By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com
NORTH MUSKEGON – If the North Muskegon football team plays like they did on Friday night the rest of the postseason, the tournament trail could a long and successful one for the Norse.
The Norse scored touchdowns on their first seven possessions and on eight of their nine total drives as they opened the playoffs with a 56-7 over Evart in Division 7 district semifinal action.
North Muskegon will host McBain either Friday or Saturday for a chance to win its second straight district title. McBain defeated Harrison 49-6 on Friday night.
“This is a one-and-done tournament, and all the guys know that” said North Muskegon coach Larry Witham. “I like our chances, but we are not going to go any further than beyond next week. We are not going to look ahead.
“Our kids put pressure on their quarterback and covered their passing attack and our offense was just clicking. We put some wrinkles in our running game which seemed to be effective.”
Ace Anderson (11) goes in for the tackle for the Norse. Photo/Jason Goorman
A year ago, the Norse fell one win short of reaching the state finals and playing at Ford Field, losing to Menominee in the state semifinals 32-21.
“This team is extremely hungry this year from what happened at the end of last year,” Witham said. “I talked to the Jackson Lumen Christi coach after last year’s loss, and he said that, and he said losing in the semifinals is the hardest to take. We had 15 kids on this team who had a sniff at it last season and they want the whole enchilada.”
North Muskegon suffered its lone setback this season in Week 1 against Pewamo-Westphalia 8-7, then closed out the regular season by winning eight straight contests and capturing a third straight West Michigan Conference Rivers Division title.
The Norse also have won 18 straight league games.
North Muskegon’s Hunter Wilder takes the handoff from quarterback Bryce Colbert. Photo/Jason Goorman
North Muskegon opened the scoring on the fourth play from scrimmage on a 23-yard run by Drew Bartos with 10:27 remaining in the first quarter to take a 6-0 lead.
The Norse forced Evart to punt on its first drive, then quickly went 71 yards for their second touchdown of the game. Hunter Wilder scored from 5 yards out to give North Muskegon a 13-0 lead with 7:34 left in the first quarter.
Evart went backwards on its next drive before the Norse quickly struck for a third time in the opening frame. Cullen Bartos closed out a 68-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown scamper with 3:10 left in the first quarter to extend the Norse lead to 20-0.
The Norse continued to stop Evart as it once again went backwards during a possession and North Muskegon quickly took advantage.
North Muskegon scored on the second play of the drive on a 36-yard jet sweep run from Landen Grimm to give the Norse a 27-0 lead with 11:25 left in the second quarter.
The Wildcats finally moved the ball a little during their first second quarter drive, but stalled out at the North Muskegon 38-yard line.
The Norse scored on their third play of their next possession with a 50-yard touchdown pass from Bryce Colbert to TJ Byard to give North Muskegon a 34-0 lead with 6:48 left in the second quarter.
Evart turned the ball over on downs on its next drive, then the Norse scored again three plays later with a 55-yard touchdown pass from Colbert to Byard to give the Norse a 42-0 lead.
The Norse defense forced a third straight turnover on downs and then closed out the first half by scoring on an electric 86-yard touchdown run from Wilder with 17 seconds remaining.
North Muskegon had a commanding 49-0 lead at halftime.
Both teams failed to score during the 12-minute third-quarter running clock. North Muskegon was finally forced to punt with just over 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Evart finally scored with 8:20 left in the contest on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Aidan Anderson to Lucas Johnson.
The Norse closed out the scoring on their last possession with 3:11 left in the game on a 21-yard touchdown run by sophomore Keefe Kersman.
Colbert was 8-for-9 passing for 223 yards and three touchdowns. Byard caught two of the touchdowns and had three receptions for 120 yards.
The Norse was led on the ground by Wilder with 101 yards on four carries, while Cullen Bartos had 10 rushes for 84 yards.
