Football: Chemics fall short against Southwestern, 20-19

by Alex Baumgardner

With a 6-1 record heading into its game against Flint Southwestern Academy, Midland High controlled its own destiny in the pursuit of a Saginaw Valley League title and a stake as the league’s best team.

Friday night at Midland Community Stadium, the Knights had something to say about that.

Two weeks after being informed they would forfeit their first three wins of the season because of an ineligible player, the Knights knocked off their second straight SVL powerhouse as they took down the Chemics 20-19.

Last week, Southwestern beat Mount Pleasant 47-42 to hand the Oilers their second loss of the season. The Oilers’ loss, coupled with the Chemics’ loss Friday, creates a four-team 6-2 logjam atop the SVL between Midland, Mount Pleasant, Bay City Central, and Arthur Hill.

And while the Knights have no chance of taking the crown at 4-4, they’ve only been beat on the field once and would be alone in first place at 7-1 if not for losing their three early season wins to forfeit.

But on this night, things actually started good for the Chemics as they held Knights standout running back Mark Ingram to just 10 yards on seven carries in the first half. Meanwhile, Michael Albrecht’s touchdown in the first quarter gave the Chemics an early lead.

A heavy dose of running backs Colter Roberson – who continued to run well, totaling 167 yards on the ground – and Joel Parsons early in the second led to a Catlin Porter 32-yard field goal with 6:18 to make the score 10-0.

That’s when the Knights would take over deep in their own territory, having yet to pick up a first down. Rather than putting the ball in the hands of Ingram, they relied on the combination of quarterback Anthony Kemp and receiver Tyrone Ward. Ward caught four straight passes for 64 yards, including catches of 23 and 24 yards. He then finished off the drive when he took a fade route to the back of the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown, making the score 10-7 with just over four minutes to go in the half.

While Midland controlled the first half, the second half belonged to the Knights. Ingram began the second half by gaining 23 yards on four carries and getting the attention of the Midland defense. That allowed Ward to sneak past the secondary when the Knights went for it on fourth-and-six and Kemp hit him for a 33-yard touchdown strike. Andrew Cox blocked the PAT as Southwestern held the 13-10 lead.

The Chemics would come right back to tie the game, though, as Roberson led the charge down the field on a drive that would end with another Porter field goal with 1:04 to go in the third.

Ingram would get 30 of his team-high 77 rushing yards on the ensuing drive and score from two yards out as Southwestern regained the lead, 20-13.

Not to be outdone, the Chemics drove right back down the field and were helped out by a 55-yard reception by Albrecht. However, Midland would not be able to finish the drive after failing to convert a fourth-and-goal with 5:27 left as they handed the ball back to the Knights.

Southwestern then turned to Ingram to run the clock out, but he would cough up the ball on the Chemic 15 and give Midland another chance in the red zone late in the game.

And the Chemics would make the most of their new life as Andrew Maxwell hit Roberson on a swing pass which he took into the end zone to seemingly tie the game.

But Midland would miss the extra-point as the Knights clung to a one-point lead with 3:46 to go.

The missed PAT forced the Chemics to try an onside kick, which they were able to recover. After driving into the red zone behind Roberson and Parsons, Midland was flagged for a chop blocking penalty, moving them back to the 25 with 55 seconds to go. The Chemics fumbled on the next play and the Knights successfully ran down the clock to hold on.

Midland will wrap up its regular season next Friday when they take on 4-4 Midland Dow. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.

For more photos from Friday’s game click on “Photo Slideshow” in the top right corner of this article.

Photos Dave Williams