ETHAN CLARK EXPLODES FOR 248 YARDS IN CLARKSTON WIN
ROCHESTER HILLS » The Clarkston Wolves made the big plays and came away with a 3413 win over the host Stoney Creek Cougars Friday night.
Ethan Clark ran 65 yards for a touchdown on the opening play from scrimmage and Clarkston never looked back.
The Cougars responded by driving 60 yards but came up short on fourth-and goal from the two-yard line. Two plays later, Clark went 99 yards for another touchdown to make it 12-0. That pretty much set the tone for the game.
Stoney Creek dominated time of possession — the Cougars had the ball for 20:35 in the first half alone — but Clarkston led 19-0 despite running only eight plays from scrimmage.
Jacob Best threw for 150 yards and two touchdowns while Jon Fogler ground out 95 yards rushing as the Cougars kept pushing in the second half.
“I think our offense has the capability of being well rounded, but we need to keep working. We need to keep getting better,” Cougars head coach Nick Merlo said.
“We’re not where we need to be right now, but we’re going to get there. I love these young men, love coaching them, and wouldn’t want to coach anyone else.”
The Stoney Creek offense drove inside the Clarkston 30 yard line on every possession, but more often than not Clarkston defense came up with the big plays when they had to in order to keep the Cougars off the scoreboard. Led by big plays from Mekhi Battle, Clarkston stopped Stoney Creek on fourth down three times, recovered a fumble, and sacked the Cougars just before halftime to
end five Stoney Creek drives.
“Stoney Creek played well. They had us on our heels the whole time when they had the ball,” Clarkston head coach Kurt Richardson said. “We’ve got to get better defensively. That’s all there is to it.”
Clarkston, on the other hand, just used big plays, especially on the ground. The Wolves’ offensive line, anchored by junior Cole Dellinger, was opening huge holes all night.
“They (the offensive line) are getting better every week. They’re young, but they’re getting
better every week,” Richardson said.
Clark was the primary beneficiary, finishing with 248 yards and 3 touchdowns.
“He had a good game,” Richardson said. “The difference from him this year and last year, last year he couldn’t run away from people. This year, he’s running away from people. He’s gotten faster, and he’s turning that 40yard gain into a 70-yard touchdown.”
Davis Yok also had a big touchdown run — a 73-yard burst in the fourth quarter for Clarkston’s final score.
With the win, Clarkston improves to 3-0 overall and opens the Oakland Activities Red portion of their schedule 1-0. Clarkston gets their first home game next week when they host Southfield A&T in another OAA red match up.
Stoney Creek slips to 2-1
overall and 0-1 in OAA Red. The Cougars travel to West Bloomfield next week for another OAA Red game.
“I’m proud of our young men, but we have a lot of work to do. And we’re going to put the work in, and
we’ve just got to keep getting better. That’s all we can do. Hats off to Clarkston and their staff. They’re a good football team,” Merlo said. “That’s the OAA Red, right. You’ve got to be at your best all the time. It can’t be 90% of the time. It can’t be 99% of the time. It’s got to be 100% of the time. And we’ll get there. We’ve just got to keep working.”