Hurons host Rudyard in homecoming tilt
Sooner or later the Hurons will get a break. That is the hope of the coach as his team heads into this Friday?s homecoming game with Rudyard (4-1). Last Friday, all the Hurons (2-3) needed to beat Inland Lakes (4-1) Friday was a break or two to go their way and the results might have been different than a 20-13 Bulldog victory. ?For the most part we played very well. We just don?t seem to get any breaks. You would think some of the beaks would start coming our way,? said Huron coach Mike Kosiara. The game started off well for the Hurons as they took their first possession all the way to the end zone. Starting at their own 25 yard-line, the Hurons needed only five plays to score, capped by a 15-yard pass from Austin Fairbanks to tight end Trent Holmes. Fairbanks set up the TD with a 58-yard option keeper on the second play of the drive. Cody Wenzel added the PAT and the Hurons led 7-0 at the 9:46 mark of the first quarter.
INLAND LAKES came out in a no-huddle offense, but didn?t fool the Hurons. Three unsuccessful plays led to a fourth-down punt. Wenzel caught it at the Huron 44, spun around a tackler and through two more, then raced down the sideline for an apparent TD. But a penalty called it back. Instead of a Huron score and a possible 14-point lead, the Hurons had the ball at their own 30. Three plays later, they had to punt. Inland Lakes? Matt Kopke broke through and blocked Wenzel?s punt to give the Bulldogs the ball at the Huron 26.
IT TOOK ONLY four plays for the Bulldogs? quarterback Mark Hutchinson to score on a one-yard keeper to bring the score to 7-6 with 5:09 left instead of a two-touchdown lead for the home team. ?That was a two touchdown swing. That is the difference in the game. The kids? body language was ?here we go again.? They did seem to shake it off later,? Kosiara said. The teams traded punts until the Hurons mounted a drive that ended in a missed 31-yard field goal in the early moments of the second quarter. Inland Lakes responded with 15-play, 81-yard drive which nearly ended at fourth-and-nine at the Huron 14. A 13-yard gain by Jeff Langley on fourth down set up a one-yard plunge by Kopke. The Bullogs led 14-7 with 6:19 left in the half after the two-pointer.
ROGERS CITY mounted one more charge in the closing seconds of the first half. Passes from Fairbanks to Wenzel and Chase McLennan each went for first downs. Then on the next play, Wenzel caught the pass and had big yardage but fumbled it at the Bulldog 24. In the second half another lost fumble cost dearly. After a Bulldog punt to the Huron eight, the ball came out on an exchange and the Bulldogs took control at the Huron 12 yard-line. Two plays later the Bulldogs scored to ran the lead to 20-7 with 7:28 left in the third quarter. The Hurons? last score came on a 59-yard drive that us
Fairbanks? pass to Bret Karsten went 23 yards then runs by Wenzel, Fairbanks, and Dylan Centala moved the ball to the Bulldog one yard-line. Fairbanks followed center Brad Belusar and guards Joe Kuchinski and Mark Grulke into the end zone to make the score 20-13 with 10:33 left in the game.
THAT IS HOW the score ended up, iced by a methodical, grinding, 17-play drive that started on the Huron 30 and ended eight minutes later with a fumble recovered by Fairbanks inside the Huron 10. But the Huron drive stalled and time ran out.
THE HURONS take on Rudyard in the homecoming game Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Gilpin Field. Rudyard?s only loss was in week four to Newberry (4-1) by a score of 22-6. They began the season with wins over Harbor Springs (0-5) 33-10, Elk Rapids (1-4) 39-6, and Sault Ste. Marie (3-2) 26-20. Last week the Bulldogs defeated St. Ignace (1-4) by a score of 6-2. The Hurons and Bulldogs have met each year since the 1992 season with eight wins for RC and four for Rudyard. The Bulldogs defeated RC 29-28 last year.