St. Mary's stumbles, then runs into semifinal

Tom Markowski / The Detroit News

DETROIT-- Misplays on its kickoff team and a powerful ground game by Orchard Lake St. Mary's proved too much for Detroit Crockett to overcome.

Earnest Thomas scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to lead St. Mary's to a 21-8 victory over Crockett in a Division 3 regional final Saturday afternoon at Detroit Osborn.

St. Mary's (7-4) will play DeWitt (12-0) in a state semifinal next Saturday at a site and time to be determined.

Thomas fumbled on St. Mary's' first possession but came back to lead his team into the semifinals for the second time in three years. He rushed for 123 yards on 19 carries and scored on runs of 5, 5 and 8 yards.

"I give credit to our offensive line," Thomas said. "They stepped up tremendously. In the first half we made too many mistakes. I dropped the ball. My teammates kept me up. I had to look past it."

St. Mary's gained 367 yards rushing. In addition to Thomas, Spencer McInnis had 109 yards on eight carries, Enrique Pardo had 10 carries for 56 yards and Robert Bolden had seven carries for 46 yards.

St. Mary's moved the ball well in the first half but didn't finish its drives. It gained 55 yards, all on the ground, on its first drive but fumbled at the Crockett 25. A 73-yard drive ended with a missed field from 34 yards out with 7:51 left in the half.

Crockett (10-2) was held to 57 yards and two first downs in the first half while St. Mary's gained 192 yards, 183 on the ground.

St. Mary's started its first scoring drive late in the third quarter. The seven-play drive went 61 yards, all on the ground, with Thomas going the last 5 with 10:53 remaining.

Crockett then mishandled the short kickoff and Mychael Gilliam recovered for St. Mary's on Crockett's 14. Four plays later, Thomas scored again from the 5 for a 14-0 lead.

Crockett misplayed another short kickoff and McInnis recovered at Crockett's 28. Thomas' 8-yard touchdown run gave St. Mary's a 21-0 lead with 7:22 remaining.

"Twenty-one points in three minutes," lamented Crockett coach Rod Oden. "Believe it or not, we worked on that during the week. We knew they didn't want to kick it deep to us. Our defense took 40 snaps in the second half. You can't do that. That's too long. You've got to cover those kicks."

With 58 seconds left Crockett finally scored. Tony Lippett threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Ashton Gaines and the two hooked up for the conversion.

Lippett, who accounted for seven touchdowns last week in a 50-48 double-overtime victory over Hazel Park, completed 11 of 17 attempts for 112 yards. He also rushed 17 times for 85 yards.

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