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By Mike DunnPETOSKEY – The Petoskey football team passed its firstbig test of the postseasonFriday, defeating perennialgridiron power Bay City JohnGlenn 31-14 in the Div. 3playoff opener. The victory before a large, vocal, appre-ciative home crowd pushedPetoskey’s record to 9-1 andgave the Northmen a berth inthe district finals for the firsttime in three years. Glennfinished with a 6-4 log.Next up for coach Kerry VanOrman’s potentNorthmen is an ever biggertest when they travel tounbeaten and No. 1 rankedMount Pleasant for aSaturday 1 p.m. kickoff. TheOilers (10-0) defeatedCadillac 45-10 in their open-er. Petoskey will be vying forits first-ever district champi-onship.In the win over Glenn,Petoskey senior tailback JoeRobbins added to the All-State caliber achievements of his stellar senior season.“Rocket” Robbins explodedfor 215 yards rushing – histhird game this season of 200-plus yards – and helpedturn the tide of the game inPetoskey’s favor with an elec-trifying 79-yard TD sprint inthe third quarter. At the timeof Robbins’ long, weaving run to the house, Petoskey led just 14-7.The visiting Bobcats pulledto within 10 points, 14-14, with five minutes left in thefourth quarter with a fumblereturn for a TD, but oppor-tunistic junior Tony DeAgostino alertly scoopedup the ensuing onside kick and raced 41 yards the other way to put Petoskey’s finalpoints on the board and sealthe deal.Junior quarterback Quinn Ameel tallied on a 4-yard runon Petoskey’s first drive of thegame to give Petoskey a 7-0advantage on the score-board. Ameel had kept thedrive going with a key fourth-down hook-up with glue-fin-gered Zak Lewis.The score remained 7-0until senior speed burnerCody Fryczynski, healthy again, burned the Bobcatdefense for a 29-yard TDstrike early in the third quar-ter. Louie Lamberti boomedhis second extra point to givethe Northmen a 14-0 lead.Glenn responded with itslone scoring drive of thegame, cutting Petoskey’s leadto 14-7 when Jack Frederick found a seam and went 5 yards off-tackle with 2:08 leftin the third quarter.The Bobcats’ momentum was short-lived, however, asthe 6-foot-3, 205-poundRobbins turned in the latestdisplay of his gridiron mas-tery, converting a conven-tional sweep into a sweet 79- yard TD sprint that had theNorthmen faithful up ontheir feet and cheering loud-ly.“Lights Out” Lambertiadded the extra digit again tomake it 21-7, and thenLamberti struck again, this
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Hard-driving Cardinal harrierMeridith surged past everyone Friday in the D-4 regional cross country meet at hilly Central Lake, sprinting past the finish line in 19:09.5 to cap-ture the regional championship.
Robbins’ sudden 79-yardTD strike breaks openclose game in thirdquarter; next up is No. 1ranked Mount Pleasant
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Petoskey senior Joe “Rocket” Robbins propels around the edge to some of his 215 yards rushing in Saturday’s game.Looks like another long, booming kickoff for Petoskey junior “Lights Out” Louie Lamberti!
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It was this kind of blocking up front that enabled Petoskey to generate 353 yards of rushing realestate on Saturday.
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2011
Petoskey 31, John Glenn 14
Northmen advance to title game
Petoskey puts the GANG in gang tackle as Northmen defend-ers converge to bury an unfortunate Bobcat ball carrier.
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by Mike DunnCENTRAL LAKE -- TheJohannesburg-Lewistongirls captured the Div. 4regional meet at CentralLake on Friday and seniorMeridith DeLuca led the way, winning the regionaltitle. The long-striding DeLuca crossed the finishline in 19:09, beating outrunner-up Isabella Tremontiof Mancelona, who finishedin 19:33 and qualified indi-vidually.The Cardinals had an ous-tanding team performance,scoring just 31 points to eas-ily outdistance the rest of the field. All five J-L runnersfinished in the top 11.Nicki Bush was the No. 2runner for J-L, taking fourthoverall in 20:09 with NadinePeterson (21:17) in sixth,Katie Kierczynski (22:13) inninth and Chloe Johnston(22:21) in 11th.Those who qualified indi-vidually in the girls raceincluded Isabella Tremontiand Olivia Tremonti (22:05,14th) of Mancelona,Christina Smith (21:59, 12th)of Gaylord St. Mary, HannahPassino (21:56, 11th) of Inland Lakes and HaileePacquet (21:16, seventh) of Mackinaw City.IN THE boys' race, juniorShayne Dingman of Mancelona was the medal-ist, crossing the finish line of the hilly Central Lake coursein 17:17. Teammate and fel-low junior R.J. Homan(18:16, 10th) also qualifiedfor the Ironmen.Sophomore Andrew Morehouse of Johannesburg-Lewistonpunched his ticket toBrooklyn with his sixth placetime of 17:50.Other individual quali-fiers included freshmanMike McNiel of Wolverine(18:09, ninth); senior KyleMoreau of Onaway (18:18,11th) and senior Luke Wisniewski of Gaylord St.Mary (18:29, 14th).The Mackinaw City boysteam came in third placeand advanced.Heath Welch paced theComets with his excellentthird-place time of 17:35and Conner Kintz was closebehind in fifth place in17:58. Hunter Kilpatrick (19:10) finished 24th for theComets followed by DaleStark (19:23, 32nd), GarrettRobinson (19:53, 44th),Chandler Lawson (20:22,52nd) and Zach Prell (22:27,68th).
