ALMONT — Grit. True grit.
After numerous miscues, stops and starts, Ovid-Elsie’s varsity football team found a way to get it done in the face of a formidable foe here October 28 in the first round of the MHSAA playoffs.
Coach Travis Long’s Marauders took over the second half, ending in a late-touchdown, 21-14 victory over the host Raiders.
The Almont Raiders, after all, were a Division 5 State Finalist as recently as 2019. In 2020, the Raiders knocked the Marauders out of the post-season, 28-0. The last time Ovid-Elsie won a playoff game was in 2009, 36-8 over Lake Fenton.
Even though O-E won 7 games during the 2022 regular season, the MHSAA playoff system saw 6-3 Almont as a more powerful team, granting them host status.
Though the Marauders stumbled at times, they shut the Raiders out in the second half, earning them a home game in the District Finals in Division 6. Long’s Marauders upped their record to 8-2. Almont finished with four losses in ten games.
Grit? In the first half, O-E fumbled the ball away twice, once at the Raider four-yard-line, then again at the three. To open the second half, trailing 14-7, the Marauders bungled away the ball on a squib kick.
Two plays later, Beau Price pounced on a fumble deep on the O-E side of the field … and the Marauder comeback was on its way.
To be sure, the Marauders didn’t play their best game of the season. They fumbled the ball away twice at the goal line. Sophomore QB Tryce Tokar was putting his passes on the mark, but there were several dropped balls.
Instead, the visitors made critical plays when they had to. Down 7-0 in the first quarter, O-E converted on a 4th-and-one, then got the first down again on 3rd-and-ten with a completion to Jamison Custer. Finally, Tokar punched in the tying touchdown on a 9-yard scamper up the middle with 1:37 left before halftime. The drive was highlighted by Tokar’s scramble for 20 yards on 4th-and-18. Julien Mortier booted the PAT to tie the score at 7-7.
Back came the Raiders. With :17 seconds left before intermission, Almont QB Trenton Kruse scrambled, finding pay dirt from a yard out. Sean O’Neil kicked the point-after giving the hosts a 14-7 halftime edge.
Still, the Marauders struggled, bumbling away their first possession of the second half. Price’s defensive play seemed to turn the tide; in the second half, the stout O-E defense shut out AHS.
After neither of the combatants scored in the third quarter, the 4th stanza proved pivotal for Ovid-Elsie. Tokar found Clay Wittenberg with a 13-yard TD pass with 9:48 left to play. With just 1:50 remaining in regulation, Tokar busted into the end zone from one yard out. Mortier kicked both PATs securing the Marauders’ first
post-season win since ’09.
Tokar ran for 103 yards and the two touchdowns, also completing 5 of 15 passes for 86 yards and a score. Wittenberg finished with two completions for 38 yards. Braxton Stenger also had two grabs for 32 yards. Perrien Rasch added 57 yards on the ground.
The clutch Marauder defense was led by Wittenberg with 10 tackles, four of them solo. Braxton Stenger, Landon Stoneman, Tokar, Kevin Ley, Custer, Price, Rasch, Justin Cole, Hayden Pontack and Jacob Bowen all registeredstops for the Marauder ‘D’.
The victory secured Long’s charges a home playoff game, this time opposite Lansing Catholic Central (5-5) for the MHSAA District title.
