NEW LOTHROP — Ovid-Elsie’s bruising defense owned the red zone, and coach Travis Long’s Marauders marched into Hornet land here October 7 shocking the perennial MMAC power, 14-13.
Showcasing a defense that’s just gotten better and better as the weeks have advanced, O-E turned to offensive leader Tryce Tokar to deliver just enough points to jumble up the Mid-Michigan Activities Conference (MMAC) football race for 2022.
After recording their first-ever league win over New Lothrop, the Marauders immediately became firm followers of the Hornets, rooting for them to knock off unbeaten Durand (5-0, 7-0) on October 14. Defending tri-champion O-E stood 4-1 in the MMAC, 5-2 overall after the October 7 upset; NL suffered its first loss at 5-1, 6-1 overall.
“This was a statement victory,” explained coach Long, praising his team’s never-say-die attitude over a roller-coaster first seven weeks of the campaign. “We’ve got a tough group of kids right here who have battled through a lot of injuries.”
The contest opened nothing like the defensive battle it turned out to be. The rivals scored three of the game’s four touchdowns in the opening moments, the Hornets going up 7-0 on Nolan Mulcahy’s 3-yard TD run following a blocked punt by the NL defense. Grayson Orr kicked the PAT for a quick 7-0 advantage.
The Ovid-Elsie offense came to life on an impressive drive over the next four minutes. Tokar split the middle of the field on a QB keeper, finding paydirt from 15 yards out; Julian Mortier tacked on the PAT boot and it was 7-7 with 3:21 left in the first quarter.
The hosts then embarked on a scoring drive of their own, Jack Kulhanek tossing four yards to Nick Barnette for the go ahead score. However, a different NL kicker, Brady Gross, missed the PAT, New Lothrop’s point tally done for the night, albeit with a 13-7 cushion.
That’s how it remained at halftime. The Marauders turned to their defense in the second half. Cohen Tyler picked off Kulhanek twice — including the game clincher with :27 seconds left — and Perrien Rasch also boasted an interception. Except for the blocked punt, O-E didn’t suffer any other miscues, win ning the turnover
battle 3-0.
That stingy defense set up the winning score with :38 seconds left in the third quarter. Clay Wittenberg high-pointed a pass from Tokar from 18 yards away, coming down with the winning catch. Mortier’s PAT kick completing the scoring at 14-13.
Wittenberg also sparked the Marauder defenders with 8 tackles, 6 of them solo efforts. Tyler, Landon Stoneman, Kevin Ley, Braxton Stenger, Jamison Custer, Rasch, Beau Price, Logan Thompson and Jake Bowen all added tackles to a dominating O-E defense.
New Lothrop held the advantage in total yards (328-226) rushing yardage and passing yardage — but coaches will tell you, the takeaways are a much more telling stat.
Thompson led the Marauder rushing attack with a 4.4 average on 11 carries; Tokar also added 48 yards on 13 touts. Tyler carried 5 times for 27 yards, Rasch 6 for 23 and Custer 4 for 15.
Wittenberg caught three passes for 45 yards and the one score; Stenger 1 for 11 yards and Custer 1 for 9. Kulhanek was NL’s offensive leader with 14 completions on 28 tries for 150 yards, and 82 yards rushing on 15 attempts. Yet, the three interceptions proved to be the Hornets’ downfall. Long’s charges faced one more MMAC challenge on October 14 opposite Mt. Morris, then close out the season October 21 vs. non-league Corunna.
