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Unstoppable Saber
Offense Sinks
Onekama in First Night Game
Excerpts from Manistee
News Advocate Article By MATT WENZEL, Sports Editor 9/19/08—
In the first Friday night game at Onekama, the Manistee Catholic Central
football team did its part to provide a little more illumination. The
Saber offense was completely unstoppable and lit up the scoreboard for a
62-14 win over the Portagers on Friday night in front of a huge,
standing room-only crowd.
With time running out in the fourth quarter, MCC backup quarterback
Garrett Owens took a knee on back-to-back plays to let the clock run
out. It was the only Saber possession in which they didn’t score a
touchdown. “That speaks volumes right there,” said Onekama coach Jim
Hunter.
MCC running back Nick Kolanowski scored four touchdowns and racked up
218 yards on just 10 carries. “Nick Kolanowski is just an unbelievable
runner,” Russell said.
Also for the Sabers, running back Nick Niesen had 136 yards on 10
carries to go with three touchdowns, quarterback Jordan Janowiak had a
pair of rushing touchdowns on four carries for 46 yards and Nick Doyle
had 15 carries for 83 yards. MCC amassed 501 rushing yards on 45
carries.
On the first possession of the game, Onekama (2-2, 2-1) went for it on
fourth down and the Sabers (4-0, 2-0) stuffed them. Two plays later,
Kolanowski broke off a 56-yard touchdown run up the left side of the
field, shedding tackles on the way, for a 6-0 lead.
The Portagers responded with an
eight-play, 80-yard drive capped off by a Joerdon Daldos 34-yard
touchdown run. Daldos ran in the 2-point conversion to give Onekama a
8-6 lead with 6:14 left in the first quarter. Daldos led Onekama with
108 yards on 20 carries. |
“I really thought when the
kids came back, stuck that 2-point conversion in to take the lead, I
really thought we would be able to slug it out with them,” Hunter said.
“I really would have liked to see what would have happened if we would
have got a few defensive stops. But, we didn’t.”
As quickly as the Portagers took a lead, they found themselves in MCC’s
rearview mirror. Kolanowski scored on a 2-yard touchdown and Doyle added
the 2-point conversion for a 14-8 lead with 5:06 left in the first
quarter and Janowiak scored on a 5-yard run at 11:17 of the second
quarter, for the 20-8 lead.
“They established the line of scrimmage, no question, on both sides of
the ball,” Hunter said. “Defensively, they were across the line causing
us all sorts of fits. Offensively, we weren’t getting a blue shirt
across the line of scrimmage, except for isolated situations here and
there.”
Niesen opened the second half with a 15-yard run and followed it up with
a 40-yard touchdown for the 48-8 lead.
Onekama answered with a 1-yard Daldos touchdown run, which was set up on
a 50-yard run by Travis Teachout.
With a running clock, Niesen tacked on touchdown runs of 36-yards and
2-yards to close the scoring.
Notes: It was the first time MCC beat Onekama
since 2005. Janowiak finished the game 1-2 passing, with a 12-yard
completion to Kolanowski. Jake Szymanski led the Sabers with 15 tackles,
to go with Niesen (13), Doyle (10) and Kolanowski (10).
Onekama’s Dan Gillespie finished
the game 3-7 passing for 78 yards. Teachout had 11 carries for 94 yards,
Joe Kosiboski had two receptions for 42 yards, Adrian Norman had one
reception for 36 yards and the Portagers were led in tackles by Ryan
Miller (9), Daldos (8) and Jared Miller (8). |
