We’re Gonna Fight So Hard To Win This Game
By Dan Ward

Well, that was a rough one.

Coach Schmitt had this to say: “Hats off to Williamston tonight. They played an incredible game. This was not who we are tonight. We did not execute well in all phases of the game. We will learn from this and we will be better because of it.”

It was a beautiful Friday night in St. Johns. St. Johns was 4-0 coming off of a Homecoming dominance of Eastern and Williamston fresh off a shutout win over Fowlerville was also 4-0, both sitting atop the CAAC Red standings. Williamston had outscored its opponents 145-43, and its last two wins over Mason and Fowlerville were shutouts. This one was going to be a test.

St. Johns won the toss as they have all season and elected to receive on a gorgeous early fall evening. St. Johns had trouble recovering the ball and ended up pinned deep in their own end.
The Redwings weren’t able to generate any offense, and on 3rd and 9, Conner Kurncz was sacked, forcing a punt from the St. Johns 3-yard line.

Bryce Pratl’s punt went out of bounds at the St. Johns 30-yard line, setting up Williamston with excellent field position. They quickly took advantage, scoring with 9:07 left in the first.
Lucas McCastle took the ensuing kickoff to the St. Johns 20-yard line. The next play, St. Johns fumbled the play, and Williamston recovered. Gavin Moreno broke through the line of scrimmage and sacked the Hornet’s Quarterback for a 2-yard loss. However, on the 3rd and 5, Williamston punched it in again, making the score 14-0.

Cody Carn returned the following kickoff to the St. Johns 29. Williamston’s defensive line was big and fast and was a problem for the Redwings’ offensive line all night. Conner Kurnz got flushed from the pocket and rushed ahead for a st. Johns 1st down at the Redwings 49, but the offense still wasn’t able to get anything going and were forced to punt.
Williamston took the fair catch at their 15. Moreno recorded another sack on this possession, but Williamston scored soon after, pushing the score to 21-0.

St. Johns started the next series at their 42 courtesy of an Ian Smith return. But again, Williamston put up a wall and forced a St. Johns punt to the Williamston 22.
Williamston scored again, and with a successful 2-point conversion, the score was 29-0.
St. Johns punted again on the next possession, and at 4:06 in the half, Williamston punched it again, making the score 36-0.

After a touchback on the ensuing kickoff, St. Johns started from their 20 and began to move the ball a little. But Kurncz was sacked twice, and St. Johns was forced to punt.

Things looked up on this drive. Williamston fumbled the ball on a Brody Pratl hit, and Tyler Priest recovered it at the Williamston 48-yard line. Kurncz connected with Bryson Martinez and Ryan Priest on this drive and moved the ball to the Williamston 30 with 33 seconds left in the half. Kurncz hit McCastle to move the ball to the Hornets’ 18, but on the next play, Kurncz’s pass was tipped and intercepted by the Hornets. The Hornets took a knee to end the half.

The Redwing marching band performed their “Kings and Queens” show, highlighted by Gavin Moreno’s solo on Bohemian Rhapsody. St. Johns did their annual Hall of Fame Inductions, and this year’s inductees were Robert Every, Jacob Schmitt, Heather Windel, and Peg Zink. Congratulations to this year’s inductees.

St. Johns, facing a running clock situation, had to kick off to start the 2nd half, and Williamston scored for the last time with 9:03 remaining in the 3rd quarter, making the score 43-0.
The remainder of the 3rd quarter and the game was mostly St. Johns and Williamston punting to each other as Williamston tried to run out the clock. Neither team scored and the game ended 43-0. Williamston moved to 5-0, and the Redwings moved to 4-1.

In good news, the JV won their match-up with Williamston 40-34. The Freshman lost a tight one to Grand Ledge 30-26. The 8th grade dropped a close one to Lansing Catholic, 38-32. The 7th grade won against Lansing Catholic with a score of 14-8. The SJYAA football teams, or as I call them, The Saturday Morning Cartoon Heroes, traveled to Belding and came away with three wins. The 4th grade won a close 16-13 game to remain unbeaten, the 5th grade won 30-6 to improve to 2-2, and the 6th grade won 54-22 to stay undefeated.

This week, the Friday Night Heroes travel to 2-3 Mason, looking to get back in the win column and get playoff eligible.

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