Lutheran Northwest rallies past Southfield Christian
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
BEVERLY HILLS — After being upset by Sterling Heights Parkway Christian last week in double overtime, Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest found itself in the danger zone Thursday against Southfield Christian.
The Crusaders trailed the Eagles 13-0 early in the second quarter and were sputtering without its normal high-octane offense clicking.
Northwest finally got back on track and raced past Southfield Christian with four unanswered scores in the final three quarters and posted a 26-13 Michigan Independent Athletic Conference football victory over the Eagles at Birmingham Detroit Country Day.
Junior Nathan Drews finished the night 18-for-25 passing for 214 yards, while he rushed 20 times for 97 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Northwest comeback, which kept the Crusaders in the MIAC race.
Northwest must defeat Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett in Week 8 and hopes that Liggett can down Parkway Christian next week in order to grab a share of its fourth straight league championship.
ARMED AND DANGEROUS: Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest quarterback Nathan Drews picked up more than 310 yards of offense in his team's 26-13 victory over Southfield Christian. File Photo | Dan Stickradt
“I think this is one of those teams that when they get down, they know how to fight back,” admitted Northwest coach Don Justice. “That’s what exciting about this win yet so disappointing about last week’s loss. I think after we beat Peck two weeks ago that some of the guys starting to think that they were there. We had a bad week of practice last week and we got upset. That’s nothing to do with Parkway’s kids. They stepped up. But we played awful.
“In this game against Southfield (Christian), we were down early, but we found a way to make some adjustments and come back,” continued Justice. “We started to make good decisions and we made some changes defensively.”
Drews had another game with over 300 yards of total offense, while linebacker Austin Meissner plugged some defensive holes at linebacker and made several key stops. He finished with nine tackles.
“Southfield kept running this jet play and they were finding the seems. I think Austin stepped in there and nearly stopped it by himself,” praised Justice. “It seemed as if he had more tackles than what’s on the stat sheet. He’s a kid who has improved so much and has stepped up his game.”
Justin Pritchett scored on a 25-yard sprint and Harding Fears added a 2-yard plunge, followed by a Christian Bryant extra point, and Southfield Christian (0-6, 0-3) found itself up, 13-0. The Eagles forced a pair of turnovers, and a fumble recovery helped SC set itself up with the football at the Northwest 3-yard line just before the second score.
Southfield Christian’s lead simply awoke a sleeping giant.
The Crusaders’ offense, which chalked up 392 passing yards two weeks ago against Peck, got untracked and rolled to 26 straight points, seven in the second quarter and 19 points in the second half to move Northwest to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in league play.
Drews’ 2-yard run and extra point finally got Northwest on the scoreboard just before the half, which cut the deficit to 13-7. Drews scored again in the third quarter, this time on a 19-yard run, and with the conversion failing, left the score dead-even at 13-13.
Later in the third frame, Cameron Morris caught a 1-yard pass from Drews. In the fourth quarter, Drews capped the scoring on a 3-yard run.
“We had the ball for almost the entire third quarter,” said Justice.”We didn’t let them touch the ball for a long stretch. We came downed and scored and there was only five minutes left in the quarter, then we forced them to a three-and-out and got the ball back. Southfield has some big kids and they were able to move the ball on us in the first half. In the second half, we were able to shut them down and keep the ball from them.
Drews is already over 1,000 total yards this season. A strong passer as a sophomore, he has added the running game to his repertoire.
“He has a good arm and he makes good decisions,” said Justice of Drews. “I think what makes him better this year is his decision making. When teams lock up the pass, he now does a better job running the football. If they stack the run, Nathan has a very good arm and we have a lot of guys who can catch the football. Offensively, we are more than just a pass team now.”
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Category: High School, High School (M-Z), Prep Wraps, Rochester Hills Lutheran NW
