Gladwin proves to be too much, hands Harrison 63-30 loss in JPC crossover

By BEN MURPHY

Cleaver Sports Writer

Near the end of the first half of its Jack Pine Conference crossover football game at Gladwin on Friday, Harrison was in striking distance. That changed in a hurry though, as two late second quarter touchdowns from the Flying G’s gave them full control, eventually leading to their 63-30 victory.

“We were hanging around for a little bit, it was 14-0 with a minute and 40 seconds left in the half and they busted off a big run to make it 21-0,” head coach Jamie Lipovsky said. “Then we threw a pick and they scored again and it was 28-0. If we were down by 14 at the half, that is manageable, but it went to 28 in a snap of a finger and that’s not the way to end the first half.”

Gladwin led the game 7-0 after one, 28-0 at the half and 49-16 entering the fourth.

“We were a little disappointed, but the kids battled in the second half, they didn’t stop, they didn’t give up and I think that is huge,” Lipovsky said. “We made some halftime adjustments and that was definitely a positive. We struggled stopping them, in our section of the Jack Pine, not many teams sling it all over the place and that’s what Gladwin did and that kind of hurt us.”

The silver lining in all of this is perhaps that the Hornets got through the game against the much bigger Flying G’s mostly healthy; something they couldn’t say at this point last season.  

“Most importantly, we came out semi-healthy,” Lipovsky said. “We had a few bumps and bruises, but last years’ crossover game we lost two people that were key starters and that didn’t help us the next game when we lost to Evart and those injuries nagged on into the playoffs. Most importantly for us we wanted to come through the game healthy and we did.”

The Hornets had Matt Latunski have a good night throwing the football, he was seven-of-nine for 129 yards and two touchdowns. Clayten Austin led the ground game, as he had 102 yards and two scores on 10 carries. Collin Dennis rushed eight times for 36-yards; Raymond Cosgrove had 10 touches for 34 yards and Aiden Brewer ran for 19 yards. Austin had one 35-yard touchdown reception, Dennis had three receptions for 33 yards, Cosgrove had one catch that was good for a 28-yard touchdown, while Kelton Carlstrom had one catch for 28 yards and Hunter Lafeve had one grab for five yards.

As for the defense, Latunski had eight tackles and Lafeve tracked down five. Getting four tackles each was Nyxon Rhodes, Dennis and Alex Jansen, while Gavin Vanburen tracked down three tackles.

Harrison (6-2 overall) heads for Evart (2-6) on Friday. The Wildcats are coming off a loss to McBain last week, 71-28 and their wins this season have come against Lake City and Roscommon. While their record isn’t great, Lipovsky was quick to point out that the Wildcats aren’t to be overlooked.

“They are only 2-6, but they probably have the best offensive of any 2-6 team in the area,” he said. “They sling the ball all over the place, they have a lot of skilled players. We know their coaches real well, they are well-coached and regardless of what it looks like on paper, they are going to give us a game for sure. It is going to be a war just like it always is when we play Evart.”