Jason Gendron asked his Gibraltar Carlson football team to forget about the past.
The first-year coach knows better than most the struggles that the Marauders have had in recent years against Allen Park. He has been an assistant since 2020 and has seen two different head coaches fail to beat the Jaguars.
Last year, Carlson only lost two games − both to Allen Park. Once in the playoffs.
"We knew the narrative going in would be about last year with the two losses," Gendron said. "We challenged our kids to just focus on doing their jobs. That was the message. It wasn't about last year. Last year had no bearing on what would happen tonight."
Easier said than done, Gendron knows that.
There are nearly 20 players on this year's roster who still have last year's memories fresh in their minds.
"I do think it was difficult for them," Gendron admitted. "We also talked about that if you were a part of it last year, to take it personal and have a chip on your shoulder. But the focus really was on this year."
Whatever the motivation, Carlson's team did something it hadn't done since 2018. The Marauders defeated Allen Park 35-6 Friday night to improve to 3-0 this season.
Carlson dominated at the line of scrimmage to control the game, Gendron said. The offensive line of Ben Przytula, Matt Hall, Evan Bredow, Melvohn Martin, Jake Nagy, and Adam Zurawski helped the team amass 393 yards of total offense.
Carlson led 28-0 at halftime.
The defensive line of Przytula, Hall, Bredow, Raphael Araujo, and Deisel Gessner was key in holding Allen Park to just 6 points.
"With Allen Park's style of play and our style of play, you have to win up front," Gendron said. "That was the challenge. Both our front, offense and defense, dominated the line of scrimmage. We were able to have our way up front."
C - Jackson Zachary 13 pass from Eddie Light (Kyler Ostrowski kick)
C - Brandon Scheffler 6 run (Ostrowski kick)
C - Timmy Simons 46 pass from Light (Ostrowski kick)
C - Omari Carter run (Ostrowski kick)
C - Light run (Ostrowski kick)
Rushing: Omari Carter, C, 11-90; Izaiah Wright, C, 10-74; Eddie Light, C, 14-25.
Passing: Light, C, 9-12-167.
Receiving: Brandon Scheffler, C, 4-77; Timmy Simons, C, 1-45; Ben Przytula, C, 2-23; Jackson Zachary, C, 2-22.
BLISSFIELD −Dundee committed three turnovers and hurt itself with penalties, but the Vikings still came away with the win Friday night.
"We shot ourselves in the foot, turned the ball over, a moved backward a few too many times because of penalties, and we still managed to win," Dundee coach Steve Ayre said. "That was my message to the kids after the game: you're not always going to win clean. You have to win ugly sometimes."
Trey Parker caught a 37-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Zanger to open the scoring in the first quarter. The Vikings didn't score again until the third on a 15-yard run by Colton Bordine.
Quentin Lephew and Braiden Whitaker forced a fumble and recovered on the Dundee goal line to deny Blissfield a chance to tie the game at the end of the third.
D - Trey Parker 37 pass from Ryan Zanger (Brayden Ratliff kick)
D - Colton Bordine 15 run (Ratliff kick)
Rushing: Colton Bordine, D, 14-82. Ryan Zanger, D, 11-54.
Passing: Ryan Zanger, D, 15-24-171.
Receiving: Trey Parker, D, 5-47; Matt Atkinson, D, 4-41.
ANN ARBOR − Owen Yount made big plays, scoring three long touchdowns to help Monroe improve to 2-1 overall and 2-0 in the Southeast Conference Red.
Young had a 40-yard TD run and a 30-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown in the first quarter. He added a 44-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Ryan Sieler in the third.
"Owen Yount really stood out with a huge run, a phenomenal TD catch, and a blocked punt for a TD," Monroe coach Dave Mifsud said.
Angel Rincon scored a pair of defensive touchdowns, returning a fumble 27 yards for a TD in the second and pick-six in the fourth. Aiden Brody added a 13-yard touchdown catch from Sieler just before halftime to make it 28-0.
