By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
STURGIS — Friday’s rivalry game between Three Rivers and Sturgis was a more personal one for Wildcats head coach Jeff Awe in his first year at the helm.
On Thursday, just one day before the game, Awe’s father passed away. With that heaviness in mind, Awe said his father would have been proud of the Wildcats’ 56-0 blowout victory of Sturgis on the road Friday.
“I graduated in the Class of 1990, it was a big deal then. My dad was in the Class of 1965, it was a big deal to him,” Awe said. “I know he’d be proud of this team, coming here and playing a nice clean game and getting it done.”
Three Rivers dominated in all facets of the game against a young Sturgis team, outgaining the Trojans 305-53 on the day.
Nearly all the scoring in the game came in the first half. Despite the Wildcats fumbling the ball on their second and third play from scrimmage – with the former resulting in a Sturgis recovery that led to a three-and-out – they would regain their composure and complete a 48-yard drive on their second possession of the first quarter. The five-yard touchdown rush by Lamonta Stone to cap the drive, his first since Week 2 against Adrian, put the Wildcats up 7-0 midway through the quarter.
“He’s been doing a good job chewing up a lot of yardage, but today he was able to get in the end zone a couple of times. I was proud of him,” Awe said. “Finally, we played a good game in all three phases, offensively, defensively, and special teams. It was nice to see.”
The Wildcats would score on their next possession after another Sturgis three-and-out, as quarterback Aidan Williams connected with Travis Nyman on a 21-yard touchdown pass over the middle to go up 14-0.
In the second quarter, Three Rivers would complete another drive less than a minute in, as Williams capped off a 44-yard drive with a two-yard rushing score to go up 20-0 after the extra point doinked off the crossbar.
On the first play of the ensuing Trojan drive, Sturgis quarterback Beckett Lamb threw a pass that was intercepted by the Wildcats’ Jace Gray, who ran it back 19 yards to the end zone for a pick-six to go up 27-0. Stone would score two more touchdowns in the quarter, first on a four-yard touchdown rush, and then a 49-yard touchdown rush in which no Sturgis player had a shot at tackling him. That put the Wildcats up 41-0.
LJ Hensley then got in on the scoring action late in the quarter with a five-yard touchdown rush to go up 49-0, after the hold on the extra point attempt was bobbled by Brayden Carpenter, who improvised and threw a conversion pass to Nyman.
The second half was played with a running clock, but Three Rivers would get the last score of the game in the third quarter thanks to a muffed punt by Sturgis, which was recovered by Tre Rohrer in the end zone to put the Wildcats up 56-0. Three Rivers would get one more possession following a fumble recovery, but went four-and-out on its possession.
Sturgis would have some positive plays in the fourth quarter, as Lamb found Dawson Miller on a pass for a 22-yard gain on the next-to-last play of the game, following a muffed punt recovery by the Trojans.
On the day, Stone had 15 rushes for 163 yards and three touchdowns, Hensley had four rushes for 61 yards and a touchdown, and Williams was 3-of-3 passing for 55 yards, one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown.
The win moves Three Rivers to 4-4 on the season, setting up an important matchup next week for the Wildcats. With a win against 2-6 Otsego at home next week, the Wildcats could find themselves in the Division 4 state playoffs.
“Next week’s a big one. Pretty much, we win, we’re in the playoffs. We’ve got Otsego at home, and it’s going to be a tough game. We gotta get them ready,” Awe said.
As for Sturgis, the loss drops them to 0-8 on the season, with a road matchup against 5-3 Edwardsburg on tap next week to try to avoid a winless season. Head coach Chance Stewart said his players played hard on Friday night in the rivalry game.
“Three Rivers executed very highly, and we didn’t. That’s how it quickly got out of hand,” Stewart said. “The kids played hard, and that’s all you can ask of them. They competed at a high level, and they flew around, and that’s all you can ask for.”
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
