Hurons face Cardinals in homecoming game

4108?rc football by Richard Lamb– Advance Editor

Rogers City hopes to use the home field advantage and the excitement of homecoming week to end a four-game losing streak. The Hurons host Onaway Friday at 7:30 p.m. Although the Hurons got quarterback Pat Quaine back after missing the last three games due to an injury, but during the game they lost running back Jordan Zempel to a leg injury and tackle Cody Elowsky to a rib injury. The status of each is uncertain for Friday?s contest. With players coming and going from the lineup, coach Mike Kosiara has a chore in setting his lineup. ?We will need to plug some holes, alright. We just need to see who will step up,? Kosiara said.

LAST WEEK IN Rudyard the Bulldogs (4-2) held off a Huron rally to take a 42-20 win in the U.P. last Friday. Trailing 16-0 at the end of the first quarter, the Hurons put on their best drive of the day in their first possession of the second quarter. Senior Justin Idalski, making his third start at quarterback for Quaine, who was injured on the last play of game three at Alcona, directed a 13-play drive which covered 63 yards in just over five minutes. ?Justin completed three nice passes that ignited the drive. Our receivers ran good routes and we had protection,? Kosiara said.

Kevin Fairbanks went around the right end for a three-yard touchdown run. ?Trent Hayhoe and Elowsky executed a picture perfect fold block on the touchdown,? Kosiara said. Zempel got the two-point conversion as he followed a blocks by center Taylor Kowalewsky, left guard Wade Wilk and left tackle Jeff Kuznicki and the Hurons trailed 16-8 at the 5:01 mark of the second quarter. The big play of the drive came on a 23-yard pass from Idalski to wideout Ben Tulgestke that took the ball down to the Rudyard six-yard line.

THE HURON DEFENSE held Rudyard scoreless for the last 10 minutes of the second quarter. ?The defense was playing well at that time. I hoped that they would continue and our offense might come to life. My concern was that we were not winning our battles on the line of scrimmage,? Kosiara said. Rudyard came out determined to run the ball in the second half and had great success. On their first possession of the second half, the Bulldogs marched for a touchdown by covering 92 yards in nine plays, after an Elowsky?s punt pinned them deep in their own end. Rudyard led 22-8 with 7:33 left in the third quarter.

THE BULLDOGS would rush nine times for 145 yards and two touchdowns in the third quarter and ran 13 times for 56 yards and a score in the fourth quarter. For the game, Rudyard had 327 yards on the ground and 51 through the air on four completions. The Hurons had new life in their ensuing drive after Elowsky drew a roughing the punter call to resurrect the Hurons? drive at the Rudyard 32-yard line. At that point Kosiara brought out Quaine to play quarterback and he made a big play the first time he carried the ball. On second and seven, Quaine called his own number on an option and broke through the middle and down the left sideline for a 29-yard TD scamper.

?I wanted to run some play action passes which Justin has had difficulty doing. Pat obviously has more experience running the offense, too. Finally, I also wanted to give Pat the opportunity to shake out the rust,? the coach said about why he put Quaine in the game.

SUDDENLY THE Hurons had a spark of life, as the score was 22-14 with 3:02 left in the third. Rudyard would put out that spark two plays and 57 yards later scoring on a 45-yard run to make it 28-14 with 2:25 left in the third. Disaster happened on the next Huron drive. Facing fourth-and-18, Kosiara sent out the punt squad. Elowsky, still hurting from the roughing the punter call earlier, had his punt blocked. The Bulldogs took over at the Huron 47. Rudyard used good field position to mount an eight-play drive, which ended with a 16-yard pass for a Rudyard score. That made it 36-14, after the two-pointer, with 8:01 left

in the fourth. Trailing 42-14, the Hurons mounted one last scoring drive. Quaine?s pass to senior tight end Devon Ferris covered 24 yards and three plays later, Quaine and Ferris connected on a 36-yard scoring strike down the middle to make the score 42-20. The surge, which cut the Rudyard lead to eight points, couldn?t be sustained in the second half.

?LOSING THREE players to injury in the second half was a big part of that,? Kosiara said. ?We had to play people out of position and that is difficult to do.? Friday?s game will be broadcast on 99.9 The Wave with Karl Grambau and Karl Momrik calling the action.

Statistics: Total offense: Rogers City 110 rushing, 153 passing; Rudyard 327 rushing, 51 passing. Individual stats Passing: Idalski 6-of-13, 70 yards; Quaine 4-of-15 83 yards, 1 TD. Rushing: Quaine 4/33/1; Zempel 10/28/0; Fairbanks 10/26/1; Marx 6/14/0; Idalski 5/9/0. Receiving: Ferris 7/118/1; Tulgestke 1/23/0; Zempel 1/11/0; Fairbanks 1/1/0. Defensive leaders: Tulgestke 7 tackles, 3 assists, 1 interception; Ferris 5 tackles, 2 assists; Ryan 4 tackles, 3 assists; Hayhoe 5 tackles, 1 assist.

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