TRAVERSE CITY — One of the longest first quarters turned into a short second half.
Traverse City St. Francis made an early statement, scoring on every first-half possession to the tune of a 60-14 halftime lead over Charlevoix, including a first quarter that took nearly an hour to complete.
The Gladiators and Rayders combined for seven first-quarter touchdowns as TCSF held a 38-14 lead after the first 12 minutes of game action, which took 55 minutes because of so many scores.
St. Francis would end up with a 67-22 victory in Friday’s nonconference football game at Thirlby Field in Traverse City, scoring the program’s most first-half points since a 63-0 game in 2021 against Tawas that ended at the intermission. Friday’s game started the second half with the point-differential rule in effect, resulting in a running clock.
“I was really motivated to win this one,” senior running back and defensive back Cam Sellers said. “Obviously the first game, first game of my senior year, and we needed to send a message to the rest of the state. Now that we’ve done that, we have to move on, continue on our tour. Lawton is up next. We have to get them back for last year, also.”
Sellers touched the ball seven times in the first half (four rushes, one catch, two punt returns) for 206 yards and four TDs.
“You know what I’ll remind him of?” TCSF head coach Josh Sellers said. “One of his touches was a fumbled punt return. That’s the most important touch he had. But he recovered the ball, so he redeemed himself there, and then he ran one back.”
Harrison Shepherd ran for 32 yards, Braxton Lesinski 35, Sellers 109, Evan Belanger 83 and Jack Gruber 20. Tyler Endres completed all three passes he attempted for 101 yards, including two to Lesinski for 58 yards.
“We couldn’t stop them on defense,” Charlevoix head coach Don Jess said. “They were ready for us. We knew they returned a lot of guys from last year, and obviously we didn’t. But this kind of shows us where we’re at. Luckily, it’s Week One, and we’ve got eight more weeks to improve. You never want to lose like that. But, give them credit, it probably could have been worse than that.”
St. Francis ended with a 378-191 advantage in total yardage, as many scores were set up by special teams returns and defensive stops giving the Glads short fields. That disparity was 316-106 in the first half.
The Rayders, who graduated 20 players from last year’s team that knocked St. Francis out of the playoffs, dressed 21 for the game, including five junior varsity call-ups. Starting running back Ian Moran and left tackle Andrew Glass also missed the contest with injuries, although both are expected back next week when Charlevoix travels to Oscoda.
“That was completely unexpected,” Josh Sellers said of the 60-point half. “Hot night, low numbers for Charlevoix, our depth helped us a ton. Even by the end of the first quarter, it’s an hour long, we kind of wore them down as the night went on.”
The Rayders lost two key players from last season in addition to heavy attrition from graduation. Receiver Owen Waha moved back to Nebraska and all-conference linebacker AJ Spiegl’s family moved to Petoskey.
“They were certainly ready for us this year,” Jess said. “They have a good squad, a lot of good players, and a lot of depth. Our lack of depth really hurt us today.”
St. Francis (1-0) hosts Lawton at 4 p.m. Sept. 7 at Thirlby.
Just a quick recap of St. Francis’ first half: Shepherd 8-yard TD run; Sellers 45-yard TD run, Sellers 54-yard punt return TD; Lesinski 10-yard TD run, Belanger 17-yard TD run; Endres 43-yard TD pass to Sellers; Belanger 11-yard TD run; Sellers 33-yard TD run; Sam Wildfong two extra points; Lesinski five two-point conversion runs from a wildcat formation.
“I really give all the credit to the line,” Cam Sellers said. “They did an amazing job. The holes were huge. There was no one outside, so when I got there, I was just able to run free.”
For Charlevoix, Logan Wadkins was the offense. He broke loose for an 86-yard TD run and a 92-yard kick return TD. He ended the game with 183 return yards and 90 rushing, and also led the defense with nine tackles.
“He’s had a good offseason, spent a lot of time in the weight room,” Jess said. “He was good last year, too. He gave us life there when we needed it for a little while.”
Charlevoix junior Garrison Sterrett scored on a 15-yard TD run, and Brady Warchol added the conversion run in the third quarter. TCSF answered with a Jack Gruber 1-yard TD plunge and Wildfong PAT.
Quarterback Brady Jess added 41 rushing yards, and Warchol added 37. David Gray, Jackson Crouse, Ryan Pearl, Connor Ortiz, Warchol and Sawyer Blaszczyk each made four tackles.
About the only mistake for St. Francis was only having 10 players on the field for a fourth-quarter Warren Asher punt, the only time the Glads didn’t end a drive with a touchdown other than running out the clock.
Alex Jetter led the defense with five tackles, while Matthew Rialson, Gabe Fifarek and Michael Frederick each had four.
Garrett Russell recorded a sack, and Isaac Kerr recovered a fumble.
“Our offensive line is what set the tone for the game,” TCSF right tackle Warren Asher said. “We were moving people up front. Our backs did a great job, but our offensive line really made some moves up front. Good things happened, and we put it away.”