Charlie Koenig, of Almont, hauls in a touchdown reception Friday against Ovid-Elsie.
ALMONT — The Almont football team made visiting Ovid-Elsie absorb a 28-0 loss in a Division 5 opening round playoff encounter last Friday night.
With the outcome, Almont (3-2) advances to this Friday’s district semifinal clash where Frankenmuth (7-0) provides the opposition. That matchup lists a 7 p.m. starting time. Ovid-Elsie finishes at 3-4.
“We had a pretty good week of practice and that showed in the first half,” Almont Coach James Leusby said. “We executed very well early in this game and that gave us a lot of confidence moving forward,” he noted.
“We will get back to work on Monday to get prepared for a very good Frankenmuth team.”
In Friday’s encounter, Almont bolted out to a 14-0 advantage after one quarter was over with.
The second quarter saw Almont collect seven points and Ovid-Elsie manage none, leaving the former up by a 21-0 count at the half.
When the action resumed, Almont struck with a 7-0 third quarter advantage. That increased their cushion to 28-0.
Neither side would score the rest of the way.
Almont produced their winning 28-point total aided by a Mason Smith 16-yard touchdown run; a Michael Lulgjuraj 16-yard touchdown run (followed by a Blake Bunch PAT tote); a Brock Conger to Charlie Koenig 15-yard touchdown pass (followed by a successful extra point kick courtesy of Brandon Hunsaker); and a Matthew Measel 39-yard touchdown run (followed by an accurate extra point boot by Hunsaker).
For the night, Conger connected on five of seven pass plays for 77 yards as Almont’s quarterback. He threw zero interceptions along the way.
His successful tosses were distributed to three different targets. Their ranks consisted of Koenig (three catches for 47 yards), Scott Pape (one reception for 17 yards) and Noah Houvener (one catch for 13 yards).
The Almont ground attack chewed up 219 yards of territory on 36 totes.
Individually, Lulgjuraj (13 rushes for 110 yards) and Measel (48 yards on four totes) led Almont. The remaining 19 Raider rushes netted a combined 61-yard gain.
Lane Jackson and Landon Kruse (two solos and five assists each) plus Hunsaker (seven assists) put up Almont’s best tackle outputs. Trenton Kruse (two solos and three assists), Nolan Panduren and Eli Bankston (one solo and three assists apiece) along with Issa Abu-Joudeh, Measel and Bunch (four assists each) supported their performances.
Almont also registered one takeaway en route to the favorable verdict. Corey Webster (an interception) furnished that.
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.
