Glen Lake hosted East Jordan Friday night in the District finals round of the playoffs, and the Lakers pulled away in the third quarter and didn’t give anything up to earn a 28-14 win to clinch their first district championship since 2019.
“East Jordan was a good program and they weren’t going to just lay over,” Glen Lake coach Jesse Smith said. “I’m proud of all my players and coaches, we made the adjustments and just came out and kept fighting.”
East Jordan got on the board first when they intercepted a pass, returning it for a touchdown and making the extra point. On the following kickoff senior Sam Dykstra returned the kick for 82 yards to get the Lakers on the board. Senior Hunter Cox converted on the extra point tying the game at seven a piece.
Later in the first quarter, Glen Lake had a bad snap on fourth down giving the ball to the Red Devils on the Laker 14-yard line. A couple of plays later the Red Devils punched it in to take back the lead with the point after being successful.
Glen Lake Junior quarterback Parker Robinson finds junior Toby Bradford to move the Lakers into East Jordan territory on the last play of the first quarter but the Red Devils defense held strong only pushing back the Lakers offense causing the drive to stall out.
East Jordan’s offense then went three and out but the punt rolled all the way to the Laker 12-yard line.
On the next Laker drive sophomore quarterback Max Lamerson found senior Caden Sheehan for 15 yards to keep momentum on a drive that had a slow start.
As the Lakers approached midfield, the Red Devils forced fourth down where the Lakers were unable to convert, turning the ball over.
The Lakers were able to force fourth down quickly and dropped the punt, but quickly recovered by senior Kylan Gallagher for no gain.
On the second play of the drive Robinson found senior Breckin Nerg who broke a couple tackles on his way to the end zone tying the game with 52 seconds left in the first half.
Glen Lake was set to receive the kick off to open the second half but East Jordan kicked and recovered an onside kick.
The Lakers forced fourth down after the Red Devils fought for 20 yards. Senior Jacob Peplinski intercepted the ball for the Lakers bringing it across midfield to the Red Devil 48-yard line.
After a defensive pass interference the Lakers were inside the 40 yard line. The Lakers took their time moving the ball down the field eventually capping it off with senior Fletcher Middleton scoring a two yard TD run to give the Lakers their first lead of the game with Cox making the point after.
On the following drive, the Lakers defense forced a quick punt taking the ball back over on their 17 yard line. The Lakers made it across midfield before two bad snaps brought up 3rd down and 31 yards to go.
Lamerson found sophomore Liam Palmer running down the sideline converting the third down and getting tackled on the 10 yard line of East Jordan. Middleton scored three plays later for a one yard touchdown run extending the lead.
“I played good, but definitely can play better,” Lamerson said. “We have to paint up the simple mistakes, make better reads and all that, I can check the iPad, talk with my coaches.”
East Jordan started to quickly move down the field but after a Middleton sack, the Red Devils were set up with 4th and long, junior Max Galla broke up the pass attempt, turning the ball over. That defensive stop allowed the Lakers to drain the remaining clock and earn the win.
“They kept bringing a guy down which kept throwing us off,” sophomore Grayson Vincke said.
“We adjusted and found a way to block him, I’m really happy about the results and can’t wait for next week.”
The Lakers move on to host Bark River-Harris in the Regional Championship game of the Division 8 playoffs.
“We get another week to clean up some stuff and keep it going,” Smith said. “Last year we lost and that senior class built up the platform, and this year’s class has taken us to another level.”
