Trailblazers fall to Schoolcraft

By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
SCHOOLCRAFT—In the fourth quarter of the SAC football game between visiting Saugatuck and host Schoolcraft, Trailblazer Norm Bos found the end zone on a 7-yard run.
That was enough to enable Saugatuck to avoid the shutout. But it wasn’t enough to avoid the loss.
The Trailblazers fell behind 21-0 after the opening quarter and were unable to recover in suffering the 56-7 defeat.
The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for Saugatuck, which fell to 5-2.
Saugatuck coach Bill Dunn knew the Eagles—who improved to 6-1—presented a formidable challenge for his team.
“This was a tough game against a very good Schoolcraft team,” he said. “All credit goes to Schoolcraft. They controlled the line of scrimmage, which I felt was the difference in the game.
“They have lots of offensive weapons and were able to make plays that resulted in points. And good teams don’t turn the ball over, which they did not.”
Saugatuck also has several offensive weapons, as was seen during their winning streak. Chief among those weapons is quarterback Cass Stanberry.
And while Stanberry still led the Trailblazers with 83 hard-earned yards on 19 carries, the Eagles did a good job of containing him and the rest of the Saugatuck offense.
“Offensively, we could not get any consistency with our running attack throughout the game, which is a key to our success,” Dunn said.
Bos was next on the team with 30 yards on five carries, while Chris Foley added 20 yards on 10 carries.
The Trailblazers finished with 153 rushing yards as a team.
Stanberry also completed three of his seven pass attempts for 20 yards. Carter Miller was on the receiving end of two of those completions for 20 yards, while Bos had the other catch for no gain.
Foley had a team-best nine tackles—including one for loss—for Saugatuck, while Stanberry had six. Bos added four tackles, followed by Jaxon Green, Max Page, Will Soule and Sam Bos with three each.
Saugatuck has another challenge on Friday, Oct. 18, as the Trailblazers travel to face 5-2 Lawton on the road. Lawton also fell to Schoolcraft, dropping a 17-3 decision in Week 6.
“This game was a good measuring stick for our team and what we need to focus on moving forward,” Dunn said of the Schoolcraft loss. “We have a big game this week on the road against a very good Lawton team, so we’ll see how we respond.”