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10/8/06-Football
Cruise control
By DAVE CAMERON
Special to The Oakland Press
ORCHARD LAKE--With one game left (and the Prep Bowl) in the regular season, Dionte Allen and the rest of Orchard Lake St. Mary's fine-tuned their play for the postseason.
Allen caught a 5-yard pass from quarterback Justin Siller in the second quarter and Siller had two 3-yard runs for touchdowns at St. Mary's beat University of Detroit Jesuit, 27-7, Saturday afternoon.
The Eaglets clinched a spot in the state playoffs, starting the weekend of Oct. 26-27, with their sixth win of the season. OLSM is 6-1 and 3-1 in the Catholic League's Central Division.
Friday, OLSM plays at Warren De La Salle at 7 p.m. at the Warren Community Center field in a Catholic League showdown.
"It's going to be big," OLSM coach George Porritt said. "De La Salle's an outstanding team. They have a good defense. They'll be tough."
With 1:13 left to play in the third quarter in the third quarter, Siller found Allen for the touchdown and a 21-7 Eaglets lead.
That broke open a game that had been competitive for the Cubs (3-4, 1-3 CHSL Central), U-D tied the game at 7-7 once freshman QB Devin Gardner raced in on a 15-yard run on the keeper with 2:19 remaining in the first half to tie the score.
The Eaglets drove up the field after the Cubs' touchdown and six plays later, Allen scored the go-ahead touchdown.
U-D kept the score tied in the first half primarily on the running of junior back George Winn. Winn rushed for 65 yards on nine carries in the first half and finished with 82 yards on 17 carries.
One big play for U-D came in the first quarter as defense lineman Preston Reddick blocked a OLSM punt. Two plays later, the Cubs scored their only touchdown, after they got the ball at the OLSM 15-yard line.
Porritt said he was pleased with the running game. Last week in a 28-7 victory over Novi Detroit Catholic Central, junior running back Dominique White ran for 128 yards and 18 carries and scored three times. This week, White ran for 41 yards as OLSM used a collection of backs by design. Porritt said because of OLSM's depth, it doesn't have to rely on just one running back.
"Usually, there's a different back week after week that does it," Porritt said. "I don't know. Blair Hollis had a nice game."
Hollis, a junior, scored on a 45-yard run with 2:10 to play in the first quarter to give OLSM a 7-0 lead on the Eaglets' third possession. OLSM got those seven points off a turnover as U-D fumbled on a first-and-10 from their own 45.
Hollis had 116 yards on 18 carries, including a 29-yard run for a key first down and a 12-yard gain in the second half.
The weather was certainly much more conducive than OLSM's game against Catholic Central, which was played in a driving rain for most of the contest. It was sunny Saturday with blue skies.
"It was similar to last week," Porritt said. "In the second half, we played good football. It was just beautiful (weather) out there. We made a few mistakes, but in the second half, we had good ball control."
With the loss, U-D slips to fourth place in the Detroit Catholic League's Central Division.
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