Blue Devils run past Wildcats
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GAYLORD -- The Alpena Wildcats ran into one of the toughest teams in the Big North Conference on Friday in the Gaylord Blue Devils.
The Wildcats fell by a score of 50-6 and were nearly unable to move the ball on offense, while the Blue Devils dominated on both sides.
Considerable injuries to high-level players have hurt Alpena throughout the past few weeks, especially on defense, as Gaylord efficiently ran the ball all night.
"The last couple of weeks injuries have obviously hurt us, but we need to be better. We had one guy back tonight, which helps, but they're a very physical football team, and without our starters, they're a hard team to keep up with," Alpena coach Eric Mitchell said.
Alpena received the ball to kick off the game and came out with an incredibly promising drive.
A 35-yard trick play was executed where the running back, Kaleb Donajkowski, threw a perfect pass to Easton Srebnik.
The Wildcats got to the red zone before the drive fell apart on a turnover on downs.
After this mistake, Gaylord took the momentum and ran with it.
The Blue Devils' first drive ended at 2:58 with a short-yardage rushing touchdown from Russell Hush to take an early 7-0 lead.
The following drive by Alpena did not go as planned. After three straight plays that ended in a loss of yards, the Wildcats were set up to punt on their end zone.
As the Wildcats went to punt, the snap sailed over the head of Jake Zann, resulting in a safety and a 9-0 lead for Gaylord.
The Blue Devils now had possession of the ball after an Alpena punt and scored again quickly. This time, a 60-yard touchdown was scored by Ty Sensinger to extend the lead even further.
Alpena's defense settled down until 1:55 was left in the half, where Alpena got beaten over the top for a 45-yard gain.
This play brought Gaylord down to the two-yard line and the Blue Devils punched the football in for a two-yard rushing touchdown.
One more crucial mistake with just a minute left in the half put Alpena behind 30-0 at halftime when Gaylord intercepted Zann and ran it back for a score.
Just two minutes into the second half, Caleb Aungst broke off a massive 74-yard touchdown, stiff-arming an Alpena defender on the way to a 36-0 lead.
Gaylord completed another two touchdowns on a 29-yard rush from Russell Hush and another touchdown from Riley Hush to go up to 50 points.
Although the Wildcats were silent on offense, the team scored a 26-yard passing touchdown from Zann to John Kurowski with seven minutes left in the game.
Gaylord solidified the victory, picking off Zann one final time for the 50-6 win.
"The negatives from this game are absolutely obvious. It's our missed tackles at the point of attack. We had guys in position all night, but being unable to wrap up kills us," Mitchell said.
Alpena plays Sault Ste. Marie on Friday for homecoming.