Northville Youth Football Association

The Varsity Stallions beat the Novi Bobcats, 20-16, at Novi High School on Oct. 17, ending the season with a 6-1 record and earning a first-round playoff bye as the division champions. 

The Stallions started out strong, scoring on their first three drives. #98 Hunter Stokes and #41 Nathan Brohl picked up first downs on carries, and #14 Cooper Derkach completed a pass to #23 Aiden Kersey for a first down. After a few plays came up short, the Stallions found themselves at fourth and five. Derkach then hit Stokes on a pass and Stokes ran it in for the touchdown. The Stallions didn’t convert on the point-after, leaving the score 6-0 with 7:33 in the first quarter. 

The Bobcats also came out strong on offense. #5 Ryan Jaafar broke up a pass, and #1 Zane Ader and #52 Aiden Hamilton had tackles. On fourth and seven, the Bobcats took a shot at the endzone, but #25 Austin McGarrow picked off the pass. 

The Stallions’ next offensive drive took them into the second quarter. A couple of Bobcats penalties helped the Stallions, with a pass interference and an offsides call giving the Stallions first downs. Brohl got two more first downs, one on a run and one on a catch and run. Derkach ran for another first down, setting the Stallions up at first and goal. After a false start penalty pushed them back five yards, Derkach found #30 Brody Grezak in the endzone for the second touchdown of the day. Grezak also made the extra-points kick, giving the Stallions a 14-0 lead with 8:32 left in the second quarter. 

The Stallions’ defense forced a turnover on downs on the Bobcats’ next drive. After a short gain on first down, Ader stopped the next play at the line of scrimmage, and Stokes batted down a pass on third down. The Bobcats decided to punt, but Stokes blocked it, setting the Stallions up at the 42-yard line. 

After the Stallions took a sack, Derkach completed a pass to #20 Nick Lundberg, who fumbled the ball out of bounds after a five-yard gain. A false start penalty negated the gain, but the Bobcats committed a personal foul on Lundberg on second down, setting the Stallions up at third and short. Stokes picked up a couple of yards on third down, then caught a huge pass from Derkach on fourth down, setting the Stallions up at first and goal for the second drive in a row. The Bobcats made a few defensive plays, but on fourth and goal, Derkach hit Kersey in the endzone for his third passing touchdown of the day. After missing the extra-points kick, the Stallions were up 20-0 with 1:47 left in the half. 

The Bobcats came out strong on offense after the kickoff, breaking off a 30-yard run that was finally stopped by Brohl and McGarrow. Brohl had another tackle on first down, and McGarrow broke up a pass on second down. On third down, the Bobcats were stopped at the line of scrimmage by a herd of Stallions, including #4 Justin Minard, Jaafar, and #18 Colin Stankovic. On fourth down the Bobcats completed a pass but came up short, ending in a turnover on downs. The Stallions then let the clock run out into halftime. 

The Bobcats started the second half on offense, but the Stallions forced a three-and-out. Hamilton came out strong with a tackle for loss on first down, followed by an incomplete pass and a tackle for loss by Stokes. Even an off-sides penalty by the Stallions wasn’t enough for a first down, and the Bobcats opted to punt.

The Bobcats and Stallions traded possessions over the next few drives. Ader, Stankovic, Hamilton, Ader, #11 AJ Belcher, Derkach, Stokes, Brohl, and #44 Chase Gilbertson all had tackles, and #84 Ty Stankovic added a pass break-up. #29 Jovan Haddad also recovered a fumble. 

With six minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Bobcats started to mount a comeback. After an incomplete pass, the Bobcats broke off a huge run, with Jaafar racing down to stop the touchdown. But the Bobcats scored on first and goal, and after converting the extra-points kick, the score was 20-8.

Minard recovered the Bobcats’ onside kick, but a sack on first down helped stall the drive. After an incomplete pass on second down and a third-down run stopped at the line of scrimmage, Stokes caught a pass but came up just short of the first down, giving the Bobcats the ball. 

The Bobcats quickly got to work, but with limited time and only one time-out left, they had their work cut out for them. They took their offense to the air. The Stallions’ defense forced several incompletions, but the Bobcats managed a second touchdown and extra-points kick with 4:14 left. 

After Ty Stankovic recovered the onside kick, the Stallions knew they needed to try to eat up some clock. Stokes had a couple of runs and a catch and run, but the Stallions still found themselves at fourth and three. Brohl caught a pass short of the first down but kept battling, carrying multiple defenders with him as he pushed forward and picked up the first down. McGarrow then picked up a couple of yards before Stokes picked up another first down, securing the win and allowing Derkach to take a knee. 

With the win, the Stallions won first place in the South West Division and earned a week off. The Stallions will play in the second round of the playoffs on Oct. 31 at 4pm at Novi High School.