RAVENNA — Getting healthy can solve a lot of problems. That certainly seems to be true for the Mason County Central football team.
Friday night the Spartans went on the road for a West Michigan Conference Rivers Division contest with the Ravenna Bulldogs and came away with a big 34-20 victory that may have come as a surprise for some.
It was the Spartans second straight win, after they’d lost two in a row due mainly due to injuries that depleted the team and left them struggling to regroup.
But some of those players who weren’t on the field since the opening game have since returned and are a big reason the Spartans have climbed over the .500 mark with a 3-2 record. They are 2-1 in the conference.
“Ravenna played really hard. Our kids played hard,” said Spartan coach David Smith. “We have some mistakes to work on and stuff like that, but I think we fixed some stuff at halftime and the second half we kind of took control of the game. We’re starting to get a little bit healthier, so any time you can be on the winning side of things (is great). We have some winnable games coming up, so I like where we are at with our young team. We’re just going to keep getting better.”
The Bulldogs led 7-0 early, but the Spartans came back to take a 14-13 edge at the half with Eathen Huffman hauling in two touchdown passes from quarterback Pierce Bladzik of 6 and 8 yards.
Mason County Central dominated the last 24 minutes, outscoring the Bulldogs 20-7 in the second half.
Bladzik fired a 33-yard scoring strike to Colton Sanders and Gus McLouth ran in from 1 yard out to stake the Spartans to a convincing 28-13 lead in the fourth quarter.
After the Bulldogs had pulled to within 28-20, Peyton Merz removed any doubt with a 48-yard scamper to the house to finish the scoring.
The Spartans were frugal with their passing game, with Bladzik only attempting five on the night. But he completed three for 48 yards and three scores.
Ravenna had 108 yards through the air, but the Spartans outgained the Bulldogs 283-219 overall as Merz scorched them for 142 yards on the ground on 27 carries.
McLouth added 26 yards on 11 carries and Quinton Lange rushed for another 17 on one attempt.
Huffman paced the defense with six tackles, followed by Colter Kirchner who had five and a sack. Ethan Domin and Sanders also sacked the quarterback.
The Spartans (3-2, 2-1 WMC Rivers) travels to Hart for another conference game next Friday.
Ravenna (2-3, 2-1 WMC Rivers) is at Hesperia next Friday for a WMC Rivers clash.
To the unsong heroes in the Mason co Central football games those guys on the line who fight for every inch ,and hold off the other opposing line to protect our quarterback to allow our team to come away with wins, we the fans see you boys we know how without your fighting in the trenches we would not win football games and I just want you to know we see you and praise your hard work that doesn’t always get recognized .