Cedarville back spoils Posen comebacks; 0-1 Vikes visit Gilpin next
Justin Baker ?The Touchdown Maker? ruined the home opener of the Posen Viking football team. He rushed for 270 yards and five touchdowns against the Posen defense in a 43-24 win for Cedarville. It gives the Trojans back-to-back wins against the Vikings on opening night, after Posen had rattled off six straight wins against Cedarville. The UP school has the edge in the 17-year series, 9-8. Four of Baker?s touchdowns came in the third quarter, with three runs of 35 yards or more. ?They have lightning in a bottle with Justin Baker,? said head coach Glenn Budnick. ?He is a shifty back, and he is a big back.? The Vikings will look to meet up with Rogers City in week two action on Gilpin Memorial Field tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. It will be the sixth meeting between the two schools. The Hurons have won the last four, including a 12-6 victory in ?05. Posen?s only win against Rogers City came 25 years ago.
POSEN HAD to play come-from-behind football from the very beginning. They were down 9-0 after a Cedarville field goal in the first quarter and a blocked punt that led to Baker?s first score early in the second quarter. The Vikings came back to seize the momentum before halftime. They capped off their first scoring drive of the season on a two-yard run by Paul Kroll to cut Cedarville?s lead to 9-6. On the Vikes? next possession, quarterback Jason Romel found an opening through the line on a quarterback sneak, and before he knew it, he was seven yards down field and nobody had made the tackle. Romel kicked in the afterburners and went the rest of the way for a 68-yard touchdown run to give the Red and White a 12-9 lead. That is the way the score would stay into halftime. While Cedarville set the tone in the second half with a big play on their opening possession of the third quarter, the Vikings kept fighting. Baker went 61 yards the first time he touched the ball in the third quarter and added the conversion for a 17-12 Cedarville lead. ?To our credit, we came back and drove the ball down the field and took the lead back again,? said Budnick.
ROMEL CONNECTED with senior wide receiver Brandon Hentkowski for an 11-yard score in the right corner of the end zone to give the Vikes their last lead of the game, 18-17. Baker then went to work again, finding lots of running room once through the line of scrimmage. He rushed for touchdowns of three, 35, and 55 yards. ?We got some good down field blocks, which sprung him for some big gains,? said Cedarville coach Randy Schaedig, who has several family members from the Ocqueoc area, but has been part of the Cedarville football program for years. Romel went down in the third quarter with severe leg cramps and the offense coughed up the ball a few players later. Cedarville took advantage of the turnover. Romel came back in and added another touchdown on a one yard score, afte
?I thought that was huge for us. We have some young kids playing in positions and they came up big tonight. We are not too severely banged up, just some bumps and bruises, but the guys will be ready.? Budnick said everybody in last Friday?s game that got banged up was in practice on Monday getting ready for Rogers City. Statistics:
Total offense: Posen 288 rushing, 102 passing, 390 total. Cedarville 403 rushing, 17 passing, 420 total. Rushing: Posen Jason Romel 15/104/ 2 TDs, Paul Kroll 23/92/1 TD, Nathan Strzelecki 16/74, Tyler Krajniak 4/18. Cedarville Justin Baker 20/270. Passing Jason Romel 6-for-10 102/ 1 TD. Receiving Matt Styma 3/73, Brandon Hentkowski 2/23/1 TD, Tyler Krajniak 1/6. Defense: Jordan Hincka 13 tackles, 1 sack, Craig Niedbala two fumble recoveries, 1 sack.