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Persistence pays off

Wildcats defeat Cadillac to end BNC drought

News Photo by James Andersen Alpena's Zachary Suszek (30) and Jadon Duncan close in on Cadillac running back Seth Olson during the first half of a Big North Conference football game on Friday at Wildcat Stadium.

A shot of momentum?

Check.

A well-executed second half?

Check.

A long overdue conference win?

Check.

The Alpena High football team checked off all those boxes en route to defeating Cadillac 23-14 on Friday at Wildcat Stadium.

Alex Arch scored two second half touchdowns for the Wildcats (2-2, 1-1 Big North) who earned their first Big North Conference win in almost two years. Alpena’s last conference triumph came against the Vikings on Sept. 18, 2015.

“It was a huge win. It was one of those games. Every single game so far this year has been a real tight game in the first half,” Alpena coach Aaron Sims said. “We did some good things, we made some mistakes and it was back-and-forth, back-and-forth and for us to come out in the second half and make some plays for ourselves and make some things happen for ourselves, that was huge.”

After an uneven first half, the Wildcats trailed the entire third quarter, but put the pedal down over the final 12 minutes, outscoring the Vikings 13-0 in the fourth quarter.

Alpena trailed 14-10 after three quarters, but took the lead for good on the opening drive of the fourth quarter. The Wildcats marched 61 yards in nearly six minutes before Arch plunged in for a one-yard score.

Two plays later, Alpena recovered a fumble at Cadillac’s 22-yard line and three plays after that, Arch found pay dirt again on a 21-yard scamper, giving Alpena a 23-14 lead.

Forced to throw on its next drive, Cadillac struggled and any hopes of a comeback ended when Logan Guthrie sacked Vikings quarterback Tipp Baker on fourth down.

“I think were just wore them down. We just kept grinding the ball and the big thing for us tonight is we talked about executing and we were,” Sims said. “We spent a lot of time on the inside run game this week and I think you could see it paid off for us a little bit.”

Both teams played to a 7-7 tie at halftime, though Alpena was unable to convert on a golden opportunity before halftime. With Cadillac driving, Jadon Duncan intercepted Baker and got to the nine yard line before going down with a leg injury. Alpena had 1:01 left to work with, but only ran two plays before the clock ran down.

“”It was a miscommunication, it’s my fault,” Sims said of the drive.

Cadillac took the lead back to open the third quarter. Cadillac marched methodically from its own 31-yard line in seven plays and Cole Flint scored on a nine-yard run with Emma Lloyd adding the PAT.

Alpena answered with a long drive of its own to kick a field goal with 2:33 left in the quarter to make it 14-10. The Wildcats drove into the red zone and got to the one-yard line, but a personal foul backed Alpena up to the 16 and eventually the Wildcats settled for a field goal from Kayden Wisniewski.

Guthrie led Alpena with 148 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. Guthrie’s 73-yard rushing touchdown gave Alpena an early lead with four minutes left in the first quarter. After Alpena punted on its first drive, Guthrie took a handoff and dashed up the left side for the score on the first play of Alpena’s next drive.

Cadillac answered with 7:58 left in the first half when Baker scrambled for an 11-yard score after a designed pass play broke down and Lloyd added the PAT.

Baker was 3-of-7 passing for 25 yards and an interception. Flint led Cadillac on the ground with 67 yards on seven carries. Jared McDaniel added 60 yards on 16 carries.

Arch had 69 yards on 15 carries for Alpena and Robert Sheldon led Alpena in receiving with one catch for 24 yards. Alpena outgained Cadillac on the ground 255 to 151.

With a three-game home stand now over, Alpena will hit the road for its next two games. After Friday’s win, Sims told his team to enjoy the moment, but to stay focused on bigger goals ahead. Alpena plays at Traverse City West next week.

“It’s something we’ve known for awhile and we would’ve like to have come out of the home stretch 3-0, but we came out 2-1,” Sims said. “Now we just have to be road warriors and go out and battle and just play hard every single play.”

Before the game, Alpena honored 11 players and three cheerleaders during Senior Night. Each senior was introduced with their parent or guardian and a prerecorded video message was played for each senior honored.

James Andersen can be reached via email at sports@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5694. Follow James on Twitter @ja_alpenanews.

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