By Wendi Reardon Price
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Independence Township — Clarkston Varsity Football is heading north to Davison for the district championship this Friday.
The Wolves opened the 2022 season against the Cardinals with a 28-21 loss and after weeks of playing, they are ready to face them again.
“We know a little bit about them from playing them Week One,” said Justin Pintar, head coach. “Another talented team. I felt like when we played them we were not at our best. We didn’t play our best offensively or defensively. Hopefully we can tighten some things up and go up to their place and give them a good battle.”
He added the team has improved from the first week.
“Offensively we are playing really good football right now,” Pintar said. “Everybody is doing their job – offensive line is doing their job, wide receivers are doing a great job, quarterback, running back, everyone is playing together really well. We have a team that has been very good in terms of being mistake free in term of assignments offensively. In terms of defensively, when we went back and watched the film there were a lot of opportunities we gave them that we have gotten much better at. Tonight we probably didn’t look our best (against Lapeer), but we have made some changes I think will show up defensively against Davison the second time around.”
The Wolves defeated Lapeer for the second time for the season with a 62-41 win in the pre-district game last Friday.

“It is a very good football team over there,” Pintar said. “The last time we played them I knew their quarterback was a talented player and dangerous with running the pass. Last time we played them we did a nice job of bottling him up. Today, we had a tougher time containing him and let him got free a little bit. Some things I wish we would have done better defensively but at the end of the day a win is a win. Offensively we played outstanding all game long. I am proud of the team to get this first one out of the way and onto to next week.”
Senior Ethan Clark opened the scoring for the Wolves with a 1-yard touchdown run with 7:54 remaining in the first quarter. A PAT from junior Eddie Langton put the score, 7-0.
Less than a minute later, Lapeer senior Ethan Wills scored on a 9-yard touchdown run. The Wolves blocked Lightning’s PAT attempt and they held onto the lead by one point.
The Wolves scored on their next possession with a 1-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Michael Hein to senior Cavanaugh Diton with 3:30 left in the quarter. Clarkston attempted a 2-point conversion with another pass to Diton and it was a no go.
Lapeer tied the score with just over a minute to go with a 5-yard touchdown run from junior quarterback Zak Olejniczak and a PAT from senior Tevis McGuckin.
Clarkston started on the 30-yard line and in the first play Hein connected 70-yard touchdown pass to Clark. The Wolves took a 20-13 lead after a PAT from Langton.
The Lightning tied the game three minutes into the second quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run by Olejniczak and a PAT by McGuckin.
Before the first half ended, the Wolves took their lead back with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Hein to junior Brody Kosin with six minutes to go. They widened the gap to 34-20 with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Hein to junior Desman Stephens with ten seconds remaining in the half.
Lapeer opened the third quarter with a 40-yard touchdown pass with 9:32 left on the clock.
The Wolves quickly struck back three seconds later with a 34-yard touchdown run by Hein on their first play.
Clarkston closed the third quarter with a 7-yard touchdown run by senior Cole Church.
The night finished with Clark scoring twice in the final quarter off a 53-yard touchdown run and a 37-yard touchdown run within a span of two minutes. On the final touchdown, Clark connected a pass to Kosin for a 2-point conversion.
Hein went 6-for-11 in pass for 98 yards. Clark caught one pass for 70 yards and Stephens caught two passes for 17 yards.
Clark carried the ball 23 times for 270 yards. Hein carried the ball nine times for 70 yards. Church and Stephens both rushed the ball three times. Church for 37 yards and Stephens for 20 yards.
Junior Adam Denver had five tackles and three assists during the night. Stephens had four tackles, four assists and a tackle for loss in yards. Junior Colin Kortman had three tackles. Jarvis had two tackles, eight assists and one interception.
The Wolves (8-2) move on to the district round against Davison (9-1) who defeated Grand Blanc in the pre-district, 27-0.
The district game is at Cardinal Stadium, 1250 N. Oak Road in Davison. Kick off is 7 p.m. Tickets available on GoFan.co.

  Clarkston Varsity Football, Football, playoffs