By Tom Kendra

LocalSportsJournal.com

RAVENNA – On a night when James Young couldn’t throw the football due to a torrential, driving rain, North Muskegon still found a way to win.

The Norse did it with defense – totaling three interceptions, five sacks and a safety – as they escaped rain-drenched Citizen’s Field, and a tough Ravenna team, with an 18-7 victory, moving their overall record to 7-0 and taking firm control of the West Michigan Conference Rivers Division.

“Even an ugly W is still a W,” said eighth-year North Muskegon coach Larry Witham, who was honored recently as the Detroit Lions statewide coach of the week. “The weather was the great equalizer out there.

“It was a war as I thought it would be and we were very happy to get out of there with a victory.”

North Muskegon (7-0, 4-0), which is ranked No. 4 in the latest Division 7 state poll, came into the game averaging 224 passing yards and three passing touchdowns per game, but managed just 22 passing yards and zero touchdowns through the air.

Young, the area’s leading passer with 1,346 yards entering the game, finished 3-of-10 for 22 yards with one interception.

Young, instead, did his damage in Friday’s monsoon-like conditions with his legs, scoring on a 34-yard run midway through the second quarter and then a 1-yard plunge on the first play of the fourth quarter. He finished with five carries for 49 yards.

The Norse were also without two of their top two-way players in senior running back and linebacker Ben Meyers and junior H-back and linebacker Drew Bartos, who are both hoping to return for the playoffs.

In their absence, it was their two younger brothers who stepped up.

Chuck Meyers, a junior linebacker, was the Norsemen’s leading tackler with nine stops. Cullen Bartos, a freshman running back, sparked the offense with 22 carries for 105 yards.

“Chuck is a very savvy kid and he played an unbelievable football game,” said Witham. “And Cullen Bartos, well, he just might be a mudder. He had a different gear out there tonight than everybody else.”

The other stars for NM were all on the defensive side of the ball.

Carter Muzzy, a senior defensive end, was harassing Ravenna senior quarterback Blake Homoly all night long, finishing with three sacks and a third-quarter safety, when he tackled punter Carter Schullo in the end zone.

Picking off passes for the Norsemen were Talan Thompson, Tristan Thomas and AJ Larkin. Jack McNally added two sacks, Chuck Meyers finished with a team-high nine tackles and Layne Brady added eight stops.

“We did a really nice job of shutting them down, other than that one big run,” said Witham. “They are a dangerous team, but they didn’t have a lot of success tonight.”

That one big run which Witham referred to came from Ravenna junior running back Derek Finlay, a 60-yard burst in the second quarter down to the 10-yard line. Three plays later, Homoly connected with Chase Thomas on a 5-yard scoring pass and the hosts had a 7-3 lead.

Young answered back with his 34-yard run less than a minute later to give the Norse a 9-7 halftime lead, then they outscored the Bulldogs 9-0 in the second half for the final margin of victory.

Ravenna (3-4, 3-2), which knocked NM out of the playoffs the past two years but is in danger of missing the postseason this year, repeatedly thwarted Norse scoring opportunities with inspired defensive stands.

The Bulldogs were led defensively by underclassmen defensive linemen Blake Burns (junior) and Cayden Caniff (sophomore) and Finlay at linebacker. Chase Thomas provided a spark offensively and with a long kickoff return in the fourth quarter.

Ravenna, which was also shorthanded without senior two-way starter Drew Mabrito and junior two-way lineman Nash Hoffman, will likely need to win its final two regular-season games against Oakridge and at Hart in order to get back in the playoffs.

North Muskegon, which hasn’t advanced past regionals since 1986, will try to complete an undefeated regular season with back-to-back home games against Holton (0-7) and Shelby (2-5).