TRAVERSE CITY — Time to move on.
Traverse City West aims to take the lessons from Friday’s shutout loss to Grand Blanc and apply them to two road games coming up in Midland.
Grand Blanc won 31-0 after a slim 7-0 halftime edge in Friday’s Saginaw Valley League crossover game at Thirlby Field in Traverse City.
West’s defense didn’t allow a first-half score. Jeremiah Coleman returned the opening kickoff 78 yards for a score, and the teams battled to a draw from there, with both defenses holding serve through halftime.
“Our kids held their own for three quarters,” Titans second-year head coach James Wagner said. “We ran out of gas.”
Part of that was playing a much bigger team in terms of numbers. The Bobcats brought 73 varsity players to Thirlby, needing three buses to accommodate the team (that doesn’t count the extra truck and trailer for equipment, including a sideline golf cart that says “Go Cats” on it that’s older than any of the Bobcat players).
West fields a roster of 45.
Grand Blanc, with an enrollment more than 1,000 larger than West’s, doesn’t have any two-way starters, and almost all of the Bobcats’ primary backups only play on one side of the ball.
“It helps a lot because we get some wind,” Bobcats senior safety Nathan Szczembara said. “When we play teams that go both ways, we go hard. Even if we’re a little winded in between whistles, we’re going 100 percent. It tires them out; and over time, we can outlast any team.”
The Titans (3-1, 1-0 SVL-Blue) only allowed three sustained drives, one ending in a field goal, one in a missed field goal attempt and the Bobcats’ final touchdown. West was looking to start the season 4-0 for the first time since 2017.
“We just have to limit our mistakes,” West junior receiver and safety Drew Esper said. “We have to sustain drives on offense to keep our defense off the field a little bit. We can’t have mistakes like those penalties we had, but we’re going to learn from it and move on.”
Grand Blanc (3-1, 2-0 Saginaw Valley League-Red) intercepted the Titans three times and recovered a fumble.
Owen Hendrix threw for 100 yards and ran for 64, with Esper hauling in four catches for 76 yards.
“We just have to fix mistakes and move forward,” Wagner said. “We can’t turn the ball over, and we have to protect it a little bit more. It’s one loss that doesn’t define the season.”
Brayden Popa led the defense with 11 tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack. Jackson Gallagher added seven tackles, four tackles for loss and three sacks, while Carson Toothman logged seven stops, three tackles for loss and a sack. Esper also made 13 tackles.
“Really proud of the kids and the way they fought,” Wagner said. “Our defense played really strong. We didn’t give a touchdown up until the third quarter after a fumble. Our team is tough. We’ve got grit to us, and we’ll respond. I believe that.”
In the first half, Grand Blanc secured three interceptions to end Titan drives, while Esper recovered a fumble and West forced three punts. The Bobcats also missed a 42-yard field goal.
The Bobcats beat West 43-7 and 48-0 in the last two seasons in the programs’ initial meetings since West and Traverse City Central joined the SVL.
“The last two years, we’ve kind of handled these guys pretty good,” Grand Blanc head coach Kaleb Forr said. “We knew this year was going to be a different story. They’re well improved. They have some great playmakers. They’re big and physical. Back-to-back road wins against two tough opponents is huge for us.”
West surrendered only 253 total yards but also ended up with only 134 of its own.
Grand Blanc opened the season with a 28-26 home loss to Muskegon Mona Shores in the Vehicle City Gridiron Classic, then reeled off two SVL wins over Flint Carman-Ainsworth, 35-14, and Saginaw Heritage, 22-21.
“It really sends a message that our defense is tough,” Forr said. “They played great last week. They just gave up two trick plays against (Saginaw) Heritage and then a shutout here tonight against the really good squad that has a pretty dynamic offense. It’s a confidence booster.”
Grand Blanc kicker Ben Thompson hit a 27-yard field goal, and the Bobcats recovered a West fumble on the ensuing kickoff and turned that into a Coleman 3-yard TD run three plays later for a 17-0 lead.
West tried a fake punt on its next possession that came up a couple yards short of the sticks. The Bobcats took over at the 33 and scored three plays later on Jake Morrow’s keeper from 11 yards out to lead 24-0.
Nik Lemons added a 1-yard TD run with five minutes remaining to take a 31-0 lead.
West travels to Midland for the next two weeks, visiting Midland High and then Midland Dow.
“They’re really good teams; but if we just clean up the mistakes, I feel like we can beat anybody on our schedule that’s left,” Esper said. “But we have to really lock it in in practice and just keep getting better.”