"We had some great plays, but Skyline played aggressively on defense and made things difficult for us," Mifsud said. "We didn't run the ball as well as I'd like or as consistent as I'd like. But we made plays when needed."
M - Owen Yount 40 run (Nick Lieto kick)
M - Yount 30 fumble recovery (Lieto kick)
M - Angel Rincon 27 fumble recovery (Lieto kick)
M - Aiden Brodie 13 pass from Ryan Sieler (Lieto kick)
M - Yount 44 pass from Sieler (Lieto kick)
M - Rincon 55 interception return (Lieto kick)
Rushing: Logan Loveland, M, 10-58; Owen Yount, M, 3-43.
Passing: Ryan Sieler, M, 5-17-137.
Receiving: Aiden Brodie, M, 2-49; Yount, M, 1-44.
OTTAWA LAKE – Whiteford’s offense scored on seven of its eight possessions Friday as the Bobcats dominated Detroit Loyola, 52-14.
Whiteford compiled 419 yards of total offense. Shea Ruddy completed all four of his passes, three of which went for touchdowns, for 155 yards. Hunter DeBarr caught a 65-yard touchdown in the second quarter, Ruddy tossed a 34-yard touchdown to his brother Ryin Ruddy and completed a 50-yard touchdown to Kolby Masserant.
The TD pass to Masserant started a running clock for the Bobcats (3-0).
“We had one of the best weeks of practice since I’ve been part of this program,” Bobcat coach Todd Thieken said. “We were prepared and played very well. I think the win over Ida last week prepared us for this.”
Ryin Ruddy had two interceptions for Whiteford and Iott was in on nine tackles.
W – Jake Iott 1 run (run failed)
W – Hunter DeBarr 65 pass from Shea Ruddy (Shea Ruddy run)
W – Iott 14 run (Iott run)
L – Marcus Brown 6 run (pass failed)
W – Ryin Ruddy 34 pass from Shea Ruddy (Iott run)
W – Shea Ruddy 6 run (Ryin Ruddy pass from Shea Ruddy)
W – Kolby Masserant 50 pass from Shea Ruddy (run failed)
W – Brandon Knaggs 1 run (Luis Trejo run)
L – Cameron Walthall 32 run (Khamari Wright run)
Rushing: Drew Knaggs, W, 11-60; Iott, W, 10-59; DeBarr, W, 13-49; Brandon Knaggs, W, 9-42; Trejo, W, 7-30; S. Ruddy, W, 5-15.
Passing: Shea Ruddy, W, 4-4-155.
Receiving: DeBarr, W, 2-71; K. Masserant, W, 1-50; R. Ruddy, W, 1-34.
ERIE − Fremont traveled nearly two hours to run into a dominating defensive performance from Erie Mason.
"The defense played pretty much lights out all night," Mason coach Steve Bowers said. "We forced several punts and had a handful of fourth-down stops. They just played great, physical football."
Louden Murbach, Logan Goodin, Cole Kreger, Michael Narew, and Toby Frazier stood out defensively. Kreger had an interception, and Toby Frazier and Xavier Wise recovered fumbles.
Quarterback Vaughn Brown had touchdown passes of 52, 9, and 25 yards.
"They were trying to keep us from throwing the deep ball, but that allowed us to do some other things," Bowers said. "They put a lot of pressure on Vaughn. I can't say enough about how handled it. They were coming in hard off the edge. He took a lot of hits but still delivered some good passes and made a lot of good decisions."
Cole Kreger, Louden Murbach and Logan Goodin led the defense with 8 tackles each and Michael Narew had 7. Kreger intercepted a pass and Murbach, Xavier Wise and Toby Frazier recovered fumbles.
EM - Trent Herrera 32 pass from Vaughn Brown (Cole Kreger run)
EM - T. Herrera 9 pass from Brown (Kreger run)
EM - Korbin Herrera 25 pass from Brown (kick missed)
EM - Xavier Wise 13 fumble recovery (kick missed)
EM - Toby Frazier 53 fumble recovery (Brown run)
EM - Kreger 3 run (Logan Goodin run)
Rushing: Cole Kreger, EM, 14-61; Vaughn Brown, EM, 8-36; Logan Goodin, EM, 7-33.
