Sports
Old Mid-Michigan B foes to tangle for district championship
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Friday, November 6, 2009 9:40 AM EST
OVID-ELSIE - When practice began for the 2009 season, Ovid-Elsie coach Jerry Goosen needed a new team slogan, knowing he had to motivate his Marauders to reach for the kind of success they achieved in 2008.
Ovid-Elsie had lost 20 of 22 starters from last year's Division 5 runner-up that lost to Muskegon Oakridge at Ford Field, but Goosen knew he had a special team and an even more special player returning for another run. ‘Dare to Dream Again' was printed on warmup T-shirts, and the motto inspired Ovid-Elsie to go undefeated in the regular season for the first time since before the two schools merged in 1966.
“We pushed ‘Dare to Dream Again' as our theme going into our season back in June minicamps,” Goosen said. “This season has been a dream come true and it's been a great thrill to me.”
At 7 p.m. on Friday, the Marauders will be going for their second consecutive district title, and third since 2005, when Ovid-Elsie hosts Durand in the D-5, Region 2 District 1 finals.
These two teams last played in 2002 when both were members of the old Mid-Michigan B Conference (Ovid-Elsie joined the Central State Activities Conference in 2003).
Durand won the last meeting in 2002, 49-14, and leads the overall series 4-2 (O-E last won in 1998, 41-0).
Ovid-Elsie defeated Lake Fenton (which Durand beat 24-20 on Sept. 18) in last week's semifinal match 36-8, as senior running back Chris Robinson added 171 yards for a total of 2,286 in 10 games. Robinson has also found his way into the endzone 30 times this season.
Robinson broke a state record last week as he rushed for his 25th straight 100-yard game, a record previously held by Kevin Grady, Jr. out of East Grand Rapids, set in 2004. The senior is now just 604 yards short of the all-time single season state rushing record of 2,890 yards, set by Chris Lomasney in 2000 while at Clinton Township Chippewa Valley.
If the Marauders get back to the state finals, he'll have a good chance to break that record, but the only thing on Robinson's mind right now is his team's next task at hand.
“(Durand) is going to be a tough team,” Robinson said. “We were definitely surprised how well they were dealing with things with Laingsburg. We just have to give the kind of effort we've been giving all year.”
Durand defeated Laingsburg 34-14 last week. The Wolfpack had shut out its previous five opponents, but the Railroaders forced six turnovers and rendered the Wolfpack duo of Michal Marshall and Joe Arthur ineffective.
Durand quarterback James Burrow had his way with the Laingsburg defense, accounting for 224 yards and 16 points. He will be just as tough for Goosen to plan for as Robinson will be for Railroaders coach Bryan Carpenter.
“They rely pretty heavily on (Burrow), but they also have a pretty good supporting cast and good team speed,” Goosen said. “Durand does a good job of making sure you defend 11-on-11, and that's our challenge, to defend the field. I think our power-running game may be better than what they've seen though.”
While Ovid-Elsie will be looking to limit big plays by Burrow and Durand, Carpenter thinks the key to beating Marauders is not to shut down Robinson, but to slow him down and take away his big plays.
“Watching (Robinson) on film is pretty special,” Carpenter said. “We hope to slow Robinson down to give ourselves a chance. If they're able to do what they want to do and get the big plays, we're going to be in a lot of trouble. But if we're able to eliminate some big plays and put them in an uncomfortable position like third and long, then we have a shot.”
Robinson has scored on runs of more than 20 yards 16 times this season, including runs of 50 yards or more nine times. His longest was an 84-yard score in week one against Portland.
Durand is playing for the first district title in school history, and is participating in just the school's third-ever postseason game after making the playoffs this year for the first time since 1983.
“We're playing a great team,” Carpenter said. “We've got to execute our gameplan and limit our mistakes in order to have a shot. It should be a great ball game. It's local and it's great for our county.”
OE wrote on Nov 6, 2009 8:29 AM: