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Skyline

mustkeepmoving

The Skyline football teamis part of a pretty dubi-ous club this season.

After starting theseason 0-4, the Eagles are

one of several teams across thestate that has yet to win a var-sity football game.

I’ve been doing this jobfor awhile now, and I’ve beenworking in jobs like it for evenlonger.

Winless teams are not uncom-mon.You see them all the time.In fact, I have some first-hand

experience with one winlessfootball team in particular.

That team being the RedRaiders of my alma mater,Marlette High School.

Things are kind of hazy,but I’ll try to recall everythingright.

I think the losing startedwhen I was in middle school. Ithink it was eighth grade, but Ican’t be sure.

What I am sure about,though, was that the losingdidn’t stop until the final gameof my junior year.

I believe the streak was like44 or 45 games. I would look itup, but people don’t keep thosekinds of records.

My high school team lostevery game for four consecutiveseasons. And the only reasonthe team got a win to end thestreak when it did was becauseour athletic director somehow

Photo by Jonathan Knight/A2 JOURNAL

Two Pioneer blockers level a pair of Skyline players last Thursday while Pioneer receiver Jeron Clayton streaks by. Pioneerdefeated Skyline in the game, 62-40.

PIONEER 62, SKYLINE 40 IrishcrumpleCranesBy Mike LarsonA2 Journal

The Ann Arbor GabrielRichard football team had

no idea what to expect lastThursday when they took onBloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood.

The Cranes, who are a newaddition to the Fighting Irishschedule, were kind of a mys-tery for Richard.

However, it didn’t take theIrish long to figure that mysteryout.

Gabriel Richard won thegame easily, shutting out theCranes in a 35-0 drubbing.

Even more impressive wasthe fact that Richard scored all35 points in the first half, andthen used the second half to getthe second string some valuableexperience.

“It’s so important to make

sure everyone gets a chanceto play in game situations,”Richard coach Brian Lemonssaid. “And it was huge for oursecond team guys to preservethe shutout.”

The Irish finished thegame in dramatic fashion, asthe Richard defense stoppedCranbrook’s Stefan Czarneckifrom scoring on a fourth-and-goal play from the 2-yard-line.

“It was a huge stop,” Lemonssaid. “It was such a big play forthis team.”

When the game started, therewere questions about whether itwould even be completed.

After a delay because of light-ing, the game had to be movedbecause Cranbrook’s field isn’tequipped with lights.

However, the game was ableto be played at BloomfieldLahser High School.

But the Fighting Irish wastedno time getting into the game.

Richard’s Joey Birchleropened up the scoring on thevery first play of the game,retuning the opening kickoff 93yards for a touchdown.

Cranbrook didn’t seem asready to play.

The Cranes fumbled on theirfirst possession and Richardrecovered, giving the Irish greatfield possession for their firstoffensive try.

And Richard didn’t wastethe opportunity as DennisOlszewski punched in a 12-yardtouchdown run to put his team

up 14-0 with just about nineminutes left in the first quarter.

Olszewski finished his daywith 31 yards, tied with team-mate Ashton Hundley for theteam lead in yards. Hundleyalso scored a touchdown.

Donnie Eaton also had a greatgame for the Irish.

The senior quarterbackscored the team’s other twotouchdowns, both 1-yard diveson the goal line.

Ryan Jenkins was perfect onextra points, kicking all five.

Tomorrow the Irish willface off against LivoniaClarenceville on the road. Thegame is set to kick off at 7 p.m.

By Mike LarsonA2 Journal

Skyline fans were verydisappointed as they left AnnArbor Pioneer Thursday nightafter the Eagles’ first varsitygame at Holloway Field.

The only football fans whomight have been more disap-pointed were the ones whocame to the contest in hopes of seeing a low scoring game.

Pioneer defeated Skyline62-40 in a shootout where bothteams seemed to be able toscore at will.

“Any time you score 62points, I think you are going tofeel pretty good,” Pioneer headcoach Jeremy Gold said abouthis offense. “The offensivestaff and the offense came out

and worked hard all week longduring the week of practice.”However, the Pioneer

defense didn’t have the sameresults.

