KINGSLEY — Owen Hewitt’s patented leap over the top of the pile in short-yardage situations summed up Boyne City’s night perfectly.
Clearing a giant hurdle.
Hewitt went up and over four times in Friday’s Division 6 district championship game as the Ramblers (9-2) downed defending Division 6 state champion Kingsley, 21-15, for the 8-3 Stags’ first playoff loss at Rodes Field.
“We feel like we’re in a position where we have a path to get to Ford Field,” Boyne City head coach Dave Suttle said. “We felt like this was a mental hurdle for us — and we’re on a run now.”
Ryan Spate produced a 164-yard rushing day on a career-high 32 carries to put him at 1,674 yards this season, about 50 shy of the school record set by Malik Smith in 2015. Spate scored all three Rambler touchdowns, bringing his season total to 19.
Hewitt ran 12 times for 34 yards, including leaps over the pile for first downs and another for a two-point conversion. He scored two TDs last week against Negaunee the same way.
“I’m not much of an NFL football watcher,” Hewitt said. “I just don’t enjoy watching it, but I watch the highlights. I saw a couple highlights of people jumping over the pile. I’m like, ‘Why not try it?’ And it works, so I just keep doing it.”
A lot of things worked Friday for the Ramblers, especially in the second half, even as temperatures dipped below 40 degrees.
Trailing 15-6 at halftime, the Boyne defense threw its third consecutive second-half shutout against a ranked team (Traverse City St. Francis’ second-half score came on a kick return).
The Ramblers have beaten Division 7 No. 11 St. Francis, Division 6 No. 9 Negaunee and D6 No. 7 Kingsley over the last three weeks. Now, they’ll get No. 4 Reed City (9-2) on the road next week.
Reed City beat No. 13-ranked Standish-Sterling — the team that toppled Boyne in the 2021 district final — by a 41-32 count.
“They have a large, large offensive line and a large defensive line,” Suttle said of the Coyotes. “They have a couple really good running backs with some speed, too. We’re here, and we’re ready to play.”
The Ramblers’ first lead came on a Spate 2-yard TD run 1:27 into the fourth quarter, a drive started by a Hewitt hurdle for a 10-yard gain. On the previous drive, Spate fumbled at the Kingsley 3-yard line, with Goethals forcing the fumble and Chase Bott recovering to thwart Boyne’s first shot at taking the lead.
“Ryan is our engine,” Suttle said. “The kids are picking up around him. He knows he doesn’t have to do it all himself, but he takes a lot of the load and he embraces it. A lot of kids would have crumbled when they fumbled the ball on the 3-yard line. He talks to his offensive line, doesn’t yell at people, doesn’t complain. Good luck tackling him. It takes a herd to try to bring him down.”
Spate said he’ll have to do some push-ups because of the fumble. But that’s fine because they’ll have practice next week.
“We’ve got this thing where if anything goes wrong, it’s all about the next play,” Spate said. “Have to bear down, have to keep pushing, have to keep going. That’s what we did.”
Kingsley ran a fake punt near midfield on the next drive, with a pass from Kolsen Orton on target but dropped.
The next play, Drew Neer hit Jaden Alger on a flea flicker for a 47-yard gain, and Spate scored two plays later on his 29th carry of the game. Hewitt jumped over the pile for the two-point conversion and a 21-15 lead with 5:46 remaining.
Two more defensive stops by the Ramblers in the final five minutes preserved the victory.
“We haven’t won a district title in so long,” Spate said. “All the seniors, all throughout we’ve lost. We’re so close each year, and it just feels so good to win it and know that we have another week of football to play.”
Hyker McKinney and Ben Stanek led Boyne with eight tackles each. Spate and Thomas Ager had seven apiece, and Ryan Chapp five.
“Our kids know they’re legit,” Suttle said. “They play hard, they’re not going to give up, and they’re going to come up with the plays when they need to happen — and you don’t know who’s going to make it.”
The Ramblers haven’t won a district championship since 2015, falling short in the 2020 and 2021 district finals.
“It feels great that we don’t have a bus ride home where we’re all really upset,” Spate said, expecting a police escort back into Boyne City. “Now we get to be happy and get a little parade.”
Boyne didn’t run a play from outside of its own 10-yard line across two first-quarter possessions.
Kingsley struck first on a five-play, 35-yard drive aided by a late hit call and finished on a Tucker Dreves 19-yard pass down the middle to Gavin Lewis.
Boyne got its initial first down on its third drive, a grinding 13-play possession continued by a Hewitt dive over the top for a first down on third-and-2 and ended by a Spate 3-yard run. Spate also broke a 40-yard run on the drive, but Isaiah Cosgrove blocked the extra point to keep the Stags up 7-6.
Kingsley responded with a 12-play scoring drive, with Dreves lunging forward for a 1-yard quarterback sneak touchdown. Lewis ran in the conversion for a 15-6 lead 15 seconds before halftime.
“This is a great field, great atmosphere,” Hewitt said. “Shout out to their coaches. They have a really good team. We had to put in a lot of work to beat them.”
Colton Goethals made 16 tackles — including two for loss — and David Whims had 11 stops for the Stags.
Orton led Kingsley with 10 carries for 46 yards, and Lewis added 41 yards on nine totes, also catching two passes for 45 yards.
Boyne now leads the series with Kingsley 7-5, but the Stags had won the previous four.
“We were young last year, we had like six sophomores that started, so we got experience,” Hewitt said. “We’re here this year. We’re ready to play. We’re going for that state championship.”
The Boyne City offensive line — left tackle Wiley Belcher, left guard Thomas Ager, center Tim Payton, right guard Tristan Ager, right tackle Zach Herrick — also helped pave the way for the 6-foot-1, 235-pound Spate.
“He’s put in so much work, and he deserves everything,” Hewitt said of Spate. “Our goal is to make it to the state championship so more people can see him, more coaches can see him. He deserves everything.”