LAWTON — Facing off against a top-10 team in high school football, especially on the road, is never easy.
But, against the No. 10 team in Division 7 coming into the night Friday, Constantine came away with a statement victory on the road against Lawton by a final of 22-10.
Although the Falcons were outgained by just 11 yards and had eight fewer first downs than the Blue Devils, Constantine made the most of their chances with the ball, in particular on the ground, where they outgained Lawton 183-88.
Lawton got on the board first in the first quarter with a 29-yard field goal by James Holder, but the Falcons would get the first touchdown of the game with a three-yard run by Rushawn James. The two-point conversion run by James was good to give Constantine an 8-3 lead after the first quarter, a score that would remain until halftime.
In the third quarter, James would find the end zone again, this time on a four-yard run, making it 15-3 after the PAT. Constantine would find paydirt one more time in the fourth quarter, with Isaac Moore hauling in the lone pass attempt on the day by Brody Jones for an 11-yard touchdown, making the score 22-3 in the fourth. Lawton would score a touchdown in garbage time, with a three-yard run by Aiden O’Brien plus a PAT to make it 22-10, but it wasn’t enough for the Blue Devils as the Falcons took the win.
Moore was the Falcons’ leading rusher of the day, rushing five times for 107 yards, including a 73-yard run at one point in the game. James had 15 carries for 53 yards and two touchdowns. Defensively, Constantine was led by Caleb Bontrager, who had six tackles on the day, while Cooper Juday had five tackles and Canon Manley had four tackles, including two for a loss. James had the lone interception of the day.
For Lawton, O’Brien was 12-of-24 passing for 117 yards and an interception. Outside of O’Brien’s 10 yards on 15 rush attempts, Lawton had 17 carries for 78 yards on the ground.
With the win, Constantine moves to 2-1 on the year. Lawton’s loss drops them to 2-1.
Colon victorious in shootout with St. Phil
COLON — If you like offense, Colon was the place to be Friday night.
The Magi and the visiting Battle Creek St. Phillip Tigers combined for over 950 yards of total offense, more than half of that on the ground, as the home team came out on top over St. Phil, 58-48.
Colon scored the lone points of the first quarter when Kyle Muntain hauled in a 22-yard touchdown pass from Maverick Downs to make it 8-0 Magi after Downs rushed in the two-point conversion with 11 seconds to go in the opening stanza.
Both teams would trade touchdowns in the second quarter. On the ensuing drive following the Colon touchdown, St. Phil’s Carter Dzwik found paydirt on a 33-yard pass from Colt Myers on the ninth play of the drive, making it 8-6 after a two-point conversion failed. On the next drive for Colon, Downs rushed it into the end zone to extend Colon’s lead to 14-6 on their ninth play of that drive after a conversion pass failed. Another semi-lengthy, clock-killing drive of seven plays for St. Phil on the next drive resulted in a touchdown as Myers found Nate Rapelje for a 24-yard score. A two-point conversion was good to tie the game at 14 with just 55 seconds to go in the first half.
Just because there wasn’t much time didn’t mean both teams couldn’t get in one more score each before the break. On the first play of the ensuing Magi drive, Downs threw a nice 69-yard touchdown pass to Muntain for his second touchdown of the night, with a 2-point conversion giving Colon a 22-14 lead with 28 seconds remaining in the half. After a short kickoff by Colon returned by the Tigers to the Colon 37, they took little time to score one more time, taking just two plays to find the end zone, capped off with a 23-yard touchdown pass from Myers to Dzwik with 13 seconds to go. The two-point conversion play failed, and Colon was up 22-20 going into the half.
St. Phil went three-and-out on their first possession of the second half, and Colon cashed in four plays into their ensuing drive, as Muntain got his third touchdown of the day on a 10-yard run to make it 30-20 after the two-point try. St. Philip would get a touchdown on their next drive when Myers fond Brady Lightfoot through the air for a 20-yard score to make it a 30-28 game. Six plays into Colon’s next drive, Downs had a 15-yard rush find the end zone to make it 38-28 after the two-point try. St. Phil would score quickly again, as on the fourth play of their next drive, Myers found Rapelje on a pass, outrunning the defense for a 73-yard score to make it 38-36. Colon would score one more time in the third, as three plays into their next drive, Kaleb Thaxton had a 28-yard rush find the end zone to make it 44-36 after a failed two-point attempt.
