By Tom Kendra
LocalSportsJournal.com
Micah Carefelle started making plays on Friday night shortly after he got off the bus.
And he never stopped.
Carefelle, a 6-0, 190-pound senior wide receiver for Mona Shores, took a handoff on the first play of the game, then stopped and threw a strike to a wide-open George Duggins for a 52-yard touchdown just 15 seconds into the game.
“It’s a little scary having to throw the ball, because that’s not what I do,” said Carefelle. “But I can usually get it pretty close to the guy and George was wide open.”
Carefelle later got back to his main job – catching passes – finishing with seven catches for 168 yards and three touchdowns to lead the visiting Sailors to a 42-27 victory over host Muskegon in front of 5,000 fans at Hackley Stadium.
Shores (5-0) snapped a four-game losing streak against the Big Reds (1-3), who had won nine of the last 10 games against the Sailors before Friday night.
“This is a huge win for our program and I’m not going to sit here and pretend like it’s not,” said Mona Shores coach Matt Koziak, who coached at Muskegon for 10 years, including one year as head coach in 2009. “They are defending state champs and a storied program. So anytime you win at Hackley Stadium, it’s something special.”
It was a very different Shores-Muskegon game than most, with both teams doing most of their damage through the air – in a battle between two outstanding senior quarterbacks in Jonathan Pittman for Shores (14-for-19 for 249 yards and three TDs) and James Young for Muskegon (29-for-36 for 158 yards, two TDs and one interception).
All five touchdowns in the first half were passes – three for Shores and two for Muskegon.
Shores led 7-0 after the first quarter.
The second quarter featured two TD passes for both teams. Pittman connected with Carefelle on scoring plays of 14 yards and 31 yards, while Young countered with an 8-yard pass to Darekeo Speech and a 24-yard strike to Demetrius Rainey-Brown as the half ended with the Sailors leading, 21-14.
Koziak said the high number of passes was a result of Muskegon’s tough run defense, but also a change of mindset after last week’s 14-12 win over Byron Center – when his team did not score in the second half.
“I wanted to be aggressive from the start,” said Koziak, whose team is ranked No. 2 in the state in Division 2. “I thought we got too conservative against Byron Center. We talked about it and we have good receivers and a great quarterback who is experienced – and he really delivered for us tonight.”
Shores only got its running game going on one drive, its opening possession of the second half, when Ike Steward capped an 81-yard drive with a 34-yard scamper to make it 28-14.
Muskegon, which had earlier losses to Zeeland West and Rockford, never gave up – using a flea-flicker of its own, with backup quarterback Lyn Wilson III taking a handoff and then throwing a perfect 46-yard TD pass to Rainey-Brown to make it 28-21 after three quarters.
Just when it looked like the hosts might seize control, Carefelle stepped up again.
Carefelle caught a seemingly harmless 5-yard slant pattern, but showed an impressive burst of speed, running up the middle of the defense on a 66-yard scoring play.
“They were stopping our runs pretty well, so we had to pass it a little more,” explained Carefelle, who also had six tackles from his safety position and is the long snapper on extra points. His brother, Ezra, is the kicker and connected on all six of his extra points.
“We have so many talented dudes all across the field. We can attack you from anywhere.”
Muskegon cut the lead to 35-27 on a 10-yard run by Keshawn Drummer with 4:33 remaining, but Shores middle linebacker Solomon Robertson knifed through to stuff Speech on his 2-point conversion run.
The Big Reds forced a punt and got the ball back at their own 5-yard line with 2:40 remaining, with one last chance.
After one play, two of the Hackley Stadium light towers went out – stopping play for 25 minutes. Once the lights came back on, the Shores defense turned out the lights on Muskegon’s hopes, forcing an incompletion on fourth down. Muskegon, with four games remaining, is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in 25 years.
Shores finished with a 446-348 edge in total yards.
Steward was the game’s leading rusher with eight carries for 94 yards. Duggins had two catches for 60 yards and Tyrese McCorvey-Hill added four catches for 34 yards.
Muskegon had more rushing yards (164-145), with Young leading with 12 carries for 74 yards.
Muskegon senior wideout Dee Lawrence had a big night with eight catches for 97 yards, while Rainey-Brown added four catches for 67 yards and two TDs.
Shores was led defensively by Robertson with 10 tackles, Carefelle with six and Duggins, Terpstra, Vincent Coleman and Ja’Mari Taylor each made five stops.
Muskegon, which was flagged for seven penalties for 63 yards (compared to four penalties for 27 yards for Shores) was led by Speech with 11 tackles, LaRue Phillips with nine tackles and Amiere Chandler and Sani Benard with seven tackles.
Shores hosts Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern next week, while Muskegon plays at Grand Rapids Union.