Offensive outburst gives Wolves second win

BY WENDI REARDON PRICE
Clarkston News Sports Writer
The Wolves posted their second victory on the road with a 38-7 score over Birmingham Seaholm last Thursday.
“We showed a lot of heart out there,” said junior Clay Smaka. “It was exciting to come off a good win against Davison. We knew we had to get right back to work against Seaholm. Any night in the OAA any team can beat us so we all had to come to practice on Monday, we locked in and got it done. We were able to become a team and have every single kid play tonight. We saw a lot of great bright things. There are some things we have to clean up, but overall it was a great team win.”

Junior Aiden Kersjes catches a pass from senior Mike DePillo. Photo by Wendi Reardon Price

One of the highlights of the night included all the boys got playing time on the field.
“It’s great,” smiled long-time Clarkston Varsity Football Head Coach Kurt Richardson. “Anytime you can get all the kids in – it’s huge. It’s fun. They had fun and Smaka scored. The kids loved it.”
Smaka finished the night scoring on a 7-yard touchdown with two minutes remaining in the game.
“It was great,” Smaka smiled. “I didn’t even get a touch – that was all my lineman. I want to thank Coach (Jeff) Long for giving me the opportunity to be able to have the ball in my hands to score. Thanks to Coach KR for letting me be running back. I love my teammates and this is amazing to be able to score and perform in front of everybody.”
The Wolves opened the night with a 3-yard touchdown run from junior Ethan Clark five minutes into the first quarter. A PAT from sophmore Edward Langton put the score, 7-0.
Junior Cole Church recovered the kick, giving Clarkston possession of the ball and they started on the 25-yard line in Seaholm’s territory.
With 5:29 remaining, Clark scored again on another 3-yard touchdown run. The Wolves attempt for a 2-point conversion was blocked.
Clarkston scored seven seconds into the second quarter on a 11-yard touchdown pass from senior Mike DePillo to senior Lucas McKinney.
With 5:49 remaining in the first half, Clark struck again with a 4-yard touchdown run, putting the score 26-7.
Seaholm made a few plays on their next turn before the ball was fumbled and recovered by the Wolves.
DePillo threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to junior Aiden Kersjes, who caught it and landed in the endzone, putting the score 32-7 with 2:54 left in the first half.
Clarkston defense struck again this time with two seconds left in the half as senior Ian Olson intercepted a pass.
DePillo went 16-for-21 on passing for 262 yards. Junior Steven Kossak went 3-for-6 in passing for 20 yards.
Junior Michael Hein caught three passes for 79 yards; junior Cole Church caught three passes for 42 yards; and McKinney caught four passes for 39 yards.
Junior Kohl Jarvis caught three passes for 34 yards; Kersjes caught one pass for 33 yards and sophomore Brody Kosin caught three passes for 31 yards.
Clark was the leading rusher going 55 yards on nine carries. Senior Davis York rushed 34 yards on eight carries and Kossak went 28 yard s on two carries.
Langton went 2-for-4 on PATs.
Junior Cavanugh Diton led defense with four tackles, six assists and one tackle for loss of yards. Senior Caleb Stalworth had two tackles and six assists. Senior Caden Ladd had two tackles and four assists. Smaka had two tackles and two assists. Jarvis and junior Mason King had one tackle and one assist each.
Richardson added between the games against Davison and Seaholm he doesn’t know if there was improvement.
“With the penalties, I don’t know if we did,” he said, referring to the ten penalties and 71 yards lost.
The Wolves (2-0) head to Stoney Creek (2-0) for their first OAA Red league game.
“We are going to become a stronger team as the weeks go on,” said Smaka. “We are preparing with one goal in mind which is the state championship but we can’t overlook Stoney Creek.”
“We better play a helluva a lot better,” said Richardson.
Kick off is at 7 p.m.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.