TRAVERSE CITY — Traverse City Central’s chance to jump right into the Saginaw Valley League title fray fizzled early on.
The injury-depleted Trojans came into Friday’s Saginaw Valley League-Blue Division game against Midland at Thirlby Field in Traverse City with a shot to shake things up against the division-leading Chemics.
Midland (5-1, 4-0 SVL-Blue) made that difficult early on, leading 14-0 in the first quarter and holding on for a 30-7 win that keeps the Chemics in the driver’s seat.
“They’re all big when you’re in the SVL,” Midland first-year head coach Tyler Wellman said. “From the top to the bottom, there’s not a lot of difference in this conference. It’s doing things the right way, maturity and having things buttoned up and playing assignment football is usually what gets it done here.”
Wellman took over the Midland program this summer after coaching at Flint Powers for the last two years and 14 years in the college ranks at Trine University in Indiana, Aurora University in Illinois and Lakeland University in Wisconsin.
Playing spoiler at Central’s homecoming and Pink Out game started early.
Midland took a 14-0 first-quarter lead, taking the opening drive 59 yards in four plays for a Noah Grachek 20-yard TD run and converting a fumble recovery on a Central punt return into a 1-yard Eli Kell quarterback keeper 9:29 into the game.
“We didn’t play well at all,” Central head coach Eric Schugars said. “We just didn’t come out with the fire. Midland came and just attacked us and went right down the field and scored, and we made a miscue; but you have to overcome that, and they scored again. From the get-go, we were on our heels, and then we just couldn’t fully recover.”
Rutger Feeney, who ran for two touchdowns and 90 yards on only eight carries in the first half last week, didn’t play due to an injury that cost him the second half in a 21-7 win over Midland Dow.
Feeney is the third TCC running back to go down with an injury this season, with Arthur McManus sustaining a season-ending knee injury this summer and backup Gavin Love getting hurt in Central’s scrimmage. Feeney, who was moved from slot receiver to running back after McManus and Love went down, left last week’s game at the end of the first half with a knee sprain that could keep him out another 1-2 weeks.
The Trojans’ (2-4, 1-2 SVL-Blue) defense held Midland to 269 yards of total offense, but Central managed only 160 itself, 137 of that through the air.
“We just couldn’t flip it, didn’t play with enough energy and excitement,” Schugars said. “It’s frustrating because after last week, the way we played in that first half, getting that momentum going. We had Rutger going, and he got hurt. OK, next guy up, and it was a few guys. It’s hard to get in the rhythm to run the football, and we need to run the football to get our offense going.”
Depleted in the backfield, the Trojans ran for only 23 yards.
A pair of fumble recoveries allowed Central to keep Midland off the scoreboard in the second quarter, one by Wilson Coffman on a muffed punt and an Oliver Dobreff recovery after a Kell scramble to inside the Central 10. The Trojans also had a drive stall inside the Chemic 10 after they converted on fourth-and-4 to a bubble screen to Coffman for 19 yards that set TCC up at the 4.
Sophomore Isaac Turnwald put Central on the scoreboard to end a seven-play, 80-yard drive that featured his 55-yard pass to Scott Goodwin. Turnwald ran it in from 3 yards out, rolling to his left and putting a shoulder into a Chemic defender to plow into the end zone and cut Midland’s lead to 21-7 late in the third quarter.
Midland punted on its next possession, but the Trojans had to fall on a backward pass that rolled into the endzone for a safety that gave the Chemics a 23-7 lead early in the fourth.
“Midland is a good football team,” Schugars said. “They came out and took it to us. We didn’t match that early enough. We matched it a little late. We can’t do that.”
Turnwald completed 10-of-20 passes for 137 yards and one interception. Goodwin finished with four grabs for 79 yards, while Coffman had three catches for 37 yards, and Grant Sivier one for 13 yards. Sivier also kicked the extra point on Central’s TD.
Linebacker Drew Zrimec — who was one of Central’s two Homecoming Royalty winners along with Gabe Girrbach as the top two vote-getters — led the Trojan defense with nine tackles, including one for a loss. Dobreff, Connor Reb and junior lineman Johnny Ferguson added five tackles each, with sophomore defensive lineman Kaelan Burkholder getting a sack.
“Credit to Coach Schugars and their coaching staff,” Wellman said. “Offensively and defensively, they throw a ton at you. We worked on it all week, and our guys really recognized what they saw, and then more importantly, they executed.”
Central changed from a four-man to a three-man defensive front in the second half, throwing the Chemics’ offense off a bit.
TC Central has upcoming games against Bay City Central and Bay City Western, who came into Week 6 having scored less than 100 points between them. The Trojans end the regular season against rival Traverse City West.
“You give them a loss, and you give yourself a chance,” Schugars said. “Now with two losses, it’s going to be difficult to win the league with that. We have to string a couple wins together. Hopefully we can do that going forward. Start with one.”
Midland just barely beat TC West at home last week, surviving a late two-point conversion attempt that likely would have given the Titans the win.
The Chemics held West to under 80 total yards — and 47 at halftime — before the Titans went on a late drive to pull within one in a battle of the SVL’s top two defenses.