Ludington comes from behind in second half to beat Montague, 34-14

The Wildcats started the West Michigan Conference-Lakes game strong as Chase Gowell opened the scoring with a 20-yard scoring strike to Izac Jarka at the 9:38 mark of the opening quarter.

Adam Baird ran the next one in from 4 yards out with just 34 seconds left in the period and the Wildcats mounted a 14-0 lead. Chris Aebig added both extra points.

Ludington cut the Wildcats lead in half, 14-7 with 10:27 left in the third quarter, on a scoop and score of a Montague fumble by Trey Forfinski. Miles Wilson kicked the extra point.

Forfinski scored again, this time on a 3-yard run from scrimmage and Wilson again added the extra point and the game was tied at 14-all with 8 minutes left in the third.

“Momentum started to roll and the kids were feeding off it,” said Ludington head coach Charlie Gunsell. “It was a good half of football for us. We had some big-time drops and we had some penalties that cost us 14 points. Even going in at halftime, we felt we could move the ball. We just needed to execute at a higher level.”

The Orioles did that in the second half and settled in defensively to shut down the Wildcat offense.

Ludington took the lead for good with 5:27 left in the third quarter when Chase Hackert completed a 49-yard pass to Aidan Gilchrist. Wilson kicked the extra point and the Orioles went up, 21-14.

It grew to 27-14 with 2:01 remaining in the third after Forfinski added his third touchdown of the game on a 2-yard run.

Hackert finished the scoring on a keeper from 2 yards out with 1:44 left in the game. Wilson kicked the extra point.

“We got tremendous play out of our linebackers, and the secondary held up,” Gunsell said of the defense.

“Montague is a very good football team,” he said. “I think they do a lot of things well, but the defensive line put just enough pressure on them.”

Hackert competed 8-of-22 passes for 110 yards with one touchdown and Forfinski was 2-of-3 for 57 yards. Aidan Gilchrist caught four passes for 89 yards and Nathan Gilchrist one for 48.

Forfinski was the leading rusher for the Orioles with 72 yards on 19 attempts with the two touchdowns.

Gage Jones led the Oriole defense with 10 solo tackles, one for loss. Forfinski had five solo tackles with two for loss and Levi Laman made five stops and had an interception.

Gowell was 14-of-30 passing for 184 yards and one touchdown for the Wildcats. Jarka had six catches for 63 yards and a TD, Paul Olson hauled in three passes for 53 yards and Baird had two catches for 52 yards. Baird had 63 yards rushing on 16 attempts and Michael Moore picked up 35 yards on seven rushes.

Defensively leaders for the Wildcats included Jarka with nine tackles, Moore with seven stops and a sack and Baird had four tackles, two sacks and two tackles for loss.

The Orioles improved their record to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the WMC-Lakes, and host archrival and conference opponent Manistee next Friday.