Imlay City quarterback Jacob Burgess heads up the field during Friday’s homecoming battle with Algonac. Imlay City won by a 45-14 score.
IMLAY CITY — The Imlay City varsity football team celebrated their homecoming with a 45-14 victory over Blue Water Area Conference counterpart Algonac last Friday night.
With the outcome, Imlay City moves to 1-4 and 1-3. Algonac slips to 1-4 and 0-4.
“A stout defense in the first half kept us in the game until we finally got out offense running on all cylinders,” Imlay City Coach Brian Tresnak said. “The offensive line is finally starting to coalesce after some shuffling earlier in the season and did an excellent job during the second half,” he noted.
“It was a solid team effort all the way around. We need to have a good week in practice to build on the win.”
In Friday’s matchup, Imlay City spotted Algonac a 6-0 edge after one quarter was done.
Imlay City then responded to the challenge presented them, outscoring Algonac 12-0 during the second quarter and 20-0 in the third. That left them up 32-6 with 36 minutes gone.
The host then outscored Algonac 13-8 from that point on, putting the finishing touches on a 45-14 victory.
Imlay City produced their winning 45-point output aided by a Cristian Rojas 59-yard touchdown run; a Jacob Burgess to Julian Rojas 30-yard touchdown pass; a Julian Rojas 45-yard touchdown run; a Lance Wolford 35-yard touchdown run; a Julian Rojas three-yard touchdown run (followed by a Burgess PAT tote); a Cristian Rojas 26-yard touchdown run (followed by a successful extra point kick courtesy of Sergio Galiana); and a Burgess one-yard touchdown run.
For the evening, Burgess completed four of 11 pass plays for 67 yards as Imlay City’s quarterback. He threw one interception along the way.
His successful tosses went to two different targets. Their ranks consisted of Julian Rojas (three catches for 52 yards) and Brady Vanderploeg (one reception for 15 yards).
The Imlay City ground attack managed 309 yards on 34 totes.
Individually, Cristian Rojas (nine rushes for 111 yards) and Julian Rojas (101 yards on nine totes) paced Imlay City. The remaining 16 Spartan rushes netted a combined 97-yard gain.
Wolford (11 solos and seven assists) put up Imlay City’s top tackle output. Xander Nolin (seven solos and eight assists), Dillan Landerschier (12 assists), Julian Rojas (four solos and six assists), Vanderploeg (three solos and seven assists), Cristian Rojas (three solos and six assists), Latham Perry (three solos and four assists), plus Brady Redd (one solo and four assists) supported his performance.
The Imlay City defense also registered six takeaways. Redd (a pair of fumble recoveries), Wolford (a fumble recovery and an interception), Nolin (a fumble recovery) along with Travis Dupont (an interception) supplied those.
Imlay City returns to action this Friday when it travels to Armada. The BWAC clash lists a 7 p.m. starting time.
Kevin Kissane
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.
