Jack Paupert, of Almont, looks to elude the Algonac defense during a Blue Water Area Conference football clash last Friday night. Photo by Helfer Photography
ALMONT — Almont kept their perfect record intact, rolling to a convincing 35-0 victory over host Algonac in a Blue Water Area Conference varsity football contest last Friday night.
With the result, Almont goes to 3-0 and 2-0. Algonac slips to 0-3 and 0-2.
“We knew it would be a physical game and our guys came to play tonight,” Almont Coach James Leusby said. “We will get back to work on Monday to prepare for another BWAC road game,” he noted.
In Friday’s contest, Almont jumped out to a 14-0 advantage after one quarter was done an widened the gap to 28-0 at halftime.
When the action resumed, Almont continued to pull away. Aided by a 7-0 third quarter edge, the Raiders went up 35-0 with 36 minutes gone.
That was followed by a scoreless fourth quarter of play.
Almont amassed their winning 35-point total aided by a Josh Hellebuyck to Jack Paupert 13-yard touchdown pass (followed by a successful extra point kick courtesy of Brandon Hunsaker); a Paupert 17-yard touchdown run (followed by an accurate extra point boot from Hunsaker); a Paupert five-yard touchdown run (followed by a successful extra point kick courtesy of Hunsaker); a Hellebuyck to Colby Schapman 25-yard touchdown pass (followed by an accurate extra point boot from Hunsaker); and a Paupert eight-yard touchdown run (followed by a successful extra point kick courtesy of Hunsaker).
For the night, Hellebuyck completed seven of nine pass plays for 100 yards as Almont’s quarterback. He threw zero interceptions en route to those numbers.
His successful tosses were distributed to five different targets. Their ranks consisted of Paupert (two catches for 27 yards), Jackson Malcolm (two receptions for 19 yards), Schapman (one catch for 25 yards), Mason Smith (one reception for 22 yards) and Gavin Dempz (one catch for seven yards).
The Almont ground attack managed 261 yards on 40 rushes.
Individually, Michael Lulgjuraj (12 rushes for 97 yards) and Paupert (93 yards on nine rushes) proved Almont’s toughest players to stop. The remaining 19 Raider rushes netted a combined 71-yard gain.
Michael Rinke (one solo and seven assisted tackles) and Jacob Hausmann (one solo and four assists stops) paced Almont’s defense. Paupert added four assisted tackles to the Raiders’ cause.
The Almont defense also registered a pair of takeaways. Blake Kapron and Shane Vandenbossche (a fumble recovery apiece) furnished those.
Almont returns to action this Friday when they travel to North Branch for a Blue Water Area Conference game. That matchup lists a 7 p.m. starting time.
Kevin Kissane has been covering high school sports for the Tri-City Times since 1985. When not standing on a field or court with his camera and notepad, he enjoys golf, travel and family. Kevin is a 1980 graduate of Capac High School, and is also a grad of St. Clair Community College and earned a degree in journalism from Central Michigan University.
