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FOOTBALL: Clarkston cruises past Troy Athens to clinch 12th straight postseason bid

Dan Stickradt | October 3, 2014 | Comments (0)

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.Stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

Twitter: @LocalSportsFans

TROY — Even in the midst of a 19-game win streak, Clarkston’s coaching staff can still find flaws and concerns.

The Wolves put together another dominating performance Friday night on the road at Troy Athens, but far from the level accustomed to by the Wolves’ coaching staff.

Clarkston rolled to a 37-20 victory over Troy Athens to clinch another postseason berth for the 12th straight campaign. Yet, much more is expected of the top-ranked Wolves, the defending Division 1 state champs who captured wins in their final 13 games last season and first six contests this season.

“To be honest, I don’t care who we are playing or what the records are. We need to get better each week and I’m not sure we got better this week,” offered veteran Clarkston coach Kurt Richardson. “We made a lot of mistakes and we had a bunch of penalties. That’s disappointing.”

Still, Clarkston (6-0, 5-0) scored on just its second play of the game, never trailed and led 23-0 before the first quarter even ended. The Wolves built a 37-0 advantage with 3:55 left in the second frame, setting off the running clock and putting the game out of reach.

DJ Zezula scored on a 55-yard run, Cole Chewins hauled in a 36-yard TD strike from Zezula and Tristen Lewis recorded a safety, as the Wolves led 16-0 with 19 seconds still left in the first frame.

After getting the ball back seconds later on the punt after the safety, Centrus Williams scored on a 30-yard blast for the 23-0 lead.

Jacob Fisher caught a 30-yard touchdown pass from Zezula and Nolan Eriksen sprinted 66 yards for Clarkston’s final touchdown.

In the second half, Athens (1-5, 1-4) kept plugging away, eventually scoring on three second-half drives.

The Red Hawks spoiled the shutout with 6:01 left in the third when Alex Mussat found Eddie Oprinca for a 16-yard dart. Devin Terry added another score on a 40-yard run, while Oprinca made a diving grab off a laser from Mussat inside the final minute for Athens’ final scoring drive to cap the scoring.

“I like how we don’t quit,” offered Athens coach Josh Heppner, finding many positives in the loss. “We learned that we can move the ball and score against the big boys. We’re young and we have a lot of (underclassmen). We’ll be able to take this into the rest of the year and into next year. We’re getting better.”

Terry had 10 carries for 70 yards, although the Red Hawks only amassed 133 yards on the ground. Mussat finished 20-for-36 passing for 231 yards, although he was sacked three times and his receivers dropped multiple passes in the contest which stalled out many drives.

Zezula was 6-for-7 passing for 130 yards before exiting the game late in the first half. Eriksen

had six rushes for 81 yard, while Chewins (43 yards), Fisher (42 yards) and Joe Popp (38 yards) all had solid outings for the Wolves. Fisher also had 99 yards on kick returns.

Chewins, a 6-foot-8, 235-pound senior and Division I recruit, finally nabbed his first touchdown of the season.

“He’s done a great job moving from tight end to tackle for us, so we really wanted to (put him in sat tight end) and get him a touchdown tonight,” said Richardson of Chewins. “He earned it.”

Josh Cohoon had seven tackles and two sacks, while Popp added six tackles for Clarkston, which is two wins away from its unprecedented fourth straight OAA Red Division title.

Austin Goddard had five tackles for Athens.