DETROIT — By now, coach Mike Pruchnicki has looked at the film of his Clarkston Everest Collegiate squad’s 17-14 overtime loss to Macomb Lutheran North for the Catholic High School League’s Cardinal Division trophy during the annual Prep Bowl extravaganza.
The game ended tied 14-14 with an incomplete pass by Lutheran North on Everest’s 31-yard line.
Tied high school games in Michigan are decided by each team getting a chance to score on four downs from the 10-yard line.
However, on the last play in regulation, a Everest player committed a 15-yard personal foul, dictating that the penalty be enforced by Everest playing its tiebreaker from the 25-yard line. On fourth down, Zachary Felix circled right end but was stopped a half-yard from the end zone.
Will Pruzinsky’s field goal from the 9-yard line set off a jubilant celebration by Lutheran North, who avenged a loss to Everest in last year’s Prep Bowl.
“The kids put in a lot of hard work in the offseason and during the season,” Mustangs coach Garrett Wenzelburger said. “They’ve found a way to win when we needed it.”
“It’s on me,” Pruchnicki said about the Mountaineers’ uninspired first-half performance.
Perhaps because the game was contested in the mystique of Ford Field where the Super Bowl-bound Lions roam, Pruchnicki took a page out of coach Dan Campbell’s playbook and ordered a fake punt on fourth down-and-8 from his own 43-yard line.
It worked! Punter Wyatt Phyle completed a 15-yard pass to Kevin Cronin to Lutheran North’s 40.
Alas, magic has its limit. His offense stalled four downs later, Pruchnicki sent senior kicker Jimmy Schmitt to attempt a 52-yard field goal ala the Lions Jake Bates. It looked far enough, but it sailed far wide to the left.
Everest’s misfortune inspired Lutheran North, who scored 40 seconds into the second quarter — a six-yard run by Jack May — and 49 seconds before halftime, a 15-yard dash by Bryce Teodecki, and extra points by Pruzinsky for a 14-0 lead.
The Mustangs took the second-half kickoff from their own 18 and maintained possession for nearly nine minutes behind the senior running back duo of May (seven carries, 29 yards) and Vincent Campisi (seven carries, 22 yards), only to have its hopes of nailing down the victory spoiled by Felix’s interception of quarterback Cam Kubik’s certain touchdown pass in the end zone.
That was all the motivation the Mountaineers needed.
Everest’s senior Jim Nedwick lit the fuse for a furious fourth-quarter comeback. Called upon for only six carries for 25 yards in the first half, Nedwick bulldozed his way for 65 yards in 13 plays — the final two for a touchdown — of an 88-yard, 18-play drive.
On the Mountaineers' next possession, quarterback Oliver Neiman’s 15-yard pass to Felix coupled with a Lutheran North 15-yard penalty paved the way for Nedwick’s 3-yard plunge to tie the game at 14-14 with 2:45 remaining. Schmitt kicked the extra points.
This was Everest’s eighth appearance in the Prep Bowl in the last seven years; they won four times.
Now, on to the state playoffs.
Both teams will play home games at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1: Everest (8-1) in Division 8 vs. Burton Bentley (5-4), Lutheran North (8-1) in Division 4 vs. St. Clair (6-3).
Ford Field is ‘home’ for Lumen Christi
Playing in the friendly confines of Ford Field has the feel of home for Herb Brogan, coach of Jackson Lumen Christi.
Since 2005, when the Michigan High School Athletic Association started playing its state gridiron championship battles at Ford Field, Brogan has won six times in seven finals. Before that, since 1975, the Pontiac Silverdome hosted the finals, where Lumen Christi won seven championships — five under Brogan, the other two coached by the late Jim Crowley.
“It’s nice to come here and not get overwhelmed by the venue,” he said after his squad overwhelmed Kalamazoo United, 39-21, for its second appearance in a row in the CHSL Prep Bowl. Last year, the Titans beat Battle Creek Harper Creek.
Leading the way for Lumen Christi, senior Kadale Williams (Central Michigan commit) scored five touchdowns on 3-yard, 12-yard, 9-yard, 18-yard and 17-yard runs. He wound up with 186 yards in 23 carries. Fullback Isaac Rehburg had a 1-yard touchdown.
For United — a co-op between Hackett Catholic Prep and Kalamazoo Christian — left-handed junior quarterback Jackson Herder (16 for 26, 206 yards) and Keegan McCue collaborated on 33-yard and 21-yard touchdown passes. Marcus Whyte and Jack Ayotte connected for a 79-yard score.
Lumen Christi (8-1) is the defending MHSAA Division 7 champ, but has moved up to Division 6 this fall. They will host Dearborn Heights Robichaud (4-5) at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1.
Contact Don Horkey at [email protected].
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