FOOTBALL: Northwest spoils Oakland Christian’s homecoming with second straight shutout
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.Stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
AUBURN HILLS — Far from perfect, Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest still kept its realistic postseason hopes alive Friday with its second straight shutout of the campaign.
The Crusaders captured their third win in four weeks with a resounding 35-0 shutout of host Auburn Hills Oakland Christian in a Michigan Independent Athletic Conference contest at the Auburn Hills Community Center Stadium.
“Everything would have to go right for us to get six wins and make the playoffs,“ said veteran Northwest coach Don Justice. “We have a long ways to go and some tough games coming up.”
Northwest, which has reached the postseason in six of the previous eight seasons, scored single touchdowns in each of the first three quarter of play before tacking on two fourth-quarter scores to kick off the running clock inside four minutes left in the contest.
Danny Macks finished 7-for-19 passing for 94 yards and a pair of touchdown passes to Zach Alkine and Cameron Karzewski. Part of an offense that chalked up 370 total yards, Karzewski racked up 126 yards rushing on 12 carries while he caught two passes for 48 yards and one receiving touchdown.
Ben Hagen had 74 yards on eight carries and one score, while Alkine and David Hagen added rushing touchdowns for Northwest (3-2, 2-1).
“I saw some things I like. I thought Cameron Karzewski played a great game on both sides of the ball and Macks, too, had a solid game both ways,” noted Justice. “But we had way too many penalties out there and I thought we left points out on the field. We have to play better in the rest of our games. It won’t be easy for us at all.”
Oakland Christian showed some areas of improvement, but failed to capitalize twice inside the Crusaders’ 25 yard line and had a couple of passes intercepted. The Lancers, hit hard by graduation and transfers of skilled athletes, were shutout for the third time this season.
“We’re very young. We have 22 guys and 10 until ever played high school football this season,” said first-year Oakland Christian coach Robert Novy. “We only have four seniors on the team and nine guys play both ways. We were a little gased in the second half.
“I do like our effort,” continued Novy. “We keep playing hard and we don’t give up. But we still make mistakes at the wrong times. I think our inexperience still shows. We’re getting better in some areas, but still have a long ways to go.”
Northwest, which is 5-2 all-time against Oakland Christian, avenged two straight defeats to the Lancers (0-5, 0-3). Oakland Christian upended the Crusaders 27-12 last season and 31-21 in 2013.
On its second drive, Northwest scored with 6:10 left in the opening frame when Macks hit Alkine down the middle of the field with a 21-yard TD strike.
The Crusaders added seven more points on the board late in the second quarter on Karzewski’s 25-yard sprint.
Ben Hagen’s 30-yard scamper up the middle untouched moved it to 21-0 with 3:32 left in the third period, essentially putting the Crusaders in complete control.
Alkine’s 1-yard plunge and David Hagen’s 10-yard burst on his first carry of the contest concluded the scoring drives for Northwest. David Justice converted all five extra points for the Crusaders.
Alkine batted down two passes, one in the end zone, and both Ben Hagen and Jack Santine recorded sacks for Lutheran Northwest’s defense, which held Oakland Christian to only 30 rushing yards and 125 yards of total offense.
Josh Siminski had 95 passing yards and Ryder Patterson caught three passes for 48 yards for Oakland Christian.
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