Cass City Chases History in Rematch
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 8, 2019
Sandyn Cuthrell and his Cass City teammates have a simple way to make sure they are properly prepared for each game – treat every week like it’s Laker week.
As they prepare for their District Final, the Red Hawks won’t have to pretend, as for the second time this season, it’s actually Laker week.
The Red Hawks will host archrival Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker at 7 p.m. Friday for the Division 7 Region 4, District 1 championship. The winner will advance to the Regional Final against either Madison Heights Madison or Detroit Loyola.
The win-or-go-home nature of the postseason adds more to this rivalry game, but it’s also a chance at some program firsts for the Red Hawks. A win would give them their first ever District championship and first ever 10-win season.
“This one, it’s probably the biggest game in Cass City history,” said Cuthrell, a four-year starter at quarterback for the Red Hawks. “We’re not going to let it be ruined.”
Plenty is on the line, but what the Red Hawks have accomplished to this point already puts them among the best teams in school history.
Cass City won nine straight games after a season-opening 16-14 loss against Montrose – a team that is still alive in the Division 6 playoffs – and won the Greater Thumb Conference West for the second straight season.
It has also allowed 50 points. Total. All season.
“We’re not like huge; we’re all just super fast,” said Cuthrell, who also plays defensive back. “All these years building up to this year, we’ve been really heavy on the weight room every year. We’re all not huge guys, but we’re all really quick and fast. We can swarm to the ball, and there’s not a lot of big plays that can happen when the defensive backs are quicker than the receivers.”
Outside of the Montrose game, the Red Hawks haven’t allowed more than eight points in a game this season and had four shutouts. During six conference games, they allowed a total of 22 points. It’s the program’s best defensive performance since the 1950s.
“Coach does a really good job preparing us throughout the week,” junior running back and linebacker Alex Perry said. “We’ve been able to communicate with each other really well. The line gets a good push, so the linebackers can come in and clean it up. And the defensive backs shut down the pass.”
The offense has done its fair share, as well, averaging 40.1 points per game despite scoring just 14 in Week 1. So, while the defense’s numbers are eye-popping, most of the season has seen the Red Hawks be dominant in all phases.
“When you coach this long, hopefully you come across a team that gels really well, and that’s what happened this year,” Cass City coach Scott Cuthrell said. “We have a good group of kids, and they all get along really well on and off the field, and they all have a common goal. This is a group of kids that I’ve enjoyed going to coach every night.”
Players vouch for the camaraderie on and off the field and cited that as a main reason this year’s team has been special and capable of doing what no team at Cass City has ever done.
“We’re more than a team. We hang out all the time,” Perry said. “This year, we just flow and really mesh together.”
Perhaps at no time this season did the Red Hawks mesh together as well as they did the first time they lined up against Laker. A 51-0 win in Week 4 marked the second-straight year Cass City had defeated its rival, but prior to the 2018 win, Laker had won nine straight in the series.
“Last season’s win meant a lot to us,” senior halfback and cornerback Hadyn Horne said. “We’re 10 minutes apart, and it’s just a battle for our area. It’s always been a really big game around here, probably the biggest game in the Greater Thumb Conference. We know in the playoffs it’s pretty much like coming in with a 0-0 record. They’re going to be a lot better than what they were when we played them the first time. Obviously we beat them bad last time, but it’s all about who wants it more.”
The two teams have met twice in a District Final (2014 and 2017). Some of the current players were on the field for the 2017 loss, including Sandyn Cuthrell, who said it was “like getting stabbed in the heart.”
Not wanting to have that feeling again is quite the motivation, but so is making program history.
“That would mean a lot,” Horne said. “I think down the road, I’ll look back at that and know, ‘That was our team that did that.’”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Cass City defenders including Alex Perry (44) pursue the Laker quarterback during this season’s first game against their rival. (Middle) Sandyn Cuthrell (6) breaks through the line for the Red Hawks. (Photos courtesy of the Cass City athletic department.)
