The Northville Mustangs and the Novi Wildcats met for the KLAA West Division title, and it was the Mustangs that came out victorious 28-14 to keep the Baseline Jug in Northville.
Novi
No Room to Run
The Novi Wildcats had no room to run in this one. Coming into this one the Wildcats were averaging 107-yards per game on the ground. In this one they were only able to muster five total yards on the ground versus a stout Northville defense. While it was five total yards Logan Ellison had 35-yards and Lance Galliard had 15-yards. While they had 50-yards it was Quarterback Caleb Walker who had all the negative yards, but Walker did manage to score on a one-yard score.
I Don’t Know About You, But I’m Feeling 22
Boden Fernsler came to play for the Novi Wildcats in the loss. On offense Fernsler pulled in five receptions for 71-yards and a touchdown. Fernsler should have had a second touchdown, but that was called back because he didn’t complete the process. Then on defense he had four tackles, although the four tackles don’t seem like much he was flying around and locking up Northville’s receivers.
Northville
One, Two, Three….Triple Deak
Evan Deak made an impact in the rushing attack for the Mustangs. Deak ran the ball with authority as he rushed 22 times for 181 yards and three touchdowns. The longest of the three touchdown runs came in the third on a 44-yard run where you saw his power running ability. He was stiff-arming people. Deak didn’t start the year as the number one or the number two back for the Northville Mustangs, but he was put in this spot due to injuries and Head Coach Brent Luplow said he talked to Deak and told him to make this a legacy game and he did just that with his four touchdowns on the night.
Knock Your Head Off
The defense of the Northville Mustangs flew around the field and hit hard. The Mustangs came up with 13 tackles for loss of 64 yards. Inside of the tackles for loss, they had seven sacks for a loss of 55 yards. The Mustangs hit the Quarterback of Novi so hard that they knocked his helmet off three times. If you want to talk about a player who made his impact on defense known, look at Evan Deak, who had six tackles, two and a half sacks, and three and a half tackles for loss. The Mustangs came in with a plan to hit hard, and they did just that.
Seven Years to Long
For the first time in seven years the Northville Mustangs have won the KLAA West Division title. They did it this year by going 8-0, and defeating rival Novi to also keep the Baseline Jug, an award that both teams fight for. They also did all of this under first year head coach Brent Luplow who said “It’s Special,” when talking about both keeping the Jug and winning the West.