The score at the end of the game did not reflect what Kurt Richardson saw from his players during the game.
As head coach of the Clarkston varsity football team for the last 21 years, he knew what he was looking for from his team and Friday’s game showed a few more things needed tweaking.
‘I thought we were mediocre at best,? said Richardson. ‘If we hadn’t been playing Troy-Athens anyone else on our schedule would have beaten us. They aren’t playing good football. There were a lot of mistakes.?
The Wolves defeated Troy-Athens last Friday night, 56-26.
The game began and the Wolves? made their way towards Athens? end zone.
Luke Prudhomme rushed 45 yards before Troy-Athens stopped him at the 20 yard line.
The ball was snapped to Quarterback Tyler Scarlett and he passed it to Dakota Bender.
Bender took it the rest of the way ending with the Wolves? first touchdown three minutes into the game.
It finished a 65 yard drive in seven plays.
Twelve minutes later, Clarkston closed in on Athens? end zone again.
Scarlett handed the ball to Chris Canada at the 15 yard line, and Canada rushed 14 yards.
Scarlett held on to the ball for a keeper play and finished with the Wolves? second touchdown.
Athens scored two touchdowns in the next five minutes. They were unable to score their point after the first touchdown. After their second touchdown they tried for a two point conversion to tie the score, but Alex Popp made the tackle to stop them.
Matt Calvano and Bender scored two more touchdowns in the last minute, and the teams went into half-time, 28-12.
Bender scored the four remaining touchdowns for the game.
Jon Avery kicked the points after touchdown and was 8 for 8 for the night.
‘I told the kids, ‘I think Clarkston is one of the best teams in the state, they have a great program.? It’s always a challenge for us,? said Troy-Athens Head Coach Darrel Mayne.
‘They really do a great job, their coaching staff and their players play hard. We just made too many errors and got beat by a few big plays, that’s stuff we need to fix. They (Clarkston) are a good team so they deserve credit.?
The Wolves travel to Troy (2-0) in this Friday’s upcoming game.
‘We are getting into the meat of our schedule now. We have to improve in a hurry,? said Richardson. ‘They (Troy) are very good.?
The JV won their game against Troy-Athens (28-7) and the freshmen team lost (14-0).
Troy High School is at 4777 Northfield Parkway. The game begins at 7 p.m.