TRAVERSE CITY — Traverse City Central’s 2025 team honored the 1985 squad in the best way possible: Making it quick.
The Trojans were ahead 43-7 by halftime, producing a running clock by mercy rule for the entire second half.
TC Central ended up with a 50-7 victory in Friday’s Saginaw Valley League-Blue Division football game at Thirlby Field in Traverse City. The Trojans (5-3, 3-2 SVL-Blue) are 8-0 against the Bay City schools since joining the Saginaw Valley four seasons ago.
TC Central honored its 1985 state championship team at halftime.
“It inspired us,” Trojans senior strong safety Oliver Dobreff said. “We had one of the players come and talk to us put before the game. It meant a lot to see the success of this program in the past, and just how big, how big this program was, and still is. It’s just a meaningful thing.”
On Senior Night, Dobreff put up a massive state line, scoring a defensive touchdown, getting an interception, a sack, five tackles, a tackle for loss and catching a two-point conversion from Carter Gle.
“Oliver’s been working hard,” said Central junior quarterback Isaac Turnwald, who threw for 94 yards and ran for 72, scoring four total touchdowns. “Oliver deserves it. A senior doing that on senior night is awesome for him.”
The game’s only first down by Bay City Central (1-7, 0-5 SVL-Blue) came on a Trojans facemask penalty with two minutes left in the third quarter.
Penalties are about the only thing the coaching staff can look back on as a negative in this game. The Trojans were flagged 11 times for 132 yards.
Carson Spica appeared to have a 56-yard punt return TD that was called back by penalty to the 27, but Central would score two players later anyway on a Turnwald 21-yard TD pass to Carter Gle in the second quarter. Two plays after a three-and-out, Gavin Love broke loose for a 19-yard TD for a 43-7 lead before halftime that would enact the mercy rule starting the third quarter.
“That doesn’t look like full house,” one of the 1985 TCC players said in the first quarter as Central ran out of a spread formation. Jim Ooley’s teams that won state titles in 1978, ’85 and ’88 were known for their full-house backfield offense.
The Trojan defense held Bay City to zero rushing yards and 8 yards of total offense, while generating 378 themselves and moving the ball almost at will. Just beofre halftime, the Trojans went for it on fourth-and-11 at the Wolves’ 41 and got it, but Kevin Davis intercepted a long pass on the next play.
“Lately, our defense has been playing well,” TC Central head coach Eric Schugars said. “Our guys are believing. We’re rotating a lot of D-linemen, keeping guys fresh. We have two great linebackers in Burkholder and Waller, but those those guys up front are doing the job, keeping them clean so they can play downhill, make plays. Our secondary is in good position. I just like the way we’re playing. We’re playing physical, playing fast.”
Burkholder was all over the Wolves with 11 tackles and four tackles for loss. Waller had four stops, including two tackles for loss.
TC Central had only one play of less than 5 yards on an eight-play, 65-yard scoring drive to start things off, ending in a 12-yard TD pass from Turnwald to a wide open Carson Spica on a slant.
Turnwald squirmed through the line on an 18-yard TD run to make it 14-0 before the midway point of the first quarter.
Of Central’s first dozen plays, only two didn’t result in a gain of at least 5 yards.
“It was all about fundamentals,” Trojans senior left guard Caylen Selkirk said. “This was a game that we could really make sure that we work on getting our assignments done.”
Ryker Craig blocked a Wolves punt and Dobreff recovered for a scoop-and-score touchdown and a 21-0 lead with 3:29 still left in the first quarter.
“It was all Ryker Craig,” Dobreff said. “He blocked it, and I was lucky enough to just be there and scoop it up and run in. Senior night, made a few plays, but still just excited for next week.”
Bay City came back on a Bo Frederick 1-yard TD pass to Wyatt Stachowiak set up by a Davis kick return to the 1.
Turnwald found a narrow seam up the middle and burst up the middle for a 36-yard TD. Carter Gle found Dobreff for a conversion throw after a high point-after snap for a 29-7 lead.
Dobreff picked off a pass just before half and had a sack earlier in the game.
Wyatt Philpott scored a 2-yard rushing TD for a 50-7 lead with 4:48 left in the third.
“In a game like this, when the score gets one sided, you’re like, ‘Okay, how many guys we get to play?'” Schugars said. “We’re playing a lot of lot of players, 30-some guys a game. That’s a sign of a good team.”
The Trojans play TC West next Friday in the TC Patriot Game at 7 p.m.