Onekama rolls past CCA in season opener

By BOB ALLAN, Pioneer News Network
Thursday, August 27, 2009
 BIG RAPIDS — The game of football is all about momentum swings and Onekama was able to make more big plays than Crossroads Charter Academy on Thursday night.

The Portagers (1-0, 1-0) opened the 2009 season with a 36-6 victory over the Cougars (0-1, 0-1) at the Mitchell Creek Sports Complex behind big plays in all three phases — offense, defense and special teams.

“We were able to make plays at critical times,” Onekama coach Jim Hunter said. “I really thought that was the difference.”

After the Portagers intercepted a pass late in the first quarter, they were able to march the ball down the field and put the first points of the game on a 2-yard run by Jake Matthews.

Onekama added to its lead less than two minutes into the second quarter on a 1-yard plunge by Tyler Fogarty.

Matthews and Fogarty were the big guns for the Portagers. Fogarty ran for 103 yards on 22 carries, while Matthews added 94 yards on 16 carries.

“As I said before, what they run isn’t flashy, but they run it very well,” Crossroads Charter Academy coach Jeff Thorne said about Onekama’s veer offense.

The Cougars responded with a solid drive on their next possession, traveling 70 yards on six plays, capped off by a 12-yard run by Mads Olson midway through the second quarter.

Onekama responded with a big kickoff return that started its next drive in Cougars’ territory. The drive was capped on a 10-yard screen pass from Dan Gillespie to Matthews to take a 20-6 halftime lead.

“All three of their scores in the first half, we gave them a big play,” Thorne said.

Despite trailing by a couple of scores, Thorne said his team was still in the game and the opening possession of the second half was going to be critical. However, Crossroads went backwards for most of the third quarter, losing 10 total yards in the stanza.

The Portagers put the only tally on the board in the third quarter on a 5-yard run by Fogarty with 40 seconds remaining.