Newaygo is moving on in the Division 6 playoffs thanks to big second half against Montague

 

NEWAYGO – It took a half of football for the Newaygo offense to get on track, but it was worth the wait for the home fans.

 

The Lions racked up nearly 200 yards of second-half offense Friday behind junior running back Porter Slominski, who scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter of Newaygo’s 30-17 win over Montague in the opening round of the Division 6 football playoffs.

 

Slominski finished with 23 carries for 176 yards, along with two catches for 12 yards, and had 11 important fourth-quarter carries as his team held off a pesky Montague team.

 

“It’s huge. I just can’t be more proud of this group. We have had to battle tooth and nail, not one game has come easy, not one,” Newaygo coach Ralph Munger said. “It’s a tough loss for Montague, but I’m really happy to see our guys come out on top on the scoreboard.”

 

The Lions (8-2) advance to the district final where they host CSAA foe Stanton Central Montcalm in a district final, most likely on Friday. Montague had previously beaten Newaygo in the playoffs in the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

 

Trailing 6-3, Montague leaned on its ground game behind senior Ryver Jarka to start off the second half. Facing a third-and-16, Jarka absorbed a big hit at the end of a 20-yard run to keep the drive alive and later put the Wildcats (4-6) back in front 10-6 with a 5-yard plunge halfway through the third quarter. 

 

Newaygo went to the T-formation for much of its next drive and answered Montague’s commitment to smashmouth football, but used two big passes from quarterback Blake Kerr to get in the red zone by the end of the third. After seven straight runs, the Lions drew the Montague defense in with a run fake, and Kerr hit Slominski for an 8-yard pass in the flat. Newaygo went to the ground for the next two plays before senior Henry Wood made a circus catch on third down, pinning the ball on the pads of the Montague defensive back to pick up the first down as time expired in the period. 

 

“The first half was tough. In the second half, Coach Munger gave us a good halftime speech like he always does, and we wanted to win it for him and the seniors,” Slominski said.

 

Slominski finished the drive with a 3-yard score with 11:54 to go. Kerr hit Wesley Manning with the 2-point pass as Newaygo took the lead for good, 14-10.

 

Then the defense took over for the Lions as they came away with key stops to hold of the Wildcats. Montague QB Eli Petersen had Jarka wide open in the flat on third down on the next drive, but Wood used every inch of his 6-0 frame to knock down the pass. Petersen had wideout Cooper Bradley open on the next play, but Hunter Yearsovich tipped the ball away to give the Newaygo offense the ball back with 10 minutes remaining. 

 

Two big Montague penalties on the next drive led to a Newaygo score and swung the momentum fully to the Lions’ side. The Wildcats jumped offsides on fourth down to extend the drive, and a late-hit, personal foul gave the Lions the ball on the Wildcats’ 26. Newaygo opened up a two-score lead after a 26-yard TD from Slominski and a 2-point pass from Kerr to Wood with 6:38 to go.

 

“We worked hard for this and we were blessed to have a home game. But our running backs ultimately had the vision. They were finding seams and Porter obviously had a huge game,” Wood said. “Our off-tackle with him, and that cut back put us back in front was huge.”

 

The Wildcats kept their season alive as Talan Degen took the ensuing kickoff 80 yards to the house and Jonah Henderson’s PAT cut the deficit to 22-17 with 6:24 remaining. Henderson got the bounce he was looking for on the onside kick attempt, but it caromed too high off the turf, and it went out of bounds and back to the Lions. Newaygo got inside the red zone after a 20-yard off-tackle run from Ethan Reyburn, and Kerr and Wood connected for an 11-yard TD on fourth down. Slominski powered the 2-point run up the gut to build up a 30-17 lead. 

 

Montague got a chunk play on a 49-yard pass from Petersen to Jarka, which got the ball down to the Newaygo 12 on the next drive. The Lions’ defense forced incompletions on third and fourth downs to get their offense the ball back with 2:46 to go in the game. Slominski picked up one first down to deplete Montague’s supply of timeouts and a simple counter from Sean Stone picked up another first for the Lions, who were then able to go into victory formation.

 

“I thought (our defense) wasn’t too bad, we’re getting better. They have a couple plays that we didn’t stop that we worked on all week over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over and they still ran it,” Munger said.

 

Both teams showed their nerves in the opening quarter as turnovers, penalties, missed field goals and shanked punts stood out in the opening three drives on the game before the Wildcats got on the board after a 25-yard field goal from Henderson. Montague was pushing the Newaygo defensive front around as it got inside the 5-yard line before Trevor Garbrecht fell on a fumble to maintain the 3-0 score.

 

“Their defense was tough. If we didn’t fit everything in there perfectly, they were making plays (on the ball). We moved the ball OK, but just couldn’t finish a couple of the drives,” Montague coach Justin Dennett said. “We didn’t really get the big plays that we normally get, and that’s a credit to their defense and their DBs (defensive backs) coming down to make plays.”

 

The Wildcats appeared to be primed to take that same lead into the half after Degen downed a Petersen punt on the 1-yard line. Slominski gave the Lions’ offense some breathing room with a 48-yard gain on the first play to get out from the shadow of the end zone, and Yearsovich hit the pylon as he dove to the end zone after an 18-yard pass from Kerr six plays later. The 2-point run failed, but the Lions took the 6-3 lead into the half.

 

Reyburn collected 45 rushing yards for Newaygo on seven attempts, while Kerr was 7-for-11 passing for 74 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Luis Ceja Alvarez had a team-high eight tackles, with Reyburn making six tackles. Wood and Stone both made five tackles for the Newaygo defense.

 

Jarka toted the ball 20 times for a team-high 115 yards rushing and a score, while Petersen was 5-for-14 passing for 65 yards. Fletch Thommen had a game-high 10 tackles and recorded an interception on defense, David Myers made seven stops for Montague, with Maverick Osborne and Jarka making six tackles.