In the fourth quarter, St. Phil would score three minutes into the quarter on a two-yard rushing touchdown to make it 44-42. However, two delay of game penalties and an unsportsmanlike conduct call on the Tigers would push their two-point try all the way back to the 27. The two-point try failed, keeping the score within two points.
Colon would go four-and-out on their next drive, with Downs’ fourth-and-seven run falling just short of the first down marker, but Colon would get the ball right back as they held St. Phil to a three-and-out. Downs would then have runs of 20, 11, and 20 on the following drive, the latter 20-yard rush finding the end zone to make it 50-42 after a failed two-point try. Myers would find Lightfoot for a 25-yard passing touchdown on the next drive to once again put St. Phil within two, 50-48, but the two-point run failed.
With 3:16 on the clock, Colon took 1:52 of it to score once again, with Downs getting another rushing touchdown, this time of 33 yards, with a two-point try good to make it 58-48. A final interception by Muntain on St. Phil’s next drive two plays in sealed the deal.
Downs had 31 rushes for 324 yards and four touchdowns on the day for Colon, with Thaxton adding 12 carries for 107 yards and a touchdown on the day. Downs was 6-of-11 plassing for 121 yards and two touchdowns on the day, with Muntain hauling in three passes for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Thaxton had 11 tackles, including a sack, to lead the team defensively.
With the win, Colon improves to 1-2, while St. Phil goes to 1-2.
Mendon stays undefeated with win over Bellevue
BELLEVUE — The No. 2 team in 8-man Division 1 football showed why they have that ranking, walloping Bellevue on the road 44-6 Friday.
Bellevue got the first score of the game on a four-yard run by Seth Keson with 3:21 to go in the quarter, but that would be the only points they would score, as Mendon scored all 44 of their points unanswered the rest of the way.
Owen Gorham and the end zone were best friends on the day, scoring five of Mendon’s six touchdowns of the day. He had a five-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, a nine-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter to put the Hornets up 14-6 at the half, scored two five-yard touchdowns in the third quarter to make it 30-6, and scored a one-yard rushing TD in the fourth to make it 38-6. Dylan Cupp would have a 41-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth as well to make it 44-6 after a two-point try failed.
All in all, Mendon ran 39 times for 352 yards on the day, compared to 42 times for 117 yards for the Broncos. Gorham had 18 carries for 133 yards on the day for the Hornets, followed by Jack McCaw, who had 12 carries for 108 yards. Defensively, Alex Smith had 12 tackles to lead the team, while the team as a whole had three fumble recoveries on the day.
Mendon moves to 3-0 with the win.
Sturgis bested by Paw Paw
STURGIS — Paw Paw scored 27 first half points en route to a 41-16 win over Sturgis Friday night.
The Red Wolves stormed out of the gate, scoring the first 20 points, all in the first quarter thanks to three PJ Deyoung rushing touchdowns, before Sturgis hit paydirt themselves in the second quarter with a three-yard touchdown rush by Tanner Patrick. Deyoung would find the end zone once more in the first half with an eight-yard rushing score to make it 27-7 with 91 seconds to go in the first half. Sturgis would go 40 yards in less than a minute to get their next touchdown, a 12-yard rushing touchdown by Dalton Tisdel to make it 27-14 going into the break.
Deyoung would find the end zone once more in the second half with a one-yard rushing score to make it 33-14, with Sturgis scoring a safety in the fourth quarter. A Bryson Newell one-yard rushing score for Paw Paw ended the scoring on the day.
Patrick was 13-of-28 passing for Sturgis on the day with 136 yards and two interceptions. Brock Fergison was the leading receiver for the Trojans with five receptions for 50 yards. Tisdel had 10 carries for 85 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Gibson Cary led the way defensively with 13 tackles.
For Paw Paw, Deyoung had 24 carries for 141 yards and five TDs on the day, while Ben Miller had 20 rushing attempts for 124 yards. Dominic Hernand had six tackles on defense for the Red Wolves.
Three Rivers whomped by #9 Niles
NILES — The No. 9 team in Division 4 football, Niles, had no issues whatsoever with visiting Three Rivers, handing the Wildcats a blowout loss in their first conference game of the year, 56-8.
With the win, Niles goes to 3-0 on the year, while Three Rivers drops its record to 0-3.
No stats were reported as of press time.
White Pigeon remains unbeaten
DECATUR — White Pigeon upped their record to 3-0 with a road win against Decatur Friday night, 36-12.
No stats were reported as of Saturday morning.