BY WENDI REARDON PRICE
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Junior Ethan Clark helped Clarkston Varsity Football get an early jump in their 34-13 OAA Red league win over Stoney Creek last Friday.
Clark opened the scoring nine seconds into the game. Senior quarterback Mike DePillo handed the ball to Clark in the first play of the game and the running back took off, stopping in the end zone after his 65-yard run.
“He had a good game,” said Kurt Richardson, long-time Wolves’ head coach. “He didn’t run much last week, we threw the ball a ton. The difference for him this year and last year is last year he couldn’t run away from people. This year he has gotten faster.”
Clark would have another opportunity to score again in the first quarter. The Cougars closed in on the Wolves’ endzone, but were down to their fourth down with only two yards to go to score. Senior Mekhi Battle stopped them on the one-yard line and possession turned over to Clarkston.

The Wolves didn’t gain yards on the first down but on the second down Clark took off on another long run, this time 99-yards, scoring his second of three touchdowns with 3:50 remaining in the quarter.
Clarkston closed the first half with a 19-0 lead after Clark scored on a 18-yard touchdown with two minutes remaining in the second quarter. Sophomore Edward Langton had a PAT.
“It was physical,” said senior Davis York. “We had a lot of guys out with injuries, people stepped up. It helps when you have Clarkie, Delly (Cole Dellinger) and Mike out there playing offense. Defense struggled a bit, but we stopped them when we needed to.”
DePillo scored on a 15-yard run in the third quarter. Then, he handed the ball off to junior Michael Hein who gave it to senior Lucas McKinney for a 2-point conversion.
York finished the winning evening with a 73-yard touchdown with 2:21 left in the fourth quarter.
The Cougars scored with 1:24 left in the game, putting the score 34-13.
“Stoney Creek is good,” said Richardson. “They had us on our heels the whole time when they had the ball. We need to get better defensively. Hats off to them. They are a good team.”
DePillo went 3-for-4 in passing for 54 yards. McKinney caught two passes for 44 yards and senior Jacob Beck caught one pass for ten yards.
Clark rushed 248 yards on 16 carries with three touchdowns. York carried the ball three times for 83 yards and one touchdown.
Langton was 2-for-3 on PATs.
Sophomore Desman Stephens led with four tackles and five assists. Senior Ian Olson had three tackles, eight assists and one tackle for loss of yards.
Senior Mekhi Battle had three tackles, six assists, one sack and one tackle for loss. Junior Jaylen Wilson had two tackles and two assists. Senior Evan McClorey had one tackle and ten assists, junior Cavanaugh Diton had one tackle and seven assists. Klebba had one tackle, three assists, one sack and one tackle for loss. Senior Caleb Stalworth had 11 assists. Senior Caden Ladd and senior Brady Krzciok had seven assists each.
The Wolves (3-0, 1-0 OAA Red) play their home opener against Southfield Arts & Technology (2-1, 1-0) this Friday.
“We just have to keep playing hard,” said York. “We have to go out there to win. We have our first game at home so it should be good.”
Kick off is at 7 p.m. Arrive early and enjoy the third annual Family Tailgate, held by Clarkston Community Education, from 5-7:30 p.m.