Surge Becoming Storied as Boyne City Continues Memorable Playoff March
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
November 22, 2024
Not many would say Boyne City’s football team followed the script this season.
After the way the Ramblers started this fall, only a scriptwriter could have envisioned the season they’ve enjoyed.
Boyne City started with just 17 varsity players in August. After moving up some from the JV squad and losing their opener to Standish-Sterling 33-14, the Ramblers picked up a couple of wins. They then fell in Week 4 to Kingsley, last year’s Division 6 champion, 26-20.
But that’s where the losses stopped. Boyne City is on an eight-game winning streak – which included a 21-15 victory over Kingsley in the District Final two weeks ago.
And when the Ramblers found themselves down 14-0 to Reed City midway through the second quarter last week in their Division 6 Regional Final, nobody would have blamed them for abandoning the script.
But if there is one, it called junior Owen Hewitt’s number. He took over, scoring four touchdowns to lead Boyne to a 35-28 win that advanced the Ramblers to Saturday’s Semifinal against Lansing Catholic.
“It wasn’t a dire situation,” said Boyne City coach Dave Suttle. “Our quarterback Drew Neer all year long has run our offense very well, and when we need a big play he’s always there. We threw a little curl, dig route over the middle to Owen and he went 63 yards for the score and kind of rejuvenated our team.”
Neer, also a junior, has connected with Hewitt and senior Jaden Alger the most this season. Hewitt’s first TD came with 1:22 left in the first half. Hewitt’s second was Boyne’s first offensive play of the second half and tied the game at 14-14.
It may have been Suttle scripting Hewitt’s performance.
Suttle expected Reed City to focus on stopping senior running back Ryan Spade, who has nearly 1,800 yards on the ground this season.
“Owen looked too good in practice last week, and we knew Owen was going to have a game,” Suttle said. “They were keying so hard on Ryan. We figured this was going to be the week, and we put some things in the game plan for him.”
Hewitt was extremely fired up coming out of halftime break, the sixth-year coach noted.
“Owen’s been our big-play guy all year,” said Suttle. “He’s got probably 600 yards receiving, and I think he’s scored 15 touchdowns between receiving and rushing. He’s been there but hadn’t had that wow game yet, that ‘Hey, who is this kid?’ And that was his game.”
The tough times this season from the small numbers to early losses united the team and created success, their coach proudly noted.
“From football specifically, we have made lifelong friends,” Suttle said. “We’ve learned how to help other people and depend on each other. The boys keep throwing out there they truly feel like they are all one family now. There’s all kinds of kids in this group. They have each other’s back. They’re not looking to blame anybody or point fingers. They’re just a solid group of gritty kids.”
Defensively, the Ramblers also have been led by Spate. He’s been involved in nearly 100 tackles. Sophomore Hyker McKinney has been involved in more than 70 tackles and Alger, junior Thomas Ager, senior Ryan Chapp, Hewitt and sophomore Ben Stanek are right behind them in solo tackles and assists.
Chapp and senior Leon Xiong have anchored the defensive line for the third straight year, Suttle pointed out.
“They’ve really stepped up this year, and they have pretty good stats,” Suttle said. “They are big-time leaders.”
The offensive line, in particular seniors Wiley Belcher and Zach Herrick, also continue to impress.
“They keep getting better every week and just keep pushing on,” Suttle said.
Win or lose this week or next, this team’s legacy already is solidified.
“I want this group to be remembered as the group that may have been counted out by a lot of other people or may have been overlooked,” Shuttle indicated. “We have a pretty good tradition of having a winning program, and we’ll make the playoffs and things like this, but this team sticks together and gets through the rough times and just never gives up.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Boyne City’s Ryan Spade (3) breaks into the open during his team’s 21-15 District Final win over Kingsley. (Middle) Ben Stanek (8) works to break free from a pair of Traverse City St. Francis defenders during a 23-20 Week 9 win over Traverse City St. Francis. (Below) Ramblers coach Dave Suttle, middle, raises the District championship trophy with senior Leon Xiong (11) and junior Owen Hewitt (14). (Photos by Brandon Kish.)