Train Kept A-Rollin’

By Dan Ward

There wasn’t anything fancy about the way the St. Johns Redwings went to work Friday night. They didn’t need it to be. While Williamston celebrated Homecoming, the Redwings brought a different kind of party to town—one built on pads popping, linemen moving bodies, and running backs finding daylight. St. Johns kept coming, kept grinding, and kept pounding the Hornets with a ground game that refused to let up. When the dust settled, the Redwings had walked out of Williamston with a 28-14 win and left the homecoming crowd watching their train roll right through town.

Hot Dog Report

Dog: 4/5 — Williamston grills their hot dogs. That’s a bonus.

Bun: N/A — I don’t eat bread.

Toppings: 2/5 — Ketchup and mustard. I don’t like using condiment bottles in a public setting.

Value: 3/5 — Average price.

Game-Day Factor: 3/5

Overall: 3/5 — “A perfectly respectable hot dog. Nothing to write home about, but nothing that requires an apology either.”

First Half

St. Johns lost the toss, and Williamston elected to defer to the second half. That might have been a mistake.

Archer Gurski took the opening kickoff to the 18, and Lucas McCastle took over. The Redwings put together a punishing opening drive—the kind of drive that can take a homecoming crowd right out of the game. With 8:55 left in the first quarter, McCastle found the end zone. Myles Jones tacked on the extra point, and before the huge crowd had even settled down, the Redwings were up 7-0.

Williamston returned Jones’ kickoff to the 38 and went to work trying to get something going. McCastle had something to say about that, too. On the first play, he found the Hornets’ quarterback in the backfield for a one-yard loss.

Williamston couldn’t get anything going after that, managing just six yards on the drive. They went for it on fourth-and-four from their own 44, but the Redwing defense had other ideas. St. Johns came up with a huge stop, forcing the Hornets to turn the ball over on downs on the Williamston side of the field.

St. Johns took over first-and-10 from the Hornets’ 46 and went right back to work punishing the defense.

I asked Coach Schmitt if he saw something on film that showed they could run the ball against the Hornets this year. He told me they had seen a little bit against Fowlerville last week, but his goal every game is to grind away. As long as it was working, there wasn’t much reason to stop.

McCastle ripped off a big run down to the Williamston 32. The drive stalled a little, and St. Johns went for it on fourth-and-three from the 25. Ian Smith took the ball to the Williamston 18 and picked up a new set of downs for the Redwings.

McCastle moved the ball down to the 7, and Cody Carn finished the job, finding pay dirt with 2:31 left in the first quarter. Jones split the uprights with the extra point, and St. Johns had built a 14-0 lead.

Jones drove the following kickoff through the end zone, giving the Hornets the ball at their own 20. Williamston put together a little drive, but Ian Smith and Brody Pratl combined for a big sack on second-and-six. A holding penalty on the next play pushed the Hornets back even further, and an incomplete pass forced Williamston to punt from their 43.

McCastle recovered the punt but couldn’t do much with it. St. Johns started its next drive at its own 24, and the offensive line went right back to work, opening up huge holes for Gurski, Carn and McCastle.

Ian Smith had a good run that a block-in-the-back penalty negated, but the Redwings kept grinding. McCastle moved the ball down to the 5, and on third-and-goal he punched it in from the 1.

Jones once again rang up the extra point, and with 3:38 left in the half, the Friday Night Heroes had built a 21-0 lead.

Williamston finally got something going on its next possession. With just 35 seconds left, the Hornets found the end zone on a pass to make it 21-7.

With Williamston getting the ball to start the second half, things got a little stressful.

St. Johns ran the clock out to end the half and headed to the locker room up 21-7.

Second Half

St. Johns had to kick off to Williamston to start the second half, and the Hornets began their drive at their own 31.

Williamston went undefeated in the regular season last year, and they weren’t going to lay down without a fight—especially not on Homecoming. The Hornets moved the ball down to the St. Johns 13 before the Redwing defense came up with a big sack.

Unfortunately, a facemask penalty wiped it away and put the ball at the St. Johns 3 with first-and-goal. Williamston connected on a touchdown pass, and St. Johns was also flagged for roughing the passer.

Just like that, the score was 21-14, and Williamston was getting ready to kick off from 15 yards closer.