Joburg girlscapture title
D-4 Regional Meet
DeLuca of J-L is female medalist, Dingman of Mancelona is male medalist in Central Lake D-4 meet
Page 2-B • Choice Publications ... The Best Choice!November 3, 2011
By Mike DunnGAYLORD – Three of thefive playoff football teams inthe coverage area of the Weekly Choice haveadvanced to the secondround.Petoskey in Division 3,Grayling in Division 5 andMancelona in Division 7 all won their pre-district gamesover the weekend and earneda berth in the district finals.In Division 8, Mio lost atFrankfort 34-24 andJohannesburg-Lewiston lostat home to perennial gridironpower Beal City, 43-20.Petoskey, Grayling andMancelona all have very tough opponents in theirrespective districts. Petoskey defeated Bay City John Glenn31-14 and faces unbeatenand top-ranked MountPleasant (10-0) on Saturday at 1 p.m. Grayling outscoredBenzie Central 41-28 andtravels north and west toMenominee for its districttitle game. Mancelona edged Whittemore-Prescott 16-14to earn a playoff rematch with Traverse City St. Francisthis Friday, Nov. 4, at Thirlby Field.Johannesburg-Lewistonconcludes an excellent sea-son under head coach JohnBush with an 8-2 record. TheCardinals may be the only team in MHSAA history toearn a playoff berth with six straight road victories. Theironly regular-season loss wasto defending Ski Valley Conference champMancelona.Mio concludes anotherstrong season under coachJim Gendernalik with a 7-3log. Senior quarterback Grant Price was one of thetop impact players in all of northern Michigan, accumu-lating more than 1,000 yardspassing and more than 1,000 yards rushing and being atop defensive player for theThunderbolts as well.
Div. 3, Region 1District 1Petoskey (9-1) atMount Pleasant (10-0)Saturday, 1 p.m.
Petoskey has the tall task of traveling Saturday to take onthe top-ranked Div. 3 team inthe state. The high-poweredOilers defeated Cadillac 45-10 in their pre-district clash.The Northmen, who havenever faced Mount Pleasantbefore, are seeking their first-ever district title. They advanced to the district titlegame once before in 2008 when they ironically lost toJohn Glenn.Petoskey will continue torely on the sweet feet andblinding bursts of senior tail-back Joe “Rocket” Robbins, who is in the midst of arecord-setting All-State sea-son. The hard-charging,high-stepping Robbinsshowed up big against Glenn,amassing 215 yards and scor-ing on a 79-yard sprint.Petoskey’s ability to break Robbins loose is one key fac-tor in its ability to be compet-itive with the Oilers and havethe chance to win in the end. Another key factor for theNorthmen is keeping thepotent Oilers from executing big plays. The hard MountPleasant has to work toscores its points, the better itbodes for the visiting Northmen.
Div. 5, Region 1,District 1Grayling (9-1) atMenominee (8-2)Saturday, 2 p.m.
Grayling (9-1) has earned aberth in the district finals forthe second year in a row andfor the fourth time in schoolhistory. The Vikings of coachTim Sanchez are in search of their second district champi-onship, the first coming in2005 with a 35-18 victory athome over Kingsford.This is the second year in arow that Grayling will vie forthe Div. 5 district title atMenominee. Last year, the Vikings lost by a lopsided 60-16 margin but they expect tobe much more competitivethis time around while look-ing to reverse the outcome.Menominee (8-2) has suf-fered two close defeats, 43-42to Riverside of Milwaukee in week two and 10-7 toMarquette in week eight. TheMaroons, who reached thesemifinals last year and wonthe state title in 2007, defeat-ed Kingsley 56-6 in the pre-district opener.The Vikings set a schoolrecord for wins with their 42-28 slugfest triumph on thehome field over BenzieCentral. Lefty QB Zane Tobinhit for 15-of-24 aerials for 224 yards before being forced tothe sidelines with a concus-sion. Versatile senior Riley Zigila took over as the signalcaller, hitting on 4-of-8 for 53 yards and a TD.
