterman to Justin Sweeney. Sweeney kicked the extra point and the Indians were within 14-7 with 4:46 to go in the third.

Millington once again found some breathing room, however, as it covered 69 yards in 10 plays, scoring on a 31-yard pass on fourth-and-eight to take a 21-7 cushion.

Once again, the Indians retaliated quickly as they marched 65 yards on their next possession, culminating the drive with Bitterman's five yard romp to pay dirt.

Chesaning's defense turned in a three-and-out on the next Millington possession before each team's quarterback took a turn at intercepting the other on the following two series. First, Griesing intercepted Bitterman, then Bitterman returned the favor, setting up his team at the Cardinal 40-yard line with 3:54 left in the game.

It didn't take long for Chesaning to score as Bitterman connected with Sweeney on a 19-yard aerial four plays into the march. Bitterman's extra point tied it at 21-21 with 2:59 remaining.

Six snaps and 71 yards later, Griesing hit Garrett Stier for a 42-yard scoring strike to once again give Millington the lead, 28-21. With just 1:37 to go, the Indians seemed to be in serious trouble. But Bitterman still had a trick or two up his sleeve. And so did his coach.

"We decided to change things up a little on that last kick-off," explained Szappan. "We set up our wall to the right and asked our guys to seal the edge."

Bitterman took the ensuing kick at his own 15 yard line and burst through an opening that allowed him to reach the sideline. With 11 Cardinals in pursuit, Bitterman streaked past his team's sideline, racing 85 yards for the score, followed by a sideline full of celebrating teammates and coaches. With 1:24 to go, Chesaning had pulled to within 28-27.

And after three previous successful PAT's, Szappan decided to gamble on a two-point try.

"We call it our Cardinal spread formation and we've had it in our book for four or five years now," said Szappan. "We wanted to decide things right then. Putting the ball in Bitterman's hands with the game on the line isn't a bad way to go-he's done the job all year."

With half the team spread out at the far sideline, Bitterman took the shotgun snap and bulled into the end zone to give the Indians their first lead of the night, 29-28.

After a desperate last-minute drive by Millington, culminated by a 45-yard field goal attempt at the buzzer that fell just short and to the right, Chesaning could begin celebrating its hard-fought victory.

Bitterman had a direct hand in 296 of Chesaning's 327 total yards gained from scrimmage, rushing 22 times for 117 yards and completing 14 of 26 passes for 179 yards. That's not counting his 85 yard kick-off return. Bitterman's favorite receiver was Justin Sweeney, who pulled in six passes for 84 yards.

David Hawes anchored the defense, recording 14 tackles. Mike Rowe added 11 stops while Jesse Maldonado and Chad Reiber chipped in with 10 tackles each. Bitterman had an interception and Cody Darling recovered a fumble for the Indian defense.

With wins over Frankenmuth and Millington in the post-season, Chesaning now owns an 8-3 record on the season.

Hornets sidelined by Fulton

Season comes to end for defending D-8 champs

MIDDLETON -- The five-game playoff run came to an end for the New Lothrop Hornets Friday night in a tough 48-6 loss to Fulton.

For most of the teams around the state, the playoffs began a week ago with the first round of districts. For the Hornets, the playoffs began five weeks ago, when the defending Division 8 state champs were looking squarely at 2-3 record and needed to win out to qualify for a post-season berth.

"I look at this as a successful season," said New Lothrop coach Jake Emmendorfer after the game. "We obviously don't want it to end, especially not this way, but I'm proud of this team."

He added, "We started off 0-2, and at one point were were 2-3. We won four straight to get to the playoffs, and then we opened up beating an undefeated team, after losing 18 seniors from last year's team. I think we had a good year. I'm proud of these kids."

The unbeaten Pirates dominated the Hornets in Friday's contest.

Fulton got its first score at 8:19 of the first on a 10 yard run by Clevelyn Jefferson. The two-point pass was incomplete, making it 6-0.

