Brother Rice bests St. Mary’s in CHSL rematch, 31-13
PONTIAC » The Brother Rice Warriors ran to a 31-13 win over the Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Eaglets behind a dominating offensive line.
The Warriors jumped out to a quick 10- 0 lead with scores on their first two drives, capped by a 49yard run from Nolan Ray with 2:13 remaining in the first quarter.
The Eaglets would get on the scoreboard with a 49yard field goal from Tommy Doman to make it 10-3, but the Warriors would get another long touchdown run from Lee to make it 173, then added a hail mary touchdown from Jake Coulter to Cole Lacanaria as time expired in the first half to build a 24- 6 halftime lead.
Ray was the primary beneficiary in the first half of a dominating offensive line. Led by Christian Peters, Drew Lees, and Dontez Fuller, the Warriors rushed for over 300 yards on the night.
“It’s tough to single guys out. They’re all important. They’re all great,” Warriors head coach Adam Korzeniewski said of his offensive line.
Ray finished the first half with 185 yards and two touchdowns on just seven carries. Then Mikkos Stewart racked up 109 yards and a touchdown after halftime as the Warriors simply ran over the Eaglets much of the night.
“I know that our running backs ripped off a few long runs,” Korzeniewski said. “The game plan by the coaches was fantastic. We knew what we wanted to do, and they made it work. And obviously, there’s some talented kids in the backfield.”
Led by two and a half sacks from Nick Williams, the St. Mary’s pass rush did cause some problems for the Warrior passing attack at times, but Brother Rice was almost always able to go back to running the ball when it needed to move the ball.
The Eaglets gutted it out in the second half, taking the opening kickoff and marching down the field with their best drive of the game. Aidan Boyle capped the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run to make it 24-13.
But Stewart and the Warriors marched 80 yards on the ensuing drive – all on the ground – to get the score right back.
“They did a great job tonight. They beat us in all phases of the game, and hats off to Brother Rice,” Eaglets head coach George Porritt said.
With the win, Brother Rice improves to 7-1 and moves on to next week’s district championship versus either South Lyon East or Chelsea.
St. Mary’s finishes the year 2- 4.
“It was a rollercoaster, but our kids made the best of it, and I was really proud of my team,” Porritt said.