Div. 7, Region 1,District 2Mancelona (10-0) at T.C. St. Francis (9-1)Friday, 7 p.m.
Undefeated Mancelonaearned a berth in the districtfinals for the second year in arow and the third time since2007 with its hard-fought 16-14 victory at home over Whittemore-Prescott. Last year, the Ironmen went northand lost to state finalistIshpeming in the district titlegame. This year, coach DanDerrer’s troops go west totake on perennial gridironpower Traverse City St.Francis (9-1) at Thirlby Field.This is the second time theIronmen face the daunting task of taking on St. Francis with the district title on theline. In 2007, they went toThirlby Field and lost 52-0.That year the unbeatenGladiators had one of thebest teams in their schoolhistory, advancing all the way to the state finals.This year, the Gladiatorsare good but nearly as domi-nant. They advanced to thedistrict finals with a work-manlike 21-6 victory at homeover a fast, physical Lake City squad.Mancelona will seek tounleash explosive playmak-ers Austin Spires and WyattDerrer on the fast turf atThirlby but must find a way to neutralize the blitzing andhot pressure of the St. Francisdefense.
Petoskey, Grayling and Mancelona all win pre-district playoffs, move on to districtchampionship game; Mio, J-L fall in openers
The Mancelona football team celebrates at home Friday after winning its pre-district playoff opener for the second straight year.
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Three teams advance in playoffs
GOODLUCKTEAMS!
time on a 23-yard field goal to extend the lead to 24-7.Just when it looked like this one was in the books, Glennresponded with a defensive touchdown. Petoskey was driving toward another potential score when linebacker Glenn Wardenski picked up a fumble and motored 76 yards to givethe Bobcats a sudden spark of life with five minutes left toplay.Glenn needed a successful onside kick to have a shot at acomeback. DeAgostino, another member of Petoskey’s out-standing junior class, had other ideas, however, making anathletic play as he picked up the live ball and outraced every-one to the end zone. Lamberti’s final boot of the night made it31-14 and that’s how it remained until the final buzzer.It was another HUGE night for Robbins, who added somemore school records to his growing total. The senior not only became Petoskey’s all-time leader in career and single-seasonrushing yards and career and single-season touchdowns, healso established a new school record in interceptions ondefense!Running efficiently behind the Battering Blue Wall of Hunter Stinger, Ben Loomis, Shane Severn and company,Robbins zigged, zipped and zoomed to 213 yards on the nighton 18 carries and continued his policy of showing up big inthe biggest games. It’s no coincidence that Robbins’ other two200-plus games this season came against rugged Big Northfoes Traverse City Central and Traverse City West in “must win”contests.Fryczynski also had a big night in his return to action. TheFry Guy burned up the turf with his slashing, slamming runsfor 91 yards on 13 attempts and had the 29-yard TD gallop onhis stat line. It was like a family reunion in the Petoskey back-field on Friday as power-driving senior fullback Eian Delphreturned to the lineup as well.Robbins’ interception was one of three the Northmen hadin the game against beleaguered Bobcat quarterback RyanLietermann.
Northmen
Continued...