At 2:33 of the first, Shane Kerkes blocked a Hornet punt on the two yard line. The ball bounced into the endzone and Kerkes recovered it for a touchdown. Jefferson ran in the two-point play for a 14-0 lead.

Still in the first, with 35 ticks left, quarterback Matt Stevens connected with Kerkes on a 49 yard TD pass. Roman Arndt kicked the PAT for the 21-0 lead.

At 11:27 of the second, Jefferson scored again on a 14 yard run. Arndt's kick made it 28-0.

With 5:57 to go before intermission, Jefferson scored on an eight yard run. Arndt's kick put the Pirates up 35-0 at the break.

With 8:11 left in the third quarter, Stevens connected with Josh Boulis on a 13 yard TD pass. Arndt's PAT made it 42-0.

Still in the third, the Pirates scored again on a 44 yard run by Jefferson. This time Arndt's kick was blocked.

Late in the fourth, with 2:06 left to play, the Hornets got on the board on a 65 yard TD pass from Trevor Vincke to Ryan Praski. The two-point pass was incomplete.

The Hornets finished up the night with 88 yards off 28 carries, and another 94 yards off 4 of 15 passing for 182 yards of total offense.

Jeremy Emmendorfer had one carry for 43 yards. Praski finished with 24 yards in 13 carries. Tom Wenzlick picked up 18 yards in 13 trips.

Kyle Moore had a 26 yard reception.

The Pirates rushed for 282 yards in 40 attempts, and added 132 yards off 5 of 8 passing for 414 yards of total offense.

Jefferson led the way with 181 yards and four touchdowns in 16 carries.

For the Hornet defense, Moore had seven tackles, as did Ethan Bishop and Praski.

Vincke had six tackles and a fumble recovery. Emmendorfer had six tackles.

Nouvel's second half comeback thwarts 'Dawgs district dreams

ST. CHARLES -- With a 18-0 lead at the half, the Bulldog varsity gridders thought they were well on their way to exorcising their Nouvel Catholic Central demons. But the Panthers did a little exorcising of their own in the second half and came away with a 24-18 win in overtime.

"This was a heartbreaking loss for us," admitted St. Charles coach Bob Welzein. "When we were up 18-0 at the half, we were hoping we would be able to sustain some offense in the second half, but that didn't happen."

The Bulldogs got things rolling early, scoring at 6:31 of the first on an 80 yard run by Ryan Humpert. The two point try failed.

Still in the first, Humpert scored again, this time on a 14 yard run with 1:18 left. The two-point attempt again failed.

At the 8:12 mark of the second, Humpert got his third score of the night on an 18 yard run. The two-point try was no good.

The second half belonged to the Panthers, and they got things rolling early. The first score came at 7:45 of the third on a one yard run by David Kazmierski. He then connected with Kyle Baranski on the two-point pass to make it 18-8.

With 11:18 left in the fourth, the Panthers struck again, on a pass from Baranski to Nick Awrey. The PAT kick was good by Bo Themm, cutting the lead to 18-15.

The Panthers knotted it up at 2:31 of the fourth on a 17 yard field goal by Themm.

The Bulldogs got the final possession of regulation, but could not capitalize.

In OT, the Panthers got the ball first and scored on a 10 yard run by Christian Miller on the first play.

On their possession, the Bulldogs lost four yards on first down and were unable to punch the ball in.

The Bulldogs finished the night with 201 yards rushing and 16 yards of 2 of 17 passing for 217 yards of total offense.

Humpert led St. Charles with 149 yards rushing on 18 carries.

The Panthers rushed for 209 yards, and added another 163 on 9 of 21 passing for 372 yards of total offense.

Miller was Nouvel's leading groundgainer, picking up 124 yards in 18 carries.

Bryan Halas led the 'Dawgs on defense with 15 tackles and a fumble recovery. Travis Crane had 13 tackles. Matt Schalow hauled down eight. Spencer Davenport had 11 take-downs.

Dugan Roosa had a batted pass, a fumble recovery and two interceptions.