Features, Sports

Marauders Trounce Byron on MMAC Gridiron for 1st Win of 2022

B Y R O N — Logan Thompson rushed for 62 yards and two touchdowns, Tryce Tokar 50 yards and a pair of scores, and Jamison Custer led a dominant Ovid-Elsie ground attack with 93 yards as O-E crushed Byron on Thursday night on the road.

OE tight end, Clay Wittenberg goes up over a Byron defender for a completed pass. The Marauders defeated Byron 55-7. See pages 6-14 and page 16 for sports coverage and Fall Sports Team Photos and Previews. Photo by Michelle Ladiski.

How good was the Marauder scheme? Custer averaged 31 yards per carry, and five other players averaged double-digit yardage per run.

O-E’s 55-7 win also featured touchdown runs by Custer, Isaac Orta, Perrien Rasch and Caven Brooks as coach Travis Long’s crew mauled the Eagle defense to the tune of 572 yards – on just 46 plays. 495 of those yards came on the ground.

The Marauders — still stinging from an opening game loss at Portland — dominated their first league game in defense of their 2021 Mid-Michigan Activities Association (MMAC) championship, taking command with three TDs in the first quarter.

The Eagles, coming off a 1-8 season and playing their first game under new head coach Matt Wilcox, kept things close, relatively, in the first quarter. Byron trailed 21-7 at the quarter break after QB Nathan Erdman found Reece Arndt on a scoring toss. Arndt finished as the host’s offensive leader with four catches for 83 yards; Erdman completed 4-of-9 aerials for 105 yards.

Braxton Stenger scores a touchdown for the Marauders against Byron. Photo by Michelle Ladiski.

But that was the only yardage a bruising O-E defense would allow. BHS ran the ball 23 times — for negative 18 yards. Clay Wittenberg (8 tackles), Gage Kvalevog (5) and Cohen Brown (5) anchored against the run, while Braxton Stenger picked off three Eagle aerials and had a tackle for loss. Drake Ritter also snared an interception for O-E.

Tokar clicked on 3-of-4 passes for 50 yards, and Colin Veith was good on 1-of-4 passes for 27 yards. Veith added 23 yards rushing on just two carries.

Ten different ballcarriers punished the Eagle defense, including Carter Kelley (33 yards), Cole Workman (19 yards) and Brown (9 yards).

Wittenberg, Stenger and Logan Thompson all caught passes for O-E, Wittenberg leading the way with two grabs for 38 yards.

Brooks attempted three extra point kicks, and hit all three.

The romp was a good warm-up for Long’s charges, as they next take on a powerhouse Durand offense that features an old-school T-formation, ground-and-pound attack. That MMAC showdown is September 9 at Mark O’Donnell Field

Cover Photo

On Friday, September 9th, the Ovid-Elsie varsity football team play their home opener against Durand on the new turf at Mark O’Donnell Field. Photo by Michelle Ladiski.