Turnovers prove costly for Portagers

BALDWIN — The total yards accumulated by both teams Friday night would indicate that Baldwin and Onekama were just about even.

But the turnovers told a totally different story.

Baldwin had interception returns for touchdowns by Andon Ware and Daekwon Fisher and recovered two key fumbles to thwart Portager scoring drives to lead the Panthers to a 45-12 West Michigan D League victory.

Hunter Nichols added two touchdown runs while Ware also had a 70-yard kickoff return for a score to spark the Baldwin avalanche.

Baldwin gained 212 yards rushing and 43 passing. Ware gained 62 yards on 10 carries.

The visitors had 225 yards rushing and 22 passing. Quinn Matthews gained 112 yards on the ground while Jordan Coe added 68.

It marked the first time in coach Doug Bolles’ eight-year football coaching career at Baldwin that one of his teams has defeated Onekama.

“If your offense is going to give up scores, you’re not going to do very well,” said Onekama coach Jim Hunter. “I’ll give coach Bolles credit, his kids played well. They were flying around making a lot of plays.”

“It’s coach Hunter, he’s a veteran coach and I have tremendous respect for what he does,” Bolles said. “We knew it was going to be a battle.”

The Panthers strengthened their position to win the league title by improving to 2-0 in the conference and are 4-2 overall. Onekama fell to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the league.

Onekama stayed toe-to-toe with Baldwin for three quarters.

The Panthers scored on a 23-yard run by Nichols and Brandon Childress passed to Damon Nichols for the two points. But with Matthews and Coe leading the rushing attack, the visitors were able to march down the field. Matthews scored on a 3-yard TD run but the try for points failed.

Posted by Jason Carrick: Manistee News Advocate on-line
September 28, 2012

Onekama’s Jordan Coe (25) tries to avoid a tackle during Friday’s loss to Baldwin. (John Raffel/Pioneer News Network)

Baldwin lengthened its lead to 14-6 while Childress passed 13 yards to Fisher.

But the Portagers marched down the field again, threatening to score. Tyler Johnson’s pass over the middle was intercepted by Fisher who returned it 85 yards for the touchdown.

“Kyle (Hibma) hit the quarterback and I caught it,” Fisher said. “That set the tone right there. That was it.”

Johnson, moments later, left the game with an injury and was replaced by Bryson Waller.

“With the loss of our quarterback, that’s a big uphill climb,” Hunter said.

Onekama retaliated with another 3-yard scoring run by Matthews to make it 20-12. But, Ware followed with his touchdown run on the kickoff. Late in the half, he added his 40-yard touchdown return and the Panthers entered halftime ahead 32-12.

Onekama was driving before Hunter Nichols recovered a fumble midway in the third quarter. He later followed with a 56-yard scoring run for a 38-12 lead,

“Andon Ware’s the real deal, but we have some explosiveness too,” Hunter said. “We had some trouble up front. Our kids battled back hard in the second half. That was good to see.”

Fisher caused a fumble to thwart another Portager drive later in the half.  Childress capped the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 6-yard touchdown run.