Almont’s Trenton Kruse drops back to pass during his team’s game with Cros-Lex last Friday.
ALMONT — Almont turned back host Cros-Lex, 37-26, in a Blue Water Area Conference varsity football meeting last Friday night.
With the outcome, Almont moves to 4-2 and 2-2. Cros-Lex slips to 5-1 and 3-1.
“This was a great win for us after two tough weeks,” Almont Coach James Leusby observed. “Our kids played extremely hard and left nothing out on the field,” he noted.
“Our defense was able to click and shut them down in the second half and our offense was able to make some big plays in the fourth quarter. This is a huge step in the right direction for us. As always, thanks to our community and students that made the one hour trip and helped us to a big win.”
In Friday’s meeting, Almont grabbed an 8-7 edge after one quarter was complete.
Cros-Lex then bounced back with a 19-16 second quarter advantage, going ahead 26-24 at the half.
That was followed by a scoreless third quarter.
Almont then outscored Cros-Lex 13-0 the rest of the way, pulling out a 37-26 victory.
The winning Almont side generated their 37-point total aided by a Trenton Kruse to Matthew Measel 38-yard touchdown pass (followed by a PAT tote from Tyler Filinger); a Filinger 45-yard touchdown run (followed by a successful extra point kick courtesy of Sean O’Neil); a Filinger 25-yard touchdown run; an O’Neil 26-yard field goal; a Chase Battani 32-yard touchdown run; and a Kruse to Walton 23-yard touchdown pass (followed by an accurate extra point boot from O’Neil).
For the evening, Kruse completed nine of 17 pass plays for 144 yards as Almont’s quarterback. He threw zero interceptions along the way.
Walton was the other Almont player who opted to air out the football. His lone attempt went for a 29-yard completion.
Their successful tosses went to three different targets. Measel (five catches for 80 yards), Connor Nascivera (three receptions for 65 yards) and Walton (two catches for 28 yards) formed that group).
The Almont ground attack managed 241 yards on 34 totes.
Filinger (11 rushes for 120 yards) and Battani (91 yards on 11 totes) put up Almont’s best individual numbers. The remaining 12 Raider rushes netted a combined 30-yard gain.
Almont’s top tackle outputs were registered by Fillinger (four solos and five assists), Ayden Ferqueron (four solos and four assists) and Measel (five solos and two assists). Josh Mroz (two solos and four assists) and Antonio Nedelkovski (two solos and three assists) made their presence felt as well.
The Almont defense also wound up with three takeaways. Lucas Mantini, Cody Koval and Battani (a fumble recovery each) notched those.
Almont returns to action this Friday when it entertains Blue Water Area Conference rival Richmond. The contest, Almont’s homecoming game, 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.
