TRAVERSE CITY — Traverse City St. Francis may have appeared late for the game, but the Gladiators were actually early.
St. Francis arrived with under seven minutes before game time for Friday’s Northern Michigan Football Conference-Legends Division game Friday at Thirlby Field.
Gladiators head coach Josh Sellers said he actually wanted to cut it closer and arrive at the stadium with two minutes on the pregame clock. The team did warm-ups at its practice field across town and then took a bus trip to Thirlby as part of a doubleheader, following Traverse City Central’s 21-7 win over Midland Dow.
St. Francis capped off the twinbill with a 49-20 victory over Kingsley in a battle of two top 10-ranked teams.
“I was a little worried that we were sky high coming off the bus,” Sellers said. “The police escort, the whole nine yards. We tamped that down a little bit. We took the ball and the opening kick and just we wanted to be physical and run the ball, and were off to a great start.”
The late arrival was designed to allow the Gladiators to take their time doing pregame warm-ups and not have to wait for the Central game to end.
The late departure also meant the team wasn’t at Thirlby for the coin toss. Injured Gladiators linebacker Charlie Olivier represented his teammates for the toss, which by rules each team must have a representative present.
St. Francis took six plays to score on its first possession, driving 70 yards, including a big 37-yard Cam Sellers run. Eli Biggar finished it with a 1-yard TD plunge and Harrison Shepherd ran in the two-point conversion.
“We rolled off the bus ready to go,” St. Francis senior defensive end Matthew Kane said. “We came out firing that first drive.”
The win puts St. Francis in the driver’s seat in the NMFC-Legends, the only conference title the Gladiators can win after the Lake Michigan Conference dissolved and left every TCSF sport aside from football without a league.
“We were beating ourselves in the first half, and we fixed it at halftime and came out really strong,” Kane said. “This is a huge win. (Kingsley) is a great team. They’re well-coached. They’re a powerhouse in D6, and we took them down today. That shows we’re a great team and we’re going to do good things in the state playoffs.”
St. Francis outgained Kingsley just 207-193 in the first half but ended up with a 531-340 edge.
“First of all, I’d like to compliment St. Francis,” Stags co-head coach Tim Wooer said. “Their offensive line got off the ball really well. Their backs ran downhill.”
Gavin Lewis ran 19 times for 169 yards, accounting for most of the Stags’ 243 rushing yards as speedsters Jon and David Whims both missed the game with injuries. Kingsley also lost senior lineman Mason Glazier to injury during the contest.
Isaiah Cosgrove and Colton Goethals led the Stags with seven tackles each, with Kolsen Orton adding five and Lewis four. Junior quarterback Tucker Dreves completed six passes for 75 yards in his second start.
“Kingsley’s a good football team, and they’re going to win a lot of games, that’s for sure,” Sellers said. “We just played more physical than they did tonight.”
St. Francis also didn’t come out unscathed. Biggar’s right arm was in a sling for the homecoming court ceremony at halftime. The TCSF senior made seven tackles in the first half before leaving inside the three-minute mark.
TCSF’s Cam Sellers ran 10 times for 214 yards and two touchdowns, while Evan Belanger and Shepherd both came up just shy of 100 rush yards with 98 and 96, respectively. Matthew Rialson and Shepherd each made eight tackles, and Biggar and Michael Frederick seven each.
Kingsley answered St. Francis’ opening drive with a Gavin Lewis 82-yard TD run. The conversion pass failed, but the Stags’ Perry Smith recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff. St. Francis forced a turnover on downs on a Warren Asher and Matthew Rialson fourth-down stop.
Goethals forced an SF fumble that Lewis recovered, and the Stags cashed that turnover in for a nine-play drive ending in a Lewis 1-yard TD run and Tucker Dreves conversion pass to Chase Bott.
“We just shot ourselves in the foot, two fumbles and bad penalties,” Josh Sellers said. “It could have been a cleaner first half, but (I’m) really proud of the guys for coming out in the second half.”
St. Francis came back with a three-play drive capped by a 41-yard Shepherd TD run and Sam Wildfong extra point for a 15-14 lead.
Shepherd scored on a 3-yard TD to finish off a short drive after a failed Stags fake punt gave SF the ball at the 29.
“In the first half, we don’t have the blindside block, we get a touchdown there,” Wooer said. “The fake punt is on me. So there’s two scores.”
St. Francis scored on three consecutive drives to start the second half, running a combined seven plays and hitting paydirt on an Evan Belanger 78-yard run and touchdown runs of 54 and 80 yards by Cam Sellers.
Perry Smith scored on a 15-yard TD run after a Nate Green fumble recovery and a personal foul on the Gladiators for “disrespectful language” toward an official.
St. Francis closed out the game’s scoring with a Gabe Fifarek 20-yard TD run with 1:56 remaining.
Division 7 No. 6-ranked St. Francis (4-1, 2-0 NMFC-Legends) bounced back from a surprising loss at Division 5 Berrien Springs with a 40-7 win over Grayling, a week after Kingsley beat the Vikings 58-21.
Division 6 No. 8-ranked Kingsley (3-2, 2-1 NMFC-Legends) had won three straight after a season-opening, last-second loss to Reed City.
“At this point, you’re midway through the season, and now you look at the second half of your season,” Wooer said. “You continue to evaluate personnel and keep moving forward. We’ve played a bear of a schedule so far. You lick your wounds and you move forward.”
The Gladiators travel next Friday to Cheboygan, closing out the regular season with three of four contests on the road. The Stags visit Benzie Central on Oct. 5 in a Saturday afternoon tilt.