By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
When Saugatuck hosted Schoolcraft for the final regular-season football game on Friday, Oct. 20, second place in the SAC Valley was on the line.
And it was the visiting Eagles who secured that runner-up slot, thanks largely to a big first half.
Saugatuck fell behind 28-0 at halftime and, despite a much better showing in the second half, ultimately lost by a score of 41-21.
The loss was the second in a row for the Trailblazers following seven straight wins to open the season. Saugatuck dropped a 21-0 decision to SAC Valley champion Lawton the previous week.
Despite the way the season ended, Saugatuck coach Bill Dunn is proud of his team’s performance thus far this season and is excited to be back in the playoffs after a 3-6 showing a year ago.
“It’s not the way we wanted to finish the season with two losses, but there is value in learning from your experience,” Dunn said. “And we finished the season with a record of 7-2, which is a great turnaround from a year ago at a 3-6 record.”
The Trailblazers are set to host a Division 8 district semifinal against Saranac on Friday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. If Saugatuck wins that game, it would host either Centreville or White Pigeon the following week.
The Trailblazers are the top seed in the district, a first for the program.
“We’re looking forward to being the number-one seed in our district and to get the postseason started,” Dunn said.
Saugatuck began building some momentum for the playoffs with a much-improved effort in the second half against Schoolcraft.
The Trailblazers actually outscored the Eagles by a combined score of 21-14 in the third and fourth quarters.
Cass Stanberry started the scoring for Saugatuck with a 74-yard run in the third quarter. Later in that stanza, quarterback Matt Hartgerink added a 3-yard touchdown run.
Hartgerink was also involved in the Trailblazers’ third and final TD, as he hooked up with Brad Moorer on a 9-yard scoring pass in the fourth quarter.
Cam Lewis made good on all three of his extra-point kicks.
“It was not a good start for us in the first half, as we struggled offensively to move the football,” Dunn said. “But we did a much better job of execution in the second half, limiting Schoolcraft to 14 points and offensively scoring 21 points.
“A credit to the kids on playing four quarters of football and looking for improvement as we head into the playoffs.”
Stanberry led the Saugatuck offense with 105 rushing yards on nine carries, while Will Doucette added 28 yards on eight carries. Hartgerink went 4-of-10 passing for 69 yards in addition to running for 14 yards on 10 carries.
Stanberry (31 yards), Carter Miller (19 yards) and Norm Bos (10 yards) joined Moorer with one reception each.
Defensively, Stanberry had a team-best 10 tackles, with Chris Foley going for six. Moorer added an interception, while Miller recovered a fumble to go with five tackles.
Saturday, October 05, 2024
