There is something special about a home football game in St. Johns. The fans, dressed in black, the student section covered in paint, the band, the leaves slowly changing from green to gold. It’s Friday night in the Fall in a small town. It’s a Kenny Chesney song.
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Let’s set the stage, your Friday Night Heroes, THE St. Johns Redwings are 5-0 and the Mason Bulldogs are 4-1. On the line is the CAAC Red Championship. So without further ado…
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!

St. Johns kicks off to Mason. Mason is big and skilled. They are able to move the ball down the field and in short order they put 7 on the scoreboard.

However the boys in black have an answer. They turn 3rd and 9 from their 43 turns into 1 and goal at the Mason’s 2. Touchdown St. Johns 7-7 and we are just getting started.

Mason responded, as they seemed to all night, driving the ball, coupled with some costly penalties and the Bulldogs put another one on the board. The extra point attempt is blocked and it’s 13-7.

St. Johns puts on a drive themselves and comes away with a field goal and it’s 13-10.

Mason is able to put another one on the board and it’s 20-10 at the half.

The Redwing Marching Band playing songs like Proud Mary and Sweet Caroline and hits from Looking Glass and Etta James, the half time show is a highlight of every home game.

Also It was Hall of Fame Night. Inducted into the St. Johns Athletic Hall of Fame this year were,
Robert Spencer, Christine (Ebert) MacDonald, Sue Pearsall, Clark Berkhousen, and Monica (Rehmann) Howard. Unfortunately, there isn’t time to list all of their accomplishments because the teams are back and we have a 2nd half to get to.

St. Johns gets the ball to start the half, down 10 and it kind of went off the rails for the Hometown Boys. Costly penalties, an interception and some loss of composure are things that are hard to overcome with a team like the Bulldogs. They are as solid as ever, they rarely make a mistake and they will make you pay for yours..

In the end your Boys of Fall played hard but were just a bit overmatched. Mason has the ability to turn their mistakes into positive plays and they capitalized on every mistake made by St. Johns. The final score was 40-10 Mason over St. Johns and the CAAC title goes to the Bulldogs.

I caught up with Coach Schmitt after the game, “We took that one on the chin. We didn’t capitalize on mistakes and Mason played really well. We will get after it next week”.

Next week St. Johns travels to Haslett and will look to get back on the winning side against the Vikings.

Dan Ward- You probably know me

Click for Photo gallery by Glenn Armstrong