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Marine City’s momentum and pound ends Michigan Collegiate’s season – Macomb Daily

Online Niel November 10, 2024

Navy City head coach Daryn Letson left nothing in the bag.

He started the Mariners’ 38-28 upset win over Michigan Collegiate on Saturday with a punt that Marine City recovered. They broke a fake-back-reverse field goal on a long fourth down and ran the ball until they didn’t have to in the district championship game on Saturday, Nov. 9 at Warren Lincoln HS.

“You need to empty the tank,” Letson said. “If you win you fill up the tank and get back at it and that’s what we did and we’ll be ready to go again next week.”

The Mariners’ punt to start the game was recovered and led to a 38-yard touchdown from quarterback Lyncoln Osterland to Cooper Letson to give them a quick lead.

Michigan Collegiate came back with a 16-yard touchdown run by Patrick Baker and a 2-point conversion by quarterback Caleb Moore — but it ended up being their only possession of the first quarter.

The Cougars also had just one possession in the third quarter and ended up with just six total.

That, of course, was by design.

“I just thought if we’re going to win the game, we’re going to have to control the clock,” Letson said. “I mean, that’s an explosive team over there, tons of athletes, tons of speed. I couldn’t get into a race with them. We had to control the clock, control possessions and keep making yards at a time.”

Marine City responded with a 12-run game that lasted over six full minutes. It was one of three scoring drives that used more than 10 plays, helping Marine City have nearly 33 minutes of possession compared to Michigan Collegiate’s 15 minutes.

The Marine City Mariners are crowned district champions after defeating Michigan Collegiate 38-28 on Saturday, November 9th. (GEORGE SPITERI — For MediaNews Group)

Those possessions could have been even longer had Cougar head coach John Guth decided to punt on their kickoffs — instead opting for shorter inside punts to keep the ball away from the infamous formation” Starburst” of Marine City and, in theory, to give the Cougars more chances to score.

The Cougars did not recover any of their fumbles, the Mariners never started a drive further back than their own 35-yard line, and all but one of their possessions ended in punts, not counting the knees at the end of the game.

“We felt like we had a great game plan going into it,” Michigan Collegiate head coach John Guth said. “Try to come into the game and take their Starburst away from them and give them half the court. And if they scored, we knew we were explosive enough to score. … We felt like we had a great game plan. It’s all about execution and trying to get the job done. And that’s a great program there.”

Marine City’s Paul Muscat capped the first quarter with a 9-yard touchdown run — his first of four in the game. He also had runs of 15, 1 and 1 yard plus a 2-point conversion run.

He finished with 25 carries for 132 yards and the Mariners finished with 278 total yards.

“You saw there in the first half, yards were hard to come by,” Letson said. “I mean, I only got one, maybe two, maybe three or whatever. But the thing is, in the second half, you could also see how it started to wear on them and we turned those plays into five-, 10-, 15-yard plays. And I strongly believe that’s how you win in November.”

Michigan Collegiate scored on four of six drives; a 17-yard touchdown by Patrick Baker, a 29-yard Caleb Moore pass to Damarion Johnson, a 5-yard run and an 8-yard run.

One of their fruitless drives — which ended near the end of the first half with a score — had a touchdown pass from Caleb Moore to Jacob Moore called back due to an illegal procedure that would have given him at least 20- 13.

Marine City took the ball back down the field to kick a field goal and went up 16-14 at halftime.

It wasn’t the only time Collegiate lost a play – they were called for nine penalties compared to Marine City’s three and had a couple of drops.

“We had such a talented team at the end of the day,” Guth said. “Sometimes you got down and you just didn’t have that game. And hats off to them (Marin City). Great program.”

Michigan Collegiate quarterback Caleb Moore (2) breaks away for a big gain in the Cougars’ loss to Marine City. (GEORGE SPITERI — For MediaNews Group)

Caleb Moore had a big game despite the loss, completing 55.6 percent of his passes for 229 yards plus 68 rushing yards and three total touchdowns.

The Cougars’ season ends with a 9-2 record, ending their nine-game winning streak and the prep careers of several Michigan Collegiate recruits.

“They’ve been here for their entire education and they’ve been with us that whole time, and we have several kids in this senior class that have been through that and been with us that long,” Guth said. “For you to coach and see them in elementary and see them grow and continue to be with us in sixth, seventh and eighth grade and then get to high school, JV and varsity, it’s to see these children develop. . And that’s what it’s about.

“Seeing them grow as individuals, seeing them develop — that’s my favorite thing. That’s why I do it, because I love the process. I like to do everything for them to help them reach another level, to make them great in life. That’s why I do it, just to see them grow. This is a wonderful thing to see. Some of them got scholarships and they’re going to go on and play football after high school and represent Michigan Collegiate like they’re supposed to.”

Photos from Marine City’s 38-28 playoff win over Michigan Collegiate

Marine City, also 9-2, will look to secure a regional championship next week in the Division 6 quarterfinals against Detroit Central at East China Stadium. The Trailblazers defeated city schools Detroit Edison and Detroit Old Redford to reach this point.

“I think it’s awesome,” Letson said. “Our stadium is a great environment. And they (our team) will do it again next Friday and then we’ll see what happens.”

Originally published: November 9, 2024 at 6:28 PM EST

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Marine City’s momentum and pound ends Michigan Collegiate’s season – Macomb Daily

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