Imlay City’s Chris Cezik heads up the field as Lance Wolford looks on after scooping up a fumble during his team’s BWAC encounter with Armada this past Friday. Photo by StudioE Photography
Cezik impressive on defense, Sandzik and Rojas combine for 200 yards
IMLAY CITY — The Imlay City varsity football team saw to it that they would prevail, pulling out a 15-14 victory over visiting Armada in a Blue Water Area Conference matchup last Friday night.
With the decision, Imlay City moves to 2-1 this season and versus BWAC foes. Armada slips to 2-1 against league counterparts and overall.
“This was a complete game tonight,” Imlay City Coach Brian Tresnak said. “Offense, defense and special teams all came together and played hard,” he noted.
“If we keep putting in the work to get better every week, I think we can compete with anyone.”
In Friday’s matchup, Imlay City and Armada ended the opening quarter with zero points each.
Quarter two would see Armada collect six points and Imlay City manage none.
When the action resumed, Imlay City bounced back with a 9-8 third quarter edge. That left Armada holding a 14-9 advantage with 36 minutes elapsed.
Imlay City then outscored Armada 6-0 the rest of the way, leaving with a 15-14 victory to their credit.
The winning Imlay City side generated their 15-point total aided by a safety which saw Wyatt Luther and Chris Cezik combine to tackle an Armada ballcarrier in the endzone; a Julian Rojas 12-yard touchdown run (followed by a successful extra point kick courtesy of Luther); and a Cristian Rojas 43-yard touchdown run.
For the night, Jack Kaplan completed two of four pass plays for 23 yards as Imlay City’s quarterback. He threw two interceptions en route to those numbers.
Dakota Sandzik had both of Imlay City’s catches.
The Imlay City ground attack ate up 287 yards of territory on 41 totes. Cristian Rojas (13 rushes for 146 yards), Dakota Sandzik (54 yards on 10 totes) and Lance Wolford (nine rushes for 43 yards) proved their toughest players to stop. The remaining nine Spartan totes netted a combined 44-yard gain.
Luther (one solo and 16 assists), Brady Vanderploeg (12 assists), Julian Rojas (one solo and 10 assists), Wolford (one solo and nine assists) and Dillan Landerschier (nine assists) notched Imlay City’s highest tackle outputs. Ray Liu (one solo and seven assists), Sandzik (two solos and five assists), Cristian Rojas and Cezik (seven assists each) made their presence felt as well.
The Imlay City defense also registered three takeaways. Kaplan and Sandzik (an interception apiece) plus Cezik (a fumble recovery) furnished those.
Imlay City will look to continue their winning ways this Friday when they entertain Blue Water Area Conference rival Yale. That clash is slated to get underway at 7 p.m.
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.
