INDIAN RIVER – It was a Homecoming night of fun for the Inland Lakes football team, which remained undefeated by hammering Rogers City in a 54-16 victory at Shanley Field on Friday.
Fueled by a potent offense and relentless defense, the Bulldogs (6-0) took control early and never looked back.
Here’s some takeaways from Friday’s triumph for Inland Lakes.
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Big plays help Bulldogs pull away quickly
The Bulldogs unleashed on the Hurons (1-5) by scoring on three of their first four plays and building a 22-0 lead just over four minutes into the contest.
The first explosive play came when Inland Lakes faked out the Hurons with a trick play, as senior quarterback Aidan Fenstermaker got the ball back from a teammate and launched a 61-yard touchdown pass to senior Dylan Zinke.
On the next possession, junior running back Andre Bradford broke loose for an 82-yard TD scamper and a made 2-point conversion that pushed the Bulldogs’ advantage to 16-0.
One possession later, the Bulldogs capped off a drive when Fenstermaker tossed a 11-yard TD pass to Cam Kettle.
Bradford rounded out a dominant Inland Lakes offensive quarter by scoring from 10 yards out, which helped the Bulldogs build a 30-0 lead.
“We made a couple mistakes against (Ishpeming) last week, so we wanted to just clean those up and show what how we play when we’re playing perfect,” Inland Lakes senior offensive lineman Jack Wilson said. “It was surreal playing my last Homecoming game. When you’re a little kid, you always think of what your last senior Homecoming game is going to be like. Coming into this week, we understood our assignments. We emphasized running every play perfect and doing all the keys that we needed to do.”
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Not letting up
The big plays kept coming in the second quarter for the Bulldogs, who received a 21-yard TD run from senior Mitch Crawford, a 45-yard TD dash from Bradford, and a 53-yard score from Fenstermaker.
“Our offensive line did a really good job of getting push and making sure our running backs couldn’t miss the holes,” Inland Lakes coach Travis Meyer said.
While the I-L offense couldn’t be stopped, the defense throttled Rogers City all night, as sophomore defensive end Alyx Willis was highly productive, along with Wyatt Hanel and Mason Green, who intercepted passes.
“It’s fun football. They fly around, they hit, they don’t necessarily push the limits too often, so it’s aggressive but pretty safe,” Meyer said of his defense. “We feel good about that.”
A night made for a King
Fenstermaker once again delivered a superstar display, and the senior signal-caller was honored at halftime when he was named Homecoming king, joining senior Lexi Kovtun, who was named queen.
It made for a perfect night as Fenstermaker and the Bulldogs were impressive in front of a huge home crowd.
“It meant a lot, I didn’t expect it,” Fenstermaker said. “I was rooting for all the other court reps, and when they said my name, I was like, ‘OK, that just happened.’ It was great.”
Inland Lakes next plays at Pellston (1-4) for a 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, Ski Valley 8-Player Conference clash.
Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf atjgreenleaf@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter@sportsCDT