Football: Chemics capture regional crown

by Cory Butzin

Midland’s offense didn’t get them much Friday night.

But thanks to a staunch defense and two Tyler Prokop interceptions, they didn’t need much.

The Chemics’ defense allowed only a first half field goal and Michael Albrecht caught a 19-yard touchdown pass in the waning seconds of the first half as Midland captured its first regional championship since 1993 with a 7-3 victory over Davison at Midland Community Stadium.

“Our defense obviously played very, very well,” said Midland Coach Terry Wilczek. “I’m very proud of them. A lot of guys made key plays, and it was a good team win.”

Midland’s offense moved the ball well early in the game, marching down the field on their opening drive. But the drive eventually stalled when the Chemics were unable to convert a 21-yard field goal attempt.

A couple minutes later, another trip into the red zone yielded no results as Andrew Maxwell was stuffed on a quarterback keeper on fourth-and-one.

Another Chemic drive was halted with 5:00 left in the second quarter when Maxwell was intercepted by Ben Welch, who returned it to the Midland 20. That set up a Luke McMurrary 30-yard field goal that gave the Cardinals a 3-0 lead with 1:30 left in the half.

But Maxwell and the offense got the ball back and methodically moved down the field and into scoring position. With less than ten seconds to go, Maxwell dropped back and found Albrecht in the corner of the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown strike that proved to be the game winner. Catlin Porter’s extra point put Midland up 7-3 going into the half.

“We said we were going to take our shot at the end zone,” Maxwell said of the late first-half drive. “I put it up there and Michael made a great catch and gave us a lot of momentum going into halftime.”

From there, both defenses came out of the half and took control of the game. Neither offense was able to move the ball effectively in the second half as the two teams traded punts throughout the third quarter and into the fourth. That’s when Midland’s offense found itself threatening again, though they were held out of the end zone when Colter Roberson was stopped inches short of a touchdown on fourth-and-goal from the 2.

Davison was unable to take advantage, though, and with 1:49 remaining a Jared Cowan pass was intercepted by Tyler Prokop, who returned it to the Davison 17. A penalty on the return pushed the Chemics back to the 27.

Midland’s offense was content to run down the clock and with :09 left in the game they turned the ball over on downs to the Cardinals.

With time for only one play, Davison tried to go deep and Cowan was again intercepted by Prokop, who downed the ball to preserve the Midland victory.

“We probably believe in ourselves one hundred and ten percent right now,” said Prokop. “It feels good… Monday we’ll come back to work and see how it goes.”

Next up, the Chemics will head to the state semi-finals where they will take on the 10-2 Lowell Red Arrows. The game will be played Nov. 17 at 1 p.m. at Lansing Everett High School.

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

Photos by Jason Wolverton & Cory Butzin