ALMONT — The Almont varsity football team ended the regular season portion of their schedule with a 51-28 setback to visiting non-league counterpart Goodrich last Friday night.
With the outcome, Goodrich improves to 7-1. Almont slips to 5-4 this season.
“Goodrich is a very physical and well-coached football team,” Almont Coach James Leusby commented. “We had our opportunities to make it a game but we have to give credit where it is due, tip our caps to Goodrich and move on,” he noted.
“Hopefully, the physicality we saw tonight will prepare us for whoever we will see in the playoffs.”
In Friday’s meeting, Almont spotted Goodrich a 14-7 advantage after one quarter was over with.
Almont fought back with a 14-10 second quarter edge, closing the gap to 24-21 at the half.
Almont’s Carson Wood returns a kickoff in last Friday’s football game versus Goodrich at home.
When the action resumed, Goodrich responded with a 14-0 third quarter advantage. That staked them to a 38-21 cushion at the time.
Goodrich then outscored Almont 13-7 the rest of the way, assuring themselves of a 51-28 win.
Almont produced their 28-point total aided by a Matthew Measel 31-yard touchdown run (followed by a successful extra point kick courtesy of Kaiden SaintOnge); a Measel 64-yard touchdown run (followed by an accurate extra point boot from SaintOnge); a Conger eight-yard touchdown run (followed by a successful extra point kick courtesy of SaintOnge); and a Conger to Measel five-yard touchdown pass (followed by an accurate extra point boot from SaintOnge).
For the night, Conger completed nine of 13 pass plays for 121 yards as Almont’s quarterback. He threw zero interceptions along the way.
His successful tosses went to four different targets. Their ranks consisted of Haden Lacavera (four catches for 48 yards), Measel (three receptions for 44 yards), Blake Bunch (one reception for 22 yards) and Mason Smith (one catch for seven yards).
The Almont ground attack wound up with 159 yards on 28 totes.
Measel (six rushes for 106 yards), Bunch (36 yards on six totes) and Smith (five rushes for 20 yards) led Almont. The remaining 11 Raider totes netted a combined three-yard loss.
Tyler Filinger (three solos and 10 assists), and Jacob Fuller (four solos and six assists) paced Almont as far as tackles were concerned. Brandon Hunsaker (three solos and six assists), Smith (three solos and four assists), Ayden Ferqueron (three solos and three assists) and Joe Abromovitch (one solo and five assists) supported their performances.
Almont will look to bounce back this Friday when it travels to Clawson (7-2) for a Division 6 opening round playoff game. That matchup 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.
