ORCHARD LAKE - Saturday's first-round Division 2 playoff battle between
Orchard Lake St. Mary's and Pontiac Northern was one of those football games
that fans look forward to - an even matchup between two teams loaded with
athletic talent.
And when it came right down to it, the game couldn't have been much more
evenly matched.
It was the wind - and a guy named Windey - that made the difference, as
the Eaglets made the plays they needed to late in winning 21-20 on a
fourth-quarter touchdown.
"We made the plays when we had to, we beat a very good football team
today," St. Mary's coach George Porritt said. "They've got
athletes galore."
St. Mary's put together the winning drive midway through the fourth
quarter. Powered by the bullish running of Malcolm Arrington, the Eaglets
pushed the ball to the Northern 23. Anthony Alexander then found Shawn
Windey on a play-action pass over the top of the coverage for a touchdown.
Ian Dupack's extra point gave St. Mary's the lead at 21-20.
"That was a great play-action fake to Windey, everyone did a great
job," Porritt said.
Northern would rally behind the running and passing of Dontayo Gage, and
made it to the Eaglets 28, where it faced fourth-and-8.
The Huskies had some trickery in store for St. Mary's. Gage handed off to
Arthur Wilson, who ran toward the left sideline, and lofted a soft pass into
the end zone toward Qejon Branner, who was open behind the defense. However,
Mother Nature stepped in as the 12th man for the Eaglets, as the hard wind
blew the pass five yards to the left of Branner and fell to the ground.
The narrow victory pushed St. Mary's (8-1) into next weekend's second
round against Birmingham Brother Rice, which pounded Walled Lake Western
55-0 in its first-round game Saturday.
The first quarter between the Eaglets and Huskies went scoreless, as both
teams seemed to feel each other out over the first 12 minutes.
Things picked up considerably in the second quarter.
Arrington snuffed out Northern's first drive in the stanza when he
recovered a fumble, but St. Mary's couldn't muster anything against the
Huskies' stubborn defense and went three-and-out.
Northern got an 11-yard run by Dontayo Gage and a 46-yard sprint from
Rashid Wilson to get down to the Eaglet 4 for first-and-goal.
Two plays later, Gage scored on a quarterback sneak from the 1. The
Huskies went for a two-point conversion but didn't complete the pass,
keeping the score 6-0 with 8:04 remaining in the first half.
St. Mary's answered on the next possession, putting together a 12-play,
51-yard drive that ended when Alexander hit Windey with a 3-yard touchdown
pass. Dupack's extra point gave the Eaglets a 7-6 lead with 2:21 left before
halftime.
Northern would fumble on the next play from scrimmage, with St. Mary's
Zach Stogdill recovering at the Huskies' 24.
Arrington took the handoff on the next play and went off left tackle and
untouched into the end zone. Dupack's boot made it 14-6 with 1:58 to go.
Northern would strike back, however.
Arthur Wilson returned the kickoff 35 yards to give the Huskies good
field position at their own 48. Helped by a 28-yard Gage completion to
Marcus Webb, the Huskies capped off the late drive with Gage's 3-yard
touchdown sneak just eight seconds before the half. Again, the two-point
conversion failed and St. Mary's led 14-12 at halftime.
Northern would score the only touchdown in the third quarter, when Gage
picked off a pass at his own 25-yard line and raced 75 yards for the
touchdown, making the score 18-14 Huskies.
Once again Northern went for two, but this time Gage found Webb in the
corner of the end zone for the conversion, making it 20-14.
Gage finished with 59 yards on 20 carries, while Rashid WIlson ad 47
yards on three carries.
Arrington led the Eaglets with 129 yards on 24 carries to go with his
touchdown, while Windey finished with three catches for 31 yards to
complement his two TDs. Lavonte Travis added 38 yards on 10 carries.
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