Passing: Vaughn Brown, EM, 16-27-230.
Receiving: Korbin Herrera, EM, 4-73; Toby Frazier, EM, 4-63; Trent Herrera, EM, 4-57; Phoenix Stefko, EM 1-11; Louden Murbach, EM, 1-11; Xavier Wise, EM, 1-8; Michael Narew, 1-7.
CLINTON – Zach Lindsay scored Ida’s lone touchdown of the night with a 1-yard run in the second quarter, while Luke Levicki played well defensively for the Blue Streaks.
“The kids played hard and we had opportunities,” said Ida Coach Jeff Potter. “We came up empty four times on their side of the field. We need to do a better job of taking care of the football.”
I – Zach Lindsay 1 run (run fail)
Rushing: Nathan Miller, I, 7-35; Zach Lindsay, I, 10-30.
Passing: Miller, I, 3-13-91.
MILAN – It was a tie game heading into the fourth quarter, where the Big Reds were outscored 14-6.
“Very tough loss,” said Milan coach Jesse Hoskins. “I’m heartbroken at the moment for our young men. We have to be very resilient and get back on track. It is not going to be easy, but it is worth whatever it will take.”
Carson Baugher opened up the scoring for the Big Reds with a 65-yard punt return in the first quarter. In the second, he snagged a 46-yard TD pass from Brady Bovenkerk (12-of-18 passes for 183 yards), who also found Connor Dessellier for a 38-yard passing touchdown in the fourth.
Ronny Johnson scored touchdowns from 65, 38 and 1 yards out, finishing with 176 yards on 18 carries.
M – Carson Baugher 65 punt return (Adam Johnson kick)
M – Ronny Johnson 38 run (A. Johnson kick)
M – Baugher 46 pass from Brady Bovenkerk (R. Johnson run)
M – R. Johnson 1 run (A. Johnson kick)
M – R. Johnson 65 run (A. Johnson kick)
M – Connor Dessellier 38 pass from Bovenkerk (run fail)
Rushing: Ronny Johnson, M, 18-176; Brady Bovenkerk, M, 7-61.
Passing: Bovenkerk, M, 12-28-183.
Receiving: Connor Dessellier, M, 9-124; Carson Baugher, M, 1-46.
TEMPERANCE − Bedford’s lone score of the night was a two-yard rushing touchdown by Trey Brueggermann in the third quarter.
“Our kids played a physical football game and fought to the end,” said Mules coach John Phillips.
D - Cole Cabana 1 run (Gerzon Herter kick)
D - Cabana 27 pass from Reeves Taylor (Herter kick)
D - Cabana 72 pass from Taylor (kick failed)
D - Cabana 19 run (Herter kick)
B - Trey Brueggemann 2 run (pass failed)
Rushing: Cole Cabana, D, 18-84; Tyler Boerst, B, 2-50; Trey Brueggemann, B, 14-41; Owen Przybylski, B, 4-39; Lucas Gerber, B, 11-37.
Receiving: Cole Cabana, D, 6-113; Brennan Parachek, D, 4-53.
RIVERVIEW – The 1-3 Chiefs scored first on a 3-yard run from quarterback Gavin Moczydlowski in the first quarter. But Riverview answered with a touchdown of their own, then outscored Huron 25-0 over the final three quarters of the game.
Moczydlowski rushed for 17 yards and the score on 4 carries, and completed 15-of-28 passes for 145 yards. Ethan Woolery caught 7 of those passes for 77 yards, while Sammy Farrugia snagged 4 for 44.
H – Gavin Moczydlowski 3 run (Anthony Gill kick)
Rushing: Gavin Moczydlowski, H, 4-17.
Passing: Moczydlowski, H, 15-28-145.
Receiving: Ethan Woolery, H, 7-77; Sammy Farrugia, H, 4-44.