By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
WHITE PIGEON—Entering the fourth quarter of its Division 8 opening-round playoff game against White Pigeon on Friday, Nov. 2, coach Bill Dunn’s Saugatuck football team seemed to have the game well in hand.
After all, the Trailblazers had jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter and hadn’t trailed on the way to taking the 24-8 lead.
That’s when things started to get a bit dicey.
White Pigeon scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter, narrowing the gap to 24-22 with 7:38 remaining to play.
But with senior quarterback at the helm, Saugatuck was able to put together a 14-play drive that ran out the clock and preserved the two-point victory.
Stanberry finished with 167 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries. He also had 10 tackles and a pair of sacks.
“Obviously, Cass had an outstanding game on both sides of the ball,” Dunn said. “But it takes a team to be victorious in the end, and the kids played a full 48 minutes of high intensity football to come out on top and advance to a district championship game.”
Saugatuck is slated to play at Decatur in a district final on Friday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m.
“The kids played with so much energy and confidence, matched the physicality of the game, played through adversity (90 yards in penalties), and made plays in all three phases at critical, game-changing moments of the game,” Dunn said.
The first of those big plays came in the first quarter when Will Soule intercepted a pass, which turned out to be the lone turnover of the game for either team.
On the ensuing possession, Saugatuck got a 35-yard field goal from Cam Lewis—matching a career-long make—to go up 3-0.
Then it was time for Stanberry to do his thing.
After scoring on a run of 17 yards with 4:55 remaining in the opening half, Stanberry added his second TD on a run of 55 yards with 1:05 left. Those touchdowns, coupled with the success extra-point kicks from Lewis, gave Saugatuck the 17-8 lead.
White Pigeon threated to cut into the lead in the half’s final minute, but the Saugatuck defense got a big stop at their 9-yard line with 10 seconds showing on the clock to keep the lead at nine points.
Stanberry’s third TD of the game—this won on a 6-yard run—in the third quarter upped Saugatuck’s advantage to 24-8. That drive came after Jordan Hosher successfully recovered an onside kick by White Pigeon to open the quarter.
White Pigeon’s two fourth-quarter TDs made things a little closer than Dunn would have liked, but Stanberry and Co. were able to milk the clock.
Included in the 14-play drive to end the game were two fourth-down conversions. The first was fourth-and-two at Saugatuck’s 36-yard line, while the second was fourth-and-five on a fake punt at the Saugatuck 47-yard line.
“The keys to the win were that we ran the ball well, we took care of the ball, we controlled the clock and we maximized our opportunities to score along with playing great defense,” Dunn said.
Max Page added 63 rushing yards on six carries, while Chris Foley had 58 yards on 13 carries.
Norm Bos led the defensive charge with 11 tackles to give him one more than Stanberry.
Wednesday, November 06, 2024