“We had quite a few break-downs,” Gold said. “Anybodywho saw this game saw thatthis was not Pioneer defense.”

However, the Pioneers stillcame away with the win.

Pioneer opened the scoringearly when Drake Johnsonscampered into the endzonefor a 27-yard score in the firstpossession of the game.

And although the game wastied for about 17 seconds in thefirst quarter, the Skyline teamnever held a lead.

The Eagles did score ontheir first possession of thegame when quarterback AndyCopp hooked up with TheronWilson for a 24-yard score.

However, with the scoretied at 7-7, Pioneer snatched

the lead back on the ensuingkickoff when Jeron Claytonreturned the Skyline offeringfor a touchdown.

Pioneer took advantage of the Skyline offense on the nextpossession, when linebacker

Tommy Polornery intercepteda Copp pass.

Two plays later, Johnsonfound the endzone on a 19-yardrun.

Holding a 21-7 lead, andscoring on every offensive pos-session they had had, it looked

as if Pioneer was going toblow out the younger Skylineteam.

However, the Eagles hadother ideas.

Skyline answered rightback, when Copp found JordanWoods with a 31-yard touch-down pass.

With less than three min-utes remaining in the firstquarter, the two teams hadalready combined for 35points, as Pioneer led 21-14.

The Eagles, who had beenstruggling on defense, thendecided to get gutsy and forgodefense all together.

On the following kickoff,Skyline attempted an onsideskick, and the Eagles recoveredit.

However, the team wasunable to get anything goingas Copp threw three incom-plete passes and attempted afailed run before the Eaglesturned the ball over on downs.

Pioneer took over at mid-field, but the team was stoppedfor the first time in the game.

When Skyline took over,the team seemed unstoppable,even if it was just for the pos-session.

Copp orchestrated a 16-playdrive that ended with JackClark grabbing a 6-yard touch-down pass.

PLEASE SEE SHOOTOUT /2-D

 Pioneer, Skyline put up big points PiHi win

River Rats get bucked by BedfordBy Terry JacobyA2 Journal

On Ann Arbor Huron’s open-ing drive of the third quarterThursday night, quarterbackAlex Hassan fired a bullet toreceiver Charles Boyd on a slantplay. The senior wideout made anice grab and tumbled into theendzone to give the River Rats a29-15 lead with 8:14 to play in thethird quarter.

After a first half filled withpenalties – it seemed as if falsestarts were part of their offense

 – and a couple of big plays by

visiting Monroe, it appeared theRiver Rats were settling in foran easy victory.

But less than 4 minutes later,

the Trojans tied the game at29-29 and never looked backin a 50-29 win over Huron in aSoutheastern Conference gameon a chilly evening in AnnArbor.

The loss drops the River Ratsto 1-3 on the season. They playnext Friday at Skyline.

Monroe improves to 2-2.The first scoring drive for

Huron featured the River Rats’ability to overcome mistakes

 – something that eventually

would catch up with them. Ona third-and-19 play from the 41-yard line, Hassan found BrentKing over the middle for a huge

gain and a first down at theMonroe 23.

On the next play, Huron wascalled for holding and it wassuddenly first-and-23 at the36-yard line. But Hassan lofteda pass to Matt Hastings, whowent up and grabbed it in theendzone to give Huron a 7-0lead with 3:52 to play in the firstquarter.

The lead didn’t last long.A good kick return – Huron

had trouble all game on specialteams – set Monroe up at theHuron 39. Three plays later,Mitchell Kuehniein threw a

27-yard touchdown pass toReginald Allen. After Huron

FOOTBALL

PLEASE SEE HURON /2-D

PLEASE SEE LARSON /2-D

Photo by Jonathan Knight/A2 JOURNAL Pioneer running back Drake Johnson takes the ballThursday. Johnson finished with two touchdowns.

Photo by Jonathan Knight/A2 JOURNAL

A Huron player takes down a Bedford player in a recent game.Last week, the River Rats fell to Monroe.

September 23, 2010Heritage Newspapers

 

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Shootout!