There's no love lost between Glen Lake and Harbor Springs football programs.
As the final whistle on Thursday's highly competitive game blew, tensions verbally flared as coaches and players went through the handshake line.
The Lakers defeated Harbor Springs 27-18 in a hard-hitting ball game.
"We always have to keep our heads up and come in every week, expecting to be in a dogfight," Glen Lake junior running back Ben Diotte said. "Play every game like it's a playoff game."
Glen Lake was moving along with momentum until the end of the first half when Harbor Springs found a spark and scored two touchdowns in the final minute.
After Glen Lake (2-0) took a 13-0 lead late in the second, Harbor Springs (1-1) marched down the field and scored to make it a game, 13-6.
On one of the final plays of the second half, Harbor Springs senior Chaz Brainerd recovered a fumble deep in Laker territory and returned it to the house with four seconds left to go into the break, down a point, 13-12.
"I told the guys we can't make mistakes like that. We can't let teams stay around ... We go back to the eight seconds (motto)," Glen Lake coach Jesse Smith said. "You can't come in overconfident, cocky, because Harbor Springs; everybody's going to give you their best shot."
Harbor Springs saw early success, but Glen Lake's defense stalled the Rams and forced them into a turnover on downs. Kickers were used sparingly as both teams combined for at least six turnovers on downs throughout the game.
The Rams punted on their first possession, which was followed by a 4th-and-17 conversion by Glen Lake thanks to a lob from junior quarterback Max Lamerson into the outstretched hands of senior tight end Dominic Stein to take a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.
On the next possession, a Harbor Springs muffed punt set the Lakers up on the Rams' 2-yard line, which was converted by senior running back Max Galla to claim a 13-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
"Our offense stepped up a lot in the second half," Galla said. "We were pretty slow to start, but then we made a lot of halftime adjustments and really got it going. We have to be a more resilient team."
Down 14 early, Harbor Springs wouldn't send their punter out on fourth down, and on a 4th-and-3 from the Rams' own 33-yard line, junior quarterback Thaddeus Cosens busted through the line for a 50-yard run all the way down to the Glen Lake 10.
But it came to nothing, as the Lakers bent but didn't break inside their 10-yard line and forced a turnover on downs after defensive backs Parker Robinson and Kingston Palmer recorded pass breakups in the end zone.
Glen Lake began marching down the field, in part by a 3rd-and-9 conversion pass from Lamerson to senior Toby Bradford for 25-yards and into Ram territory. After entering Harbor Springs territory, Lamerson threw an interception as Harbor Springs senior Nick Lemieur leaped to make a game-changing play with 5:10 left in the half.
Harbor Springs would go on to convert a 4th-and-8 as Cosens found Jimmy Calnen for a crucial conversion.
Eventually, Cosens would find paydirt off a quarterback power to make it 13-6. Brainerd would scoop and score to reset the game at half.
In the final second of the half, Lamerson threw another heave that Lemieur again intercepted.
Glen Lake would rely on Diotte's legs for the rest of the game as he was given a heavy dose of runs.
Diotte would score from 2 yards out after the Lakers converted on a 4th-and-4 earlier in the possession with 10 minutes left in the third quarter, 19-12.
Over the next three possessions, Glen Lake and Harbor Springs would turn the ball over on downs.
The Lakers would tally a final touchdown to go up 27-12.
Harbor Springs was not finished as senior Luke Dickinson found space off an end-around to get the Rams to within 27-18.
"We didn't give up. We battled all night," Harbor Springs coach Eric Slifka said. "I'm really proud of the kids, win, lose or draw. We had a few plays that I'd like back, a couple of mistakes. But other than that, our kids just played with grit. With honor. They played hard, and as a coach, that's all you can ask for ... Glen Lake made some great adjustments on us and made it a lot tougher to move the ball. Still, we were able to make some counter adjustments to that and put one more on the board ... Our kids gave it their all, and I'm very proud of them."