Thunderbolts bow in D-8 opener
Frankfort 34, Mio 24
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Tobin, Zigila combine for 277 passing yards, ‘Double D’ makes eight receptionsin playoff opener
By Mike DunnGRAYLING – The winFriday night didn’t come eas-ily or without some cost, butthe Grayling Vikings repeatedlast year’s feat and securedtheir Div. 5 playoff opener onthe home field. Grayling outscored Benzie Central 42-28 to advance to the D-5 dis-trict finals at Menominee forthe second year in a row.The Vikings (9-1) of coachTim Sanchez will vie for thedistrict title for the fourthtime since 2003. In 2005,Grayling won its lone districttitle with a victory at homeover Kingsford. Last year, the Vikings advanced to the titlegame at Menominee but lostby a lopsided margin to thepowerful Maroons.This year, the Vikings hopeto find a way to reverse theoutcome when they face hostMenominee on Saturday at 2p.m. It’ll be tough but the Vikings of coach Sanchez arenoted for their mental andphysical toughness. Andthey’re certainly not a teamto shrink from tough chal-lenges.Senior QB Zane Tobin, the Vikes’ lethal lefty, ledGrayling to a 28-14 halftimeadvantage before being shak-en up and forced to the side-lines. Tobin was performing surgery on the Benzie sec-ondary before his departure,dissecting the Huskiedefenders while connecting on 15-of-24 aerials for 224 yards and two TDs. Versatile senior Riley Zigila was called upon by Sanchezto take Tobin’s place as signalcaller in the second half andZigila, who is normally a big-play flanker who runs andreceives the ball with stat-popping frequency, filled innicely, hitting on 4-of-8 airstrikes for 53 yards with a TD.Zigila zoomed and blasted toanother 75 yards of realestate on 15 attempts and hescored one of the Vikes’ six TDs in the game.“The kids were clicking from the get-go,” Sancheztold reporters after the game.“The atmosphere (on thehome field) was great. Evenafter we lost our quarterback in the first half, the kids ral-lied.”“Double D” DevonDawson displayed his softhands, sweet feet and hardhead as he placed his burn-ing brand on the Grayling victory. Dawson, a senior who made a sensationalleaping catch in the end zonethe week before against St.Francis, continued to be animpact player among thereceivers, pulling down eightaerials for 158 yards, includ-ing a pair of TDs.Rugged rawhide-tough junior linebacker Joey Schwartz was in Slam Modethroughout the game, asusual, making 11 tackles tolead O’Connell’s Carnivoresdefensively. All-State seniordefensive end Griffin Dean,the “Growl” of theCarnivores, contributed 10tackles with a typically strong performance and Zigila Warfare was also a big part of the defensive effort. Zigilanot only made eight take-downs but he also recordedan interception. When Grayling andMenominee faced off last year, the Maroons prevailed60-16 on their way to the D-5semifinals. Menominee, theNo. 1 seed in the district, is 8-2 this season. The Maroonsbeat No. 4 seed Kingsley 56-6in their playoff opener.The past few weeks havebeen costly for the Vikings, who lost fiery senior Ryan“The Wrecker” Randall, athree-year starter at O-lineand linebacker, to injury dur-ing the St. Francis regular-season finale, and lost start-ing QB Tobin during theBenzie game on Friday.By Mike DunnFRANKFORT – Mio put upa heck of a fight Friday atFrankfort. A 20-point first-half deficit proved too muchto overcome, however, as theThunderbolts fell 34-24 inthe Div. 8 pre-district playoff.Mio ends another notableseason with a 7-3 mark andthe North Star League cham-pionship trophy. Frankfort(8-2) will host Beal City (7-3)on Saturday at 1 p.m. for thedistrict title.The Thunderbolts trailed28-8 at the half but rallied inthe third and fourth quartersto outscore the host Panthers16-6 and make a game of it.Mio senior quarterback Grant Price, who capped abrilliant prep career withanother gritty, hard-edgedperformance as a runner andpasser, brought his team within 12 points, 28-16, latein the third quarter with a 2- yard TD toss to leaping tightend Byron Devers in the endzone.Frankfort responded withits lone scoring drive of thesecond half, going 57 yardsafter recovering theThunderbolts’ onside kick attempt. QB Talon Bigley bulled over from the 1 toincrease the Panther lead to34-16.Mio did not go down with-out a fight. The Thunderboltsclawed to within 10 points when Price connected withthe streaking figure of TodRondo. Price’s conversionrun trimmed Frankfort’s leadto 34-24 but that was as closeas the Thunderbolts wouldget on this night.Price surpassed the centu-ry mark in rushing and pass-ing once again. The deter-mined senior signal callercollected 126 hard-earned yards of rushing real estateand hooked up on 15-of-35aerials for another 200 yardson a night when Mio had togo to the air more frequently than it wanted to because of the early deficit.Price and Rondo connect-ed twice for scoring strikes inthe game.For the season, Priceamassed 1,236 yards passing on 81 completions with 16TDs through the air. Theshifty 6-foot-1, 200-poundquarterback also accumulat-ed an eye-popping 1,335 yards rushing in 10 games,averaging 135.5 yards whilescoring 20 times and helping Mio to the league title andanother playoff berth.The reliable Rondo, whohad six receptions for 130 yards and the two touch-downs in the contest, fin-ished the productive 2011season with 27 grabs for 533 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Vikings return toD-5 district finals
Grayling 42, Benzie Central 28
The Grayling Vikings run onto the field prior to the start of Friday’s Div. 5 playoff game with Benzie CentralThere were lots of king-sized collisions in the trench-es when Grayling and Benzie Central faced off FridayNo one is going to catch Mio senior Tod Rondo (20) as he motors toward the goalline Friday at Frankford.
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Second-half rally notenough to put Mio overthe top; ’Bolts end season with 7-3 mark
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