Recapping games involving Bay City Central and Bay City Western, Bay City area teams competing in the Saginaw Valley League North.
BAY CITY WESTERN 56, CARMAN-AINSWORTH 20
The crowd may have been already fired up for the halftime homecoming festivities.
But the Bay City Western football team whipped them into a frenzy in the final few minutes before it began.
The Warriors were caught in a 22-20 tussle with underdog Flint Carman-Ainsworth with less than three minutes to play in the first half. But they finished with a flurry, scoring two touchdowns and snaring a huge interception in the final 2:22 en route to a 56-20 victory.
“With homecoming, there was a lot of emotion and a lot of excitement,” Western coach Chris Willertz said. “So it was an awesome win.”
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Western’s ground game went wild, rolling up 457 rushing yards in the non-league win. Larry Bowes broke loose for 167 yards and four touchdowns on 18 carries while Jason Stevens added 152 yards and a score on 18 rushes for the Warriors (3-2).
“Larry Bowes and Jason Stevens were both awesome, running hard and breaking tackles,” Willertz said. “And our offensive line obviously blocked well. We challenged them before the game — because the last two weeks we struggled to run the football — and they came through. They did a great job of being physical and knowing who to block.”
Western’s dual quarterback both came through, with Dawson Lavender turning just three carries into 52 yards and two TDs and Bryce Sarnowski completing 3 of 4 passes for 34 yards, connecting with Kam Bedell for a touchdown just nine seconds before halftime.
Waylon Sequin and Brayden Hitts each snared interceptions while Robert Smith pounced on a fumble recovery to highlight the defense, which pitched a second-half shutout.
Carman-Ainsworth (0-5) kept things interesting in the first half with two long kickoff returns, one going for a 75-yard TD and other taking the ball to the Western 3-yard line.
MOUNT PLEASANT 54, BAY CITY CENTRAL 14
Bay City Central got an up-close view of one of the best teams in the state.
And coach Kevin Frederick hopes his players were taking notes.
The Wolves ran into a buzzsaw in No. 2-ranked Mount Pleasant, suffering a 54-14 setback to the Saginaw Valley League North leader.
“We knew tonight was going to be a big hill to climb. Mount Pleasant plays fast and they play hungry,” Central coach Kevin Frederick said. “If anything positive happened, our boys got a glimpse of what it’s going to take if we want to win games in this league.”
The Oilers (5-0, 3-0) rolled to a 40-0 halftime lead before Central (1-4, 0-3) put some points on the board. The Wolves punched in rushing touchdowns from Patrick Ruhland and Kevin Davis in the contest.
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