Cranbrook holds off Foley in CHSL opener
BLOOMFIELD HILLS » The host Cranbrook-Kingswood Cranes held off a late rally from Madison Heights Bishop Foley, and ultimately defeated the Ventures 43-41 Saturday afternoon.
Leading 13-7 at the half, Cranbrook’s offense got rolling even more in the second half, building a 43-21 lead with 5:54 remaining behind the hard running of Ethan Peruski, who finished with 135 yards on 25 carries, and an air attack led by receiver Alex Yolles who finished with 11 catches for 210 yards and three touchdowns. Yolles also ran in a score, breaking tackles on a 44-yard run.
“He is just doing a great job,” Cranes head coach Nick LaFontaine said. “He just goes hard all the time, and that’s going to raise the level of our kids. He’s emerging as a playmaker, obviously.
And I told him you can do that against anybody, just keep playing.”
But the Ventures can score quickly, and the eighth-ranked team in Division 7 would finish strong. Bishop Foley went 57 yards in just five plays, capped by a Jackson Zeiter 4-yard touchdown run with 4:23 remaining to make it 43-28.
The Ventures would recover an onside kick and score in just two plays, with Dylan Gough finding Angelo Costanza for a 31-yard touchdown to make it 43-35.
“It’s one of the good things that we’ve done here where with our
explosive offense we can get back in games. So we never feel like we’re out of it,” Ventures head coach Brian Barnes said. “But give them (Cranbrook) a lot of credit. I’m proud of our guys for fighting like that against a Division 4 school. We’re proud of where we’re at. We still think we’re going to have a great year, and it starts with practice on Monday.”
Bishop Foley recovered a second straight onside kick, but the Cranbrook defense held when John Kersh came up with a fourth down interception with 2:53 remaining.
“They just do a good job. He (Barnes) coaches those guys. We knew that stuff like the non-obvious onsides was going to be an issue,” LaFontaine said. “So we knew, we were prepared, but we’ve still got to work it out. They still recovered two or three on us.”
After Zeiter ran back an interception for Bishop Foley on third down and long, the Cranbrook defense held on the two-point conversion to ultimately preserve the win.
The Cranes were then able to recover the next onside kick and run out the clock.
Zeiter was the all-around threat for the Ventures finishing with 183 combined yards from scrimmage and four total touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving, and one on the interception return).
“Hopefully college coaches are noticing what he does. He’s a special kid.
He’s not the biggest kid in the world, but he can fly and he’s tough, and he gets after it,” Barnes said of Zeiter.
Gough lit things up for 383 yards and three touchdowns against two interceptions through the air.
But while they gave up yards — and at times points — the Cranes defense also made a handful of big plays to create sudden change headed by three sacks from Alex Smith and three turnovers — two interceptions and a fumble recovery. Shane Wittenberg had a big two-way game, recovering a fumble, intercepting a pass and also accounting for four total touchdowns on offense (two rushing, two passing).
Bishop Foley’s defense was largely solid against the run. Anchored by the play of Jack Hopkins, Gabe Malinowski, and James Braswell, the Venture defense kept the Cranes’ running game in check most of the time. But ultimately, it was Cranbrook who found just enough big plays on each side of the ball when they needed them to get the win.
“Guys are just playing. They’re sacrificing for each other. They’re playing hard for each other, and it’s coming through,” LaFontaine said. “We’ve got to clean this up. It’s not pretty. But we’ll take the W every time.”
With the win, Cranbrook evens their overall record at 2-2 and opens the Catholic League Intersectional Division 1 season at 1-0. The Cranes travel to Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard next week for another divisional game.
The Ventures, (3-1, 0-1) host Macomb Lutheran North in another league game on Friday.