ALMONT — Almont kicked off their 2023 campaign in impressive fashion, handing visiting Marysville a 39-0 setback in a non-league varsity football confrontation that began last Thursday night and wrapped up the following evening.
Almont’s Cole Walton gets his feet inbounds on a catch versus Marysville.
“The seniors did a great job setting the tone for the night and our younger players did not falter under the bright lights,” Almont Coach James Leusby commented. “I thought my coaches came up with a great game plan and our players executed it to the tee,” he noted.
“Due to the postponement of the game Thursday night, our coaches decided to make the player’s breakfast and watch the first half of the game and clean up some mishaps on offense. I think we definitely reaped the benefits of having extra time to make adjustments due to the storm.”
In the opener, Almont took a 3-0 edge after one quarter was over with and widened the gap to 18-0 at the half.
Almont would pad their cushion to 25-0 with 10:27 showing on the third quarter clock.
Just 3:40 later, the contest was halted due to threatening weather conditions with the score the same.
The game was resumed the following evening. It was there Almont outscored Marysville 14-0 the rest of the way, finishing off a 39-0 victory.
Almont generated their 39-point total aided by a Sean O’Neill 31-yard field goal; a Chase Davedowski one-yard touchdown run (followed by a successful extra point kick courtesy of O’Neil); a Jacob Stewart 79-yard touchdown run (followed by an accurate extra point boot from O’Neil); a Chase Battani one-yard touchdown run (followed by a successful extra point kick courtesy of O’Neil); and a one-yard touchdown run by Luke Winkler (followed by an accurate extra point boot from O’Neil).
For the evening, Davedowski completed two of seven pass plays for 34 yards as Almont’s quarterback. He threw zero interceptions along the way.
His successful tosses went to Battani (an 18-yard reception) and Cole Walton (a 16-yard catch).
The Almont ground attack chewed up 367 yards of territory on 40 totes.
Stewart (nine rushes for 156 yards), Battani (114 yards on 12 totes) and Matthew Bacholzky (three rushes for 53 yards) proved Almont’s toughest players to stop. The remaining 16 Raider rushes netted a combined 44-yard gain.
Ayden Ferqueron (11 assisted tackles), Cohen Ferqueron (one solo and nine assists), Lucas Mantini (one solo and six assists), Battani (one solo and four assists) and Gordon Stolecki (five assists) notched Almont’s highest tackle totals.
The Almont defense also registered two takeaways. Aiden Howard (an interception) and Battani (a fumble recovery) furnished that.
Almont returns to action this Wednesday (August 30) when it travels to Algonac. The Blue Water Area Conference 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.
