By Greg Gielczyk
ROSCOMMON — Trailing by two points in the fourth quarter the Roscommon Bucks football team rallied for a thrilling 36-28 victory over cross county rival Houghton Lake in an MHSAA Division 6 pre-district playoff game at home Friday night.
It was the second time the county rivals played this season, with the Bucks coming away with a tight 36-34 win in a Sept. 23 Jack Pine Conference matchup. The Bucks, who improved to 9-1 overall, had not won a playoff game in 10 years (2006), when they lost to Menominee, 35-0 in the Division 5 regional final after beating Houghton Lake, 39-6 and Standish-Sterling, 35-28.
Houghton Lake was in the playoffs for the first time in seven years. The Bobcats qualified in 2009 when they were 6-3 in the regular season, but were shutout by Pinconning in the Division 5 pre-district game, 12-0 and finished 6-4.
‘The one thing I’ll say about this team and that I’ll never forget is these guys never quit,’ Bobcats head coach Joe Holloway said. ‘They were always battling to the very end, and that was evident again (Friday) night. Roscommon has a really good football team. Very physical, very big. A lot of really nice players.
‘Even down a guy, our guys didn’t blink. They just played good football. To keep them (the Bucks) to six points at the half was phenomenal, and the fact that we came out the losing (was) unfortunate, but I can’t say enough about our guys.’
Houghton Lake, which finished 5-5 and lost its last two games, was dealt a major blow when the Bobcats lost All-State running back Gavin Masse to an injury early in the first quarter but the Bobcats didn’t blink, taking an 8-6 lead at the end of the first quarter and had a 14-6 edge at the half. But the Bucks regrouped during halftime and rallied for a 20-14 lead after three quarters.
The Bobcats then stormed back to take a 22-20 lead midway through the fourth quarter. But the Bucks didn’t fold and maintained their composure in the face of adversity, answering the Houghton Lake run with a final push that got them over the top.
“Our kids played extremely hard,” Roscommon head coach Steve Clements said. “We’re both familiar with each other, and the last game being a two-point game … we knew we had our hands full.
“A lot of community support for both teams. Both games we had this year were hard-fought and I think entertaining to watch. It is nice playing at home and having that support from our community. It’s been great.”
It was a game that went back and forth all night, Clements said.
“We knew what we were in for,” the coach added. “We had a couple of plays that we made in the fourth quarter that helped us come out on top.”
Trey Lewandowski finished the game with 287 yards on 49 carries with touchdown runs of two, seven and three yards and added three 2-point conversion runs while helping lead the defense with six tackles, one sack and two tackles for loss.
Gabe Stern rushed for 121 yards on 16 attempts and scored on a two-yard run, while quarterback Jacob Sayed scored on a one-yard scamper. The Bucks accumulated 417 yards rushing on 68 attempts and had 438 yards total offense with 21 yards passing.
Defensive leaders included Seth Sebert with nine tackles and two for loss, Dane Smitz with seven stops, two sacks and three tackles for loss.
With their leading rusher for the season out the Bobcats finished with just 168 yards on the ground in 31 attempts with Jackson Blanchard picking up 39 on nine carries with two touchdowns and Garrett Lubaski adding 27 on nine touches. Blanchard was also 8 of 9 passing for 174 yards with two touchdowns, one for 52 yards to Seth Brandel and the other for 45 to Robert Press. Brandel had 4 catches for 87 yards. Cam Sidelko made two receptions for 21 yards and John Steckler one for 21.
Leading the defense were Lubaski with six tackles and Alex Stahle and Charles Stockdale contributing four apiece. Shawn Mckinley and Press each had three tackles and Brandel two.
Houghton Lake is graduating six seniors, but the vast majority of the team is returning including nine starters on offense and 10 on defense and Holloway is excited about next year.
‘We’re excited about making the playoffs this year and taking that step,’ the coach said. ‘I really, firmly believe these things happen in steps when you’re trying to turn around a program and turn around a culture.
‘You have to have a winning season and you’ve got to get in the playoffs. It’ tough when you haven’t been there to make a deep run. After (Friday) night’ loss, I know our kids are hungry. I know they’re not happy with that outcome. I know that we’re going to have a great off-season. We’re going to have a very good football team next year.
‘I’m going to look back at this loss, and they always stick with you, but there’ a lot of great things in the future and we’re going to build off this one.’
Roscommon takes a three-game winning streak into this Friday’ 7 p.m. Division 6 district championship game against the Maple City Glen Lake Lakers, who shut down Evart’s offense in locking up a 22-0 pre-district game Friday night.
Glen Lake (8-2) opened up a 14-0 lead in the second quarter on a 20-yard Nick Apsey touchdown run and a 3-yard Cade Peterson scoring strike to Tony Duperon according to the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Apsey scored again with a three-run scamper in the fourth quarter and Jared Jackson ran in the 2-point conversion. Apsey led the Lakers in rushing with 116 yards on 15 carries and Jackson had four pass receptions for 34 yards.
“We’ve watched quite a bit of film (on Glen Lake) already since we got it (Friday) night,” Clements said. “They’re just very athletic. Jerry (Angers) has been coaching there a long time and does a great job. We look for another battle and we just hope we can match up with some of the athletes they have.”
