Mustangs plow
Onekama’s playoff chances
By DYLAN SAVELA
Manistee News Advocate Sports Writer
Published:
Saturday, October 9, 2010
ONEKAMA — Onekama kept knocking
on its door, but Montabella refused to open.
Instead, the Mustangs had an answer for everything the Portagers
tried to deliver.
“It was a very frustrating game,” Onekama coach Jim Hunter said of
his team’s 48-22 loss Friday night, “because we had our shots.”
Despite spotting the Mustangs
a quick 14 points before their offense could take the field, the
Portagers rallied back and looked to be heading into halftime down
by less than a score at 20-16. However, Montabella (2-5) distanced
themselves again, scoring a fourth touchdown through the air with
six seconds left before the break. It was the type of give and take
Onekama (3-4) suffered from throughout -- especially in the second
half when the Portager offense seemed unable to move the chains,
losing yards on broken plays and untimely penalties.
“There was a few things
tonight that really stuck out,” Hunter said. “We couldn’t run the
ball. They were sending two linebackers. They blitzed them and
blitzed them and blitzed them ... and I think part of it was we
weren’t physical enough. A guy was coming hard and all we were doing
was putting a flipper on them.
“We’re not playing frozen tag, we’re playing football. You’ve got to
deliver a blow and you’ve got to drive.”
Defensively, the Portagers were hurt through the air on 187 yards
passing by Mustang quarterback Charles Helmer who threw five
touchdown strikes of Montabella’s seven total scores.
“I really did think our kids up front did a good job of handling the
run, and the quarterback throws a nice ball, but it’s not like a
screaming dart,” Hunter said. “It seemed to be up in the air a long
time, and in our soft zone, we should be all over that ball. We just
weren’t aggressive enough.
“I thought we probably played a stalemate with them up front
defensively, but with their passing game, their skill athletes just
made more plays than our skill athletes.”
The Mustangs didn’t waste any time jumping out to a two-score lead —
finding the endzone during the game’s opening drive at 9:15 on a
9-yard pass to receiver Mikey Helmer, and after recovering the
ensuing onside kick, capping just a four-play drive with another
strike to Helmer, his second score on the night, at 8:45.
Onekama turned the ball over on its first two drives, but converted
on the third, tightening the score to 14-8, converting the 2-point
try after freshman Logan Fogarty punched in a 1-yard touchdown at
10:23 in the second quarter.
Montabella’s Helmer struck again at
5:58, throwing an 18-yard score to Jemikal Papendick, who ended the
night with three trips to the endzone — two receiving and one on the
ground.
The Portagers, down 20-8, put together a last
minute drive that would cut their deficit to four, when quarterback
Adrian Norman connected with Rease Heiler on a 27-yard pass for a
touchdown with just 48 seconds left in the half.
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On the night, Norman was 3-of-6 for 70 yards with the touchdown pass
while Heiler led Onekama receivers with two catches for 33 yards.
However, the 48 seconds before heading into the locker rooms proved to
be too many, as Montabella’s Papendick hauled in his second touchdown
catch from Helmer with just 0:06 left on the clock.
“That was just a pass in the flats,” Hunter said of what proved to be
the backbreaking score. “If we tied them up, that’s just a five-yard
gain. But we just weren’t aggressive enough. We’re afraid to put our
shoulders in to tackle them sometimes. And they’re good athletes.
They’re going to break an arm tackle.”
Onekama's Tyler Fogarty (33)
is met by a group of Montabella tacklers. (Dylan Savela/News
Advocate)
After the break, Onekama received the kickoff, but fumbled on the
opening play of the drive.
Montabella took advantage, as Papendick scored on a 19-yard reverse play
at 8:55 in the third.
The Onekama offense started to move the wrong direction, as Norman was
sacked four times in the half.
“They just played at a faster pace than we did up front,” Hunter said.
“That’s what negated our running game.
“We really didn’t have time to throw it either. Adrian had guys draped
on him most of the night. You can do a lot when you control the line of
scrimmage, and that team really did.”
The Mustangs scored on another strike through the air at 4:30 in the
third, this time receiver Wesley Williams made the grab; and again at
3:00 left in the fourth when junior quarterback Helmer took a keeper to
pay dirt from the 7-yard line.
It was too little, too late, but Onekama junior Tyler Fogarty broke off
a 50-yard touchdown run on the following drive, which took the score to
its final destination. Although the Portagers struggled on the ground,
Fogarty’s last score put him past the 100-yard mark for the night,
rushing for 126 on 19 carries. He also led the team defensively with 22
tackles.
Heading into Friday night, the Portagers were charged with winning the
final three games of the schedule to keep any playoff hopes alive. But,
the loss essentially extinguishes those aspirations.
“We can do better, and that’s what we’ll do,” Hunter said. “We just have
to strap it up and bounce back next week.” |
