The Glen Lake defense pitched a second-half shutout, and the Lakers punched their ticket to the district final with a 21-6 win over Frankfort Friday.
"We just turned it up defensively. The guys wanted to hit, finally started hitting and punishing them and on offense our offensive line kept digging hard and just kept getting a good push and we were able to run the ball on them," Glen Lake senior quarterback and linebacker Parker Robinson said.
Glen Lake (8-2) advances to face Bark River Harris (8-2) on the road next Friday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. — a rematch of last season's regional final, which the Broncos won on a walk-off kick return on the Lakers' own turf.
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The loss closes the book on Frankfort's season at 5-5, and on more than that: it was the final game in program history for the Panthers as an 11-player team, as Frankfort moves to 8-player football next season.
The Lakers struck first thanks to a Frankfort special teams miscue. The Panthers muffed a punt inside their own 15-yard line on the opening possession's change, and senior quarterback Parker Robinson capitalized two plays later, rushing it in from two yards out to make it 7-0 with 8:23 left in the first quarter.
The Lakers added to the lead midway through the second. Junior quarterback Levi Wetmore connected with junior Liam Palmer on a 45-yard strike — the biggest pass of the night — to get Glen Lake to the goal line, and junior Ben Diotte capped the quick drive with a 3-yard rushing touchdown. The extra point made it 14-0.
Glen Lake had a chance for more, but a 50-yard touchdown run by junior Hunter Kemp was wiped out by a penalty in the second quarter.
Then Frankfort flipped the momentum in a span of seconds.
With 1:30 left in the half, Frankfort senior Jayden Carver stepped in front of a pass and took an interception 50 yards to the house to make it 14-6. Moments later, senior Nelson Catanese snagged the Panthers' second interception of the half and returned it to the Laker 15-yard line — but Glen Lake's defense held, and Frankfort's bid to pull closer sailed wide right on a field goal attempt as time expired in the first half.
The Panthers carried that energy out of the locker room, but the Laker defense never broke.
"Our energy was flat after that pick-6. I made a mistake, and just all the guys came together and said we just got to come on swinging in the second half and we did," Robinson said.
Both offenses stalled through much of the third quarter before Diotte ripped off a 35-yard run down to the Frankfort 2-yard line as the quarter expired.
On the first play of the fourth, Robinson plunged in from a yard out on fourth-and-goal — his second touchdown of the night — to push the lead to 21-6 with 11:07 remaining.
Robinson then salted the game away with his legs, picking up two fourth-down conversions on quarterback powers from close range to keep the clock moving.
Diotte led the Lakers with 85 yards on the ground and a rushing touchdown, while Robinson added 30 yards and two scores. Wetmore finished with 50 yards passing.
Glen Lake freshman Lamdin Moeggenberg picked off a pass in the end zone with 4:30 to seal the Panthers fate.
The clock ran out on the Panthers, and on their era of 11-player football.
"They gave Glen Lake everything they could handle tonight. We got off the ball, we tackled well. We came up with the plays when we needed them, and, heck, we were a couple possessions away," Frankfort coach Matt Stapleton said. "They showed up tonight, and I don't think people gave us a chance."
The Panthers were led by Carver with seven completions for 80 yards, 35 yards rushing, a 60-yard INT return for a touchdown, and 10 tackles. Xavier Hernandez had eight tackles, followed by Carson Gillison with 11 tackles and three receptions for 23 yards. Jude Stevenson also had two receptions for 60 yards and six tackles. Shay Anhalt had a sack, and Kole Anhalt had four tackles to finish the season.
The loss ends a season that began 5-1 before closing with four straight defeats, all to playoff teams. But for Stapleton, the foundation his 10 seniors laid overshadows the finish.
"We graduated a lot of kids last year, but it started with these 10 seniors. They took it upon themselves to take the program over and run things. I could not be happier with their leadership this year and we've turned the corner," Stapleton said. "We had great leaders, we had great sportsmanship, and our kids, the biggest thing is they played 110% all the time .. . We're going to pass the baton to our younger guys, and start a new chapter of Frankfort football with 8-man … We started the year with 22 guys, and we finished with 22 guys, which is unheard of.”
Glen Lake now turns its attention to Bark River Harris — the team that ended the Lakers' season a year ago on their home turf.
"Bark's a good team, so we got to come prepared. We can't come out flat … We gotta prove everybody wrong," Robinson said.