The kick sailed through the end zone, and St. Johns started from its own 20. This was not the Redwings’ best drive of the night. A false start, an incomplete pass, and a high snap forced St. Johns to punt.

Tyler Priest’s punt hung up in the wind and went out of bounds at the Williamston 43.

The Hornets went nowhere on their next possession, and on third-and-10 from the 45, St. Johns came up with a strip sack and recovery.

Then, on the very next play, the Redwings gave the ball right back when Conner Kurncz threw an interception.

It was time for the defense to step up, and they were ready for the call.

Williamston moved the ball to the St. Johns 45 before the Redwing defense finally slammed the door. The Hornets turned the ball over on downs, and it was time for the Redwings to take the Hornets to the train station.

On first-and-10 from the 46, Smith ran for a first down. Then, on third-and-five from the Hornet 37, Smith carried again for another first down. A false start on the next play made it first-and-15, but it didn’t matter. Smith took the ball down to the Hornet 19.

On third-and-one from the 11, Kurncz kept the ball and picked up another first down.

Finally, on second-and-goal from the 3, McCastle closed the night with a touchdown.

Jones made the math easy with the extra point.

St. Johns had doubled up Williamston, 28-14.

The Hornets tried to get back into the game, but they were forced into heroics, and it just wasn’t their night. Forced to go for it on fourth-and-three from the Redwing 33, the pass fell incomplete.

All that was left was to pick up a first down, bleed the clock, and bring the train into the station.

The Redwings played spoiler on Homecoming, taking the victory formation and coming out of Williamston with a 28-14 win to improve to 3-1 on the season. Williamston falls to 2-2.

“We came out and owned the line of scrimmage right away against Williamston. This was the most physical that we have played all year!” Coach Schmitt said. “We had some guys step up into some big roles with a couple of injuries, and we didn’t skip a beat. Proud of how hard we played!”

The stat sheet got a little messed up this week, so this is what Coach was able to send me:

St. Johns rushed for 332 yards.

McCastle had 16 carries for 125 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Ian Smith had 14 carries for 107 yards.

Cody Carn had 12 carries for 80 yards and 1 touchdown.

This was a whole-team effort, with the offensive line pounding the Williamston defensive front and the defense making key stops when they needed them.

It doesn’t get easier, though. Mason is looming large next week at 4-0.

Around the Program

The rest of the football program was also in action this week.

The 7th and 8th grades got us started Wednesday with a road trip to Fowlerville.

The 7th grade rolled to a 37-8 victory.

The 8th grade lost (I think), I wasn’t able to get a score.

On Thursday, the JV A and B teams took the field. In case you are wondering, very few schools in the area have JV-B—or freshman—teams. That’s why you will see the JV-B playing different teams throughout the season.

JV-B dropped a tight one to Saginaw Swan Valley, 14-12.

JV-A picked up a big win over Williamston, 45-8.

The youth teams traveled to East Lansing on Saturday to play in the rain.

The 4th grade dominated once again, winning 40-0.

The 5th grade continued the trend with a 36-0 victory.

The 6th grade showed improvement from last week but still came away with a 22-6 loss.

This week, the 7th and 8th grades are on the road against Lansing Catholic. JV-A and JV-B travel to Mason, while SJYAA is home against KAPPA, a Lansing team.

Homecoming

This week is Homecoming, so if you haven’t secured your date yet, you’ll want to get out your poster board and your best Sharpies.

The 4-0 Mason Bulldogs are coming to town, and this is a HUGE test for the Redwings.

We need the stands packed and the voices loud to support our Friday Night Heroes.

The parade. The kids forming a tunnel. The field decked out. And, of course, the King and Queen court all dressed to the nines.

It’s something you should never miss in a small town like ours.

Friday night, the Redwings didn’t need to reinvent football. They just lined up, put their heads down, and went to work. The offensive line opened the holes, the backs ran through them, and the defense made the stops when Williamston threatened to climb back into the game. Homecoming belonged to the Hornets, but the night belonged to St. Johns. The train kept a-rollin’, and now it pulls back into town next Friday carrying a 3-1 Redwing team, with the undefeated Mason Bulldogs waiting at the end of the tracks.

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