LocalSportsJournal.com

MUSKEGON — For the second week in a row, the Manistee football team was forced to come back from a deficit on the road when the Mariners rallied for a 38-12 victory over Orchard View on Friday night.

The Mariners trailed 12-8 at the half before a big second half.

Just a week ago, the Mariners were behind not once, but twice, including in the second half against tradition-rich Oakridge the snared a thrilling victory in the West Michigan Conference Lakes Division.

This time the Mariners, ranked sixth in the state coming, received a very real scare before finally taking control and putting the game away in the middle of the fourth quarter.

“We got down at the half, and they (the Cardinals) actually onside kicked to start the second half and we didn’t get it,” said Manistee coach Troy Bytwork. “So, they got the ball. But we got them on a fourth down stop, got the ball and scored 30 unanswered from there. We uncharacteristically turned it over a couple times in the first half which really limited us.

“I think we ran only 12 plays in the first half. They ground it out and took time off the clock. We hit a bullet pass right as time expired in the first half and our receiver was knocked of bounds at the 1.”

Stephon Oakes scored both of the Cardinals’ touchdowns, one on a 3-yard run and the other a 2-yard burst. The Cardinals failed on both 2-point conversion attempts.

Manistee’s Kaden Kott rushed for 147 yards and scored two touchdowns on just seven carries, Nick Hornkohl also scored a rushing touchdown and gained 34 yards on seven tries and Trevor Haag scored. Kanon Petzak caught a 28-yard scoring strike from quarterback Dayvion Neal-Berry and Matthew Thius had one reception for 48 yards.

Caius Johns led the defense with 15 tackles and 2.5 sacks. Braydon Sorenson made 10 tackles and Sowa finished with nine stops, one sack and one tackle for loss.

Oakes finished with 96 yards rushing on 20 carries to lead OV. J. Switzer added 21 and Alex Theile ran for 13.

It sets up a battle of unbeatens next Friday night when the Mariners (4-0 overall, 2-0 WMC Lakes) host Whitehall (4-0 overall, 1-0 WMC Lakes) at Mariner Field.

The loss for the Cardinals was their second straight and puts them at 2-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference. Orchard View is at Muskegon Catholic next Friday.