Northville Youth Football Association

The Varsity Stallions played tough on both sides of the ball, earning a 44-16 win over the Livonia Eagles on Aug. 29 at Tom Holzer Ford Field. With a smothering defense, passing and rushing touchdowns, and crisp extra-point kicks, the Stallions seem poised for a great season.

After an early blip on special teams with a turnover on the opening kick-off that the Eagles returned for a touchdown, the Stallions scored 31 straight points until 2:34 left in the third quarter.

On their first drive on offense, #41 Nathan Brohl and #98 Hunter Stokes rushed for a pair of first downs. #14 Cooper Derkach then threw a TD pass that was called back for an illegal man down field. A rush by #25 McGarrow and a pass to #5 Ryan Jaafar then set Derkach up for a QB keeper touchdown. #30 Brody Grezak nailed his extra-point kick and the Stallions tied the score at 8-8 with 8:26 left in the first quarter.

Staying aggressive, the Stallions kicked an on-side kick, and #3 Jacob Heinen recovered it after the Eagles touched it. On first down, Derkach pitched it to #4 Justin Minard, who took it about 45 yards down the visitors’ sideline for a touchdown. Grezak kicked another extra point and the Stallions were up 16-8 with 8:04 left in the first.

Playing defense for the first time in the game, the Stallions forced a four-and-out. McGarrow and Jaafar had tackles and Stokes had a tackle for loss. A fumbled hand-off on fourth down prevented the Eagles from even attempting to convert.

Back on offense, Brohl and McGarrow picked up a couple of first downs before Derkach launched a bomb to Grezak, setting the Stallions up at first and goal. Stokes barreled in for the touchdown on first down, Grezak remained perfect on extra-point kicks, and the Stallions increased the lead to 24-8 with 2:59 left in the first.

As the first quarter wound down, the Stallions’ defense continued to bottle up the Eagles’ offense. Jaafar and #99 Brayden Sparks had tackles for loss, Minard and #84 Ty Stankovic tacked on tackles, and the Eagles punted after a pass attempt on third down fell incomplete.

The Eagles defense recovered a Stallions’ fumble, giving their offense another chance quickly. But the Stallions’ defense, aided by a false start penalty by the Eagles, forced another four-and-out. #52 Aiden Hamilton and Minard had stops on first and third down, with a herd of Stallions stopping the effort on second down and #1 Zane Ader finishing the drive with a tackle on fourth down.

On offense, Shelide picked up a quick first down, followed by a powerful touchdown run by Brohl for about 55 yards. Derkach kept the ball for an extra-point run, putting the Stallions up 31-8 with 7:05 left in the second quarter.

The Eagles held onto the ball for a bit longer on their next drive, but couldn’t turn the drive into points. Tackles by Stokes, Grezak, Minard, Hamilton, and #27 Ryan Richardson, in addition to a couple of incomplete passes, gave the ball back to the Stallions with about two minutes left in the half.

#23 Aiden Kersey came in at quarterback for the last first-half drive. He completed a couple of passes to Grezak and Minard, but a pass to the end zone fell incomplete as time wound down.

The Eagles started on offense in the second half, but the Stallions’ defense quickly forced a four-and-out. Hamilton started the drive with a four-yard tackle for loss, followed by a tackle by Brohl and Minard, an incomplete pass, and finished off by a tackle for loss by Stokes on fourth down.

Kersey stayed in at quarterback, picking up a short gain on a quarterback keeper on first down, then picking up a first down with a pass to Minard. On first and ten, Kersey passed it to Minard, who ran it in for the touchdown assisted by a fantastic block downfield by Shelide. The Stallions didn’t convert the extra point, leaving the score 37-8 with 5:20 left in the third quarter.

The Eagles scored on their second play of the next drive, rushing for a touchdown and kicking the extra point to decrease the Stallions’ lead to 37-16 with 2:34 left in the third. The next Stallions drive lasted into the fourth quarter, but ended with the Stallions’ first turnover on downs in the game. Kersey started by completing a pass to #43 Evan Pawlowski, but it was called back on a holding penalty. After converting on third down with 29 to go on a pass to Ty Stankovic and completing a few short passes to #10 Jurek Nowakowski and Shelide, the drive petered out, giving the Eagles the ball back with 7:58 left in the fourth.

The Stallions secured their first defensive score of the season on the next drive. On third down, Hamilton forced a fumble and  Brohl picked it up and ran it in for a touchdown. #8 Anton Hildebrandt scored the extra point, which finished the scoring for the day at 44-16.

On the final drive, the Eagles tried but still couldn’t get a good offensive drive going. #33 Leo Link had a tackle for loss, followed by tackles by #13 Noah Albaugh and #20 Nick Lundberg. On third and one, #29 Jovan Haddad and #21 Ryan Schuckel combined for a tackle for loss. The Eagles completed a pass on fourth and five, but Schuckel made the final tackle to end the game.

After the Labor Day break, the Stallions will be back in action on Sept. 12 against the Livonia Orioles at Bentley Field in Livonia.