Northwest uses air attack to throttle Peck
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
PECK, Mich. — Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest proved that it’s not how you start, but how you finish.
The Crusaders fell into an early 14-0 hole but climbed out of it before the end of the half with a 21-6 second quarter. Northwest outscored Peck 20-8 in the second half and settled for a 42-22 non-league football triumph over the Pirates.
“We marched right down the field, turn it over and they march right back on us and score. Before we knew it, we were down two touchdowns, said Lutheran Northwest coach Don Justice. But we settled down and started to get going. Our passing game was really good.”
Junior Nathan Drews continued to impress in Northwest’s third straight victory. Drews passed for a career-high 392 yards, going 11-for-19 in the air.
Senior J.T. Cahoon rushed for 111 yards on 24 carries and a touchdown for the Pirates, who had three touchdowns called back due to penalties. Peck (0-4) amassed 327 rushing yards on 63 attempts in the game.
“I tell you what, their backs are as good as a lot of teams I’ve seen the past couple of years,” said Justice. “They are very good on the ground. We just had too much of a passing game for them to handle,” said Justice. “This team might be 0-4, but they are not that bad of a team.”
James Logghe scored on a 12-yard run, with Calhoon running in the two-point conversion for the Pirates midway through the first quarter. In the second frame, Logghe struck again, this time from 18 yards away, although the run failed.
Still the Pirates led 14-0 and were on their way to a potential upset.
Northwest went to the air to climb back into the contest. The Crusaders scored four straight touchdowns, including three in the second quarter and one to open the third period, to go ahead for good.
Josh Morrison caught a 69-yard TD pass, Collin Sheehan got on the receiving end of a 25-yard hurl into the end zone and Ian Welhousen caught a 2-yard toss — all from Drews. The QB also kick all three extra points for a 21-14 halftime advantage.
Morrison hauled in his second TD catch of the day to put the Crusaders up 28-14.
The Pirates answered the bell when Calhoon jogged in from three yards away, while Tim Logghe converted the conversion run to close the gap to 28-22.
Peck would not score again.
Northwest continued to push down the throttle of the air attack and Morrison caught a pair of bomb passes of 56 and 73 yards, respectively, to cap the scoring.
“We just kept going in the air, exposing their secondary. We kept throwing it long and it worked,” explained Justice. Our passing game was superb. We only had 19 attempts and got (close to 400 yards).”
Morrison finished with three catches for 134 yards, Cam Morris caught a pair of passes for 128 yards and Sheehan had 95 yards on three catches for Northwest.
James Logghe added 77 yards on 10 carries and Justin Alexander had 56 yards on 13 rushes for Peck.
“We’ve won three in a row and we’ve got a couple of big league games coming up,” said Justice, whose team has won or shared three straight conference titles. “We lost our first game to (Warren) Michigan collegiate and that team is one of the best in the state. They were in the state semifinals last season. Since then, we have come a long ways. We’re playing with confidence and the offense is really starting to click. We just need to keep improving each week and we’ll be fine.”
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