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11/10/07-Football
Eaglets take care of business in trenches
OLSM tailback: 'The line made it easy'
BY MICK McCABE/FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
MELVINDALE--It took only one quarter for Orchard Lake St. Mary's guard Matt Sargent to realize that the battle in the trenches was over and the Eaglets were on their way to the semifinals.
"They were standing with their hands on the hips with their guts out," Sargent said. "We were pounding them. You could just see they were tired."
The Eaglets' offensive line pushed Melvindale up and down the field Friday night, and fullback Justin Semmes scored 3 1/2 touchdowns en route to a 35-12 Division 3 regional championship victory over Melvindale before a full house at Melvindale.
Three-and-a-half touchdowns? It was that kind of night for St. Mary's (9-2).
It rushed for 302 yards and scored all three times it had the ball in the first half for a 21-6 lead.
"That's a great football team," said Melvindale coach Phil Howard. "Nobody's run on us like that in two years. It's tough to gauge caliber of competition. At halftime, we said we needed to stop them and score, but that didn't happen."
Semmes (119 yards, 28 carries) and Dominique White (105 yards, 13 carries) were the beneficiaries of St. Mary's dominance in the trenches.
"Melvindale was a very good team, but our offensive line came off the line explosive, and we proceeded the ball down the field," said White. "It wasn't easy, but the line made it easy."
On its first possession, St. Mary's marched 70 yards in 12 plays, with Semmes scoring from a yard away.
The second time the Eaglets had the ball, they moved 65 yards in 10 plays as Semmes scored on a seven-yard run for a 14-0 lead with 10:52 left in the half.
After Melvindale quarterback Jaisa'un Holt scored on a one-yard sneak, Robert Bolden completed his only pass of the game for 38 yards to Dion Sims to set up his four-yard keeper for a 21-6 halftime lead.
The Eaglets began the third quarter with a 12-play, 65-yard drive that resulted in Semmes' one-yard run. And early in the fourth quarter, they moved 74 yards in 12 plays and scored when Bolden and Semmes appeared to be holding the ball as they crossed the goal line.
"The play was originally going to the left side, and (Semmes) got confused and went to the right," said Bolden. "He came back to the left side and pushed me and came up with the ball. It was kind of half-and-half."
Semmes was only too happy to share the touchdown with Bolden.
"I'll give it to No. 1," Semmes said, referring to Bolden. "I kind of had the ball first, and I kind of let him have it."
The credit for the victory belonged to the St. Mary's line, which dominated the Cardinals.
"I was very proud of our offensive line," said coach George Porritt. "It was good blocking, and then you've got Dominique running the ball, and he runs hard. And then there's Justin. He must have touched the ball 25 times."
Make it 24 1/2 .
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