Lakers’ Reqez Nance slashes through Falcons’ defense to virtually settle game by half
Seemingly always a force to be reckoned with, West Bloomfield made an early season statement in Michigan high school football on Thursday night with a convincing 41-19 victory at Birmingham Groves.
The battle of preseason top-25 teams was virtually decided by halftime as the 2-0 Lakers (No. 5 in the Super 10) jumped to a 34-13 first-half advantage against the 1-1 Falcons (No. 5 in Division 2).
Leading the attack was 5-foot-10, 175pound senior quarterback Reqez Nance, who put on a Kyler Murray-like passing display using a myriad of targets to complete nine of 12 first-half passes for 217 yards and three touchdowns.
Nance hurled a 63-yard TD bomb to Elisha Durham to give the Lakers a 7-0 lead just 76 seconds into the game, but just six plays later Groves answered on Cayden Hardy’s 15-yard TD pass to Nick Hardy to even it.
And despite Nance taking a 19-yard sack, the Lakers scored again — taking just four plays — on their second possession, thanks to a 30-yard TD run by Kamren Flowers with six minutes to go in the first, to put West Bloomfield on top, 14-7.
The Lakers then went up 21-7 with 11:05 remaining in the half on a Nance 65-yard swing pass to the speedy 5-foot-9, 160-pound Marquise Morris.
The Lakers kept coming, converting a critical fourth-and-5 when Nance threw a beautiful 36-yard strike to Durham to put West Bloomfield ahead 27-7 (after the extra point failed) with 6:27 left.
The Falcons then coughed up the ensuing kickoff, with Bryce Parker scooping up the loose ball at the Groves 21. And on the second play of that drive, running back Josh Tate charged in from 13 yards out to make it 34-7.
Groves then fumbled the kickoff again, with Nigel Dunton recovering at the Falcons’
40, but the Lakers were unable to take advantage.
Groves got a bit back late in the first half, thanks to a 56-yard pass from Cayden Hardy to Chris Little. That led to an 8-yard touchdown pass from Hardy to Noah Woods to cut the deficit to 34-13 with 1:09 remaining.
After both teams failed to score in the third, Groves narrowed it further with 5:06 left in the fourth on a 17-yard reverse run by Noah Sanders. (The Falcons’ 2-point conversion pass fell incomplete.)
But the Lakers had one more score in them, as Flowers, who rushed for 111 yards on nine carries, bolted 44 yards for a TD with 2:26 left.