Portagers fall to
Wolverines
By DYLAN SAVELA
Manistee News Advocate Sports Writer
Published:
Friday, September 3, 2010 12:09 AM EDT
ONEKAMA — Midway through the
third quarter Thursday, Vestaburg had an 18-0 lead and the ball back
after recording a safety against Onekama in the Portagers’ home
opener.
Right on cue, five on-field sprinklers inadvertently turned on and
showered the Wolverine huddle.
But unfortunately for the Portagers, nothing was going to cool down
the Vestaburg offense.
The Wolverines continued to roll to a 43-0 win for their first
victory of the season, leaving the Portagers still in search for
theirs. "We've got to go back to work," Onekama coach Jim Hunter
said of his team's 0-2 start. "I thought the kids battled hard. I
knew it was going to be physical, I just don't know how long we'd be
able to hold up. We didn't hold up much past the first half."
Onekama kept the game within
striking distance by holding the opposition to just two scores in
the first half, while heading into the locker room down 16-0.
But, Vestaburg’s ground game stayed hot throughout, gathering 396
yards rushing, split between a mix of five backs.
The Wolverines’ Dakota Ryckman and Ryan Denman carried in a pair of
scores apiece, while fellow backs Ryan Daley and Mitch McCormick
each added a touchdown.
For Onekama, key defensive stops failed to turn into offensive
production.
“The killer was, offensively, we’re still not generating anything,”
Hunter said of his team’s 102 yards on the ground and 38 through the
air. “I think the big issue for us, is we’d stop them (on defense)
and then not be able to score ourselves to get back in it.
“And after a while of that, it’s hard to keep going at it when
you’re not seeing the fruits of your labor.”
The Portagers’ senior quarterback Rease Heiler threw for 38 yards on
3-of-11 passing with an interception, while rushing for 30 yards on
eight carries. Tyler Fogarty rushed for 34 yards on 10 carries and
Jared Miller picked up 33 yards on seven rushes. Wide receiver
Adrian Norman had three receptions for 38 yards.
“We’re awful young on our offensive line, and we know that,” Hunter
said of his team’s early offensive struggles. “We just have to keep
working and bring it along as best we can. There was some
opportunities, and we’ve got to cash them.
“On some of those returns, we had one guy to beat and we couldn’t
quite do it,” he added. “There was a couple pass plays that were
there that we didn’t connect on. Sometimes it was the receivers’
fault, sometimes the quarterback, and sometimes we weren’t giving
them enough time on the front line to let those plays develop. Until
we fix that, we’re going to struggle to score.”
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Onekama tightened up on the
defensive end after Vestaburg turned their first two long drives into
scores — Ryckman’s pair of rushing touchdowns at 5:02 in the first
quarter and 10:44 in the second.
Two stops later, the Portagers were down just two scores at half’s end.
“I thought the kids fought through the first half pretty well,” Hunter
said. However, Vestaburg continued to pick up yards in the latter half.
Onekama junior wide receiver
Adrian Norman sheds Vestaburg’s Dakota Ryckman while picking up
yards after a first half reception Thursday. (Dylan Savela/News
Advocate)
“We just went back to basics,”
said Wolverines coach John Huckins. “We kept it real simple, and told
the guys they had to get it done.
“We know later in the season, when it comes down to it, we have to run
our bread and butter,” he said of his team’s rushing attack. “And,
that’s what we did tonight.”
Vestaburg blocked a punt in the Portagers’ endzone at 5:42 in the third
quarter which resulted in a safety, and scored touchdowns on their next
four drives, as Denman ran in for back-to-back scores at 0:52 in the
third, and 11:37 in the fourth and McCormick picked up points with a
touchdown rush at 9:15 and Daley at 5:12.
The loss puts the Portagers in a 0-2 hole, but Hunter understands his
team is still young.
“This was a short turnaround and I knew it was going to be tough,” he
said. “Really, nobody likes being 0-2. But the nice thing is we haven’t
lost a conference game yet. We’ve got time to get our feet under us.
“We’ve got to get better on technique, and it takes nothing but work and
repetition,” he added. “We’ve been here before where we’re really young.
It takes some time.
“That’s the hardest thing right now: we want the young kids to
understand that we’ll be patient, but we also don’t want to be accepting
of the same mistakes over and over again.”
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