Everest Collegiate roars back from early deficit to beat Parkway Christian for D8 regional title
The Clarkston Everest Mountaineers fell behind early then roared back to claim a 30-6 win over the Sterling Heights Parkway Christian Eagles and the regional title.
Everest received the opening kickoff but went three-and-out on their first possession. Parkway’s Hunter Nysen knifed through the line to block the ensuing punt, and the Eagles took over at the Mountaineer 15-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Kyler Maiorana bolted for a touchdown and the Eagles had a 6-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.
“We regrouped a little bit,” Mountaineers head coach Michael Pruchnicki said. “We call it snap and clear. You kind of clear that one out and have to move forward. You can’t control the past, so you just have to keep looking forward, keep playing. And the guys did a nice job of snapping and clearing and moving forward.”
The Mountaineers next three possessions all ended in touchdowns by Thomas Powrie, two receiving and one rushing. Patrick Cooper hit Powrie in stride down the middle for a 40yard touchdown on Everest’s next possession and the extra point gave the Mountaineers a lead they would never lose.
Maiorana and the Eagle running game would make
methodical progress on Parkway Christian’s next possession, but eventually the Everest defense stiffened and got the ball back on downs at their own 31yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Cooper tossed a little swing pass to Powrie who got a couple of blocks and raced down the right sideline for another touchdown.
Maiorana, who finished with 74 yards rushing kept pounding away behind the Eagles offensive line, but Mountaineers started gang tackling and where before he only had to beat one player, soon he was facing two and three tacklers. Quarterback Luke Wolgast was 9-for-16 passing for the Eagles, but for only 68 yards. After the touchdown, the Eagles did not have another play go for 10 or more yards until the fourth, and by then they were down 23-6.
“They are a well-coached team, and they won some big games. They’ve got a good team. It’s tough to replicate that in practice, so it takes a couple series sometimes to get locked in and get ready,” Pruchnicki said.
After trailing 20-6 at half, Parkway regrouped defensively and held Everest to just one field goal on their next two possessions despite both drives starting in Eagle territory.
“Our defense kept us in it. We made a couple adjustments at halftime. Once our injuries hit it was a little bit of a struggle to keep it going,” Eagles head coach Joe Beck said.
Senior Gavin Harris had a strong second half and capped the scoring with a late touchdown run from four yards out. Harris and Jimmy Nedwick took turns in the backfield, combining for 124 yards. Powrie finished with five catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns while adding a 6-yard rushing score.
The Mountaineers (9-3) claim their first regional title since 2020 when they reached the state semifinals.
“It feels good. But I know the job is not finished. We’ve got a lot to work on. We’re going to watch film, and we’re going to get after it this week. But we’re going to take a day to celebrate this because it was a great team win,” Harris said.
Everest will face Ottawa Lake Whiteford in next week’s quarterfinals. The teams met in last year’s regional final, with Whiteford winning, 38-12.
After a slow start, the Parkway Christian finishes the year 6-6 and made their deepest playoff run in more than a decade.
“It was a heck of a season. We knew we had a good core group. We basically shot ourselves in the foot the first four or five games of the year. The boys regrouped. We’re all proud of them. We won our last five games (before Friday) and finished on a good note,” Beck said. “This was our first district title since 2007.”