MESICK — Tyler Hall scored two touchdowns all last season.
He eclipsed that in 48 minutes Friday.
The 6-foot-3 Mesick tight end hauled in three touchdown passes to help lead the Bulldogs to a 30-22 victory over Manistee Catholic Central in Friday’s eight-player football game at Mesick.
“In the beginning, we were all barking at each other and arguing,” Hall said. “But in the second half, we finally brought it together and played as a team and it paid off.”
Hall scored the game’s final two touchdowns, one on a 20-yard pass from Ben Humphreys on the third quarter’s final play and another with 6:03 remaining from 14 yards out.
The teams scrimmaged each other multiple times over the summer in various camps, so they were familiar with each other. That led to some occasional extracurriculars.
“In the five-on-five, they were very chippy,” Hall said. “So there was a lot of drive behind this game for both sides.”
While both teams were a little testy, things didn’t boil over — aside from one exchange that resulted in offsetting personal fouls.
“There’s something from basketball that carried over; but for the most part, it’s good sportsmanship,” Mesick first-year head coach Tim Parrish said. “But there are a few that they get in each other’s grill and tempers fly.”
Both teams’ defenses held steady for the first three possessions of each half, with both forcing three turnovers on downs. With the game tied 16-16 at halftime, Manistee Catholic took a 22-16 lead in the third quarter on Nathan Oleniczak’s 9-yard sweep.
“The first quarter, we weren’t really sure what to expect and we let ourselves get behind, and that kind of kicked us in the butt there for a minute,” Sabers head coach Jake Szymanski said. “We made our comeback the second quarter.”
Manistee CC has only two seniors, running backs Ryker Capling and Nathan Oleniczak. The Sabers also don’t have a player bigger than 185-pound freshman lineman Travis Newenhouse.
“I know we’re young, and that’s just gonna be our M.O all year long,” Szymanski said. “But they don’t act young. These guys are smart kids. The only time we see the youth is when we go up against size and speed up front.”
Mesick struck first on a Jaeden Simpson 5-yard TD run with 2:56 left in the opening quarter. Humphreys passed to Tyler Hall for the conversion and an 8-0 lead.
Humphreys hit Hall for a 60-yard TD pass, and Wyatt Putney ran in the conversion to take a 16-0 lead.
Manistee CC answered with a four-play scoring drive after a long Nathaniel Barnett kick return. Tyler Hallead ran in a QB keeper from a yard out and also ran in the conversion on the second effort after he was initially stopped short.
The Sabers evened the score with 4:25 left in the first half on an Oleniczak 33-yard TD run where he reversed field, threw off a would-be tackler and tightroped the sideline the last several yards into the end zone. Hallead ran in the conversion for a 16-16 tie. Sisson hauled in an 18-yard pass on fourth-and-8 that helped set up Hall’s game-tying score.
“Tyler (Hall) stepped up big, Humphrey stepped up big,” Parrish said. “Sisson’s fourth-down extension for us, that was huge.”
Hall caught six passes for 141 yards, and Sisson two for 18. Humphreys completed eight of 11 passes.
Joe Tsuber led the Bulldog defense with eight tackles and combined with Jaeden Simpson on a sack. Humphreys added six tackles, Sisson 5.5 and Jon Vogler five.
Wyatt Putney led the Mesick ground game with 97 yards on 16 carries, while Simpson gained 52 yards on 11 totes.
“Guys came together the second half for us, which was really good,” Parrish said. “They were kind of at each other the first half and we weren’t succeeding that well. They were calling out our plays before we even ran them, which was good scouting on their part but we came together and as a group, started talking more and that was a big difference for us.”
Hallead threw for 115 yards and a TD to Andrew Potter. Oleniczak gained 51 yards rushing with two TDs.
Capling paced the defense with 13 tackles. Oleniczak had eight, Barnett 11 with an interception and fumble recovery, and Potter had 10 stops with a forced fumble.
“Ryker, the last couple of games, he’s really stepped up,” Szymanski said. “He’s a senior. He’s thinking this is my time because this is the last time, and he’s done some things the last couple of weeks I’ve been waiting for years for him to do.”
Cooper Ford, one of the Bulldogs’ six seniors, missed the game with an ankle sprain. The running back and defensive lineman should be ready to go next week against Marion.
Manistee CC beat Onekama 30-8 to open the season, while Mesick dropped a 38-14 decision with Maple Valley.
The schools previously evenly split 16 games in the all-time series.
“It’s really big for the team because last week we fell short of Maple Valley,” Hall said. “This just lifted our spirits heading into next week.”
Mesick heads to Marion (1-0) on Friday to kick off a four-week span of road games, while Manistee CC hits the road for the third straight week at Baldwin (1-1) before hosting Suttons Bay (1-1) in Week Four.