A Battle In The Trenches

Justin Dirheimer on his way to 121 yards on the night

Early TD by O’s proves the difference; Packers impressive in loss
Story and photos by Ken DeLaat
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Ludington 7 Fremont 0
The Packer defense put on a show Friday as they kept a potent Oriole attack in check most of the night with a bend don’t break strategy that allowed the hosts to stay  within striking distance of pulling out a possible win.

The Packers won the toss and deferred, kicking off to their visitors. The defense held and Ludington went 3 and out and the Packers took over on offense. A fumble on the first play gave the ball back to the O’s and soon after Aiden Gilchrist broke free and scampered a dozen yards for the score. Miles Wilson converted to make it 7-0  and with the teams not yet halfway through the opening quarter his boot accounted for the final point of the game.
The rest of the game was defense and field position with the two quality teams battling in the trenches all night. 

Michael and Daniel  Romero combined for 13 solo tackles and Michael Romero’s sack of elusive Ludington QB Chase Hackert for a big loss in the 4th quarter was huge and set up a final Packer drive. With Dirheimer carrying the load Fremont pushed the ball down to the Oriole 15 yard line but the visitors defense tightened and forced a 4th and long pass that failed to find the hands of a Packer receiver. The Orioles were able to eat up the final 3 minutes and Fremont’s first game in the WMC ended in a loss.

Justin Dirheimer was an absolute beast running the ball. It was clear the Orioles had him in their sights from the start of play and despite their keying on him the rugged running back pounded his way to a game high 121 yards on 25 carries. 

Make no mistake this year’s version of Fremont Football will be making some noise in the conference this season. They rose to the occasion against a team that had spent their first 2 games running up over 90 points and held them to a single breakaway touchdown. While the offense could use a bit more diversity the o-line can open holes long enough for Dirheimer to get some traction. 
The defense has been superb and time and time again they came together to stop drives and give their offense the opportunity to score.

Coach Hudson and his capable staff have done a great job with this team and the players have responded in kind. It’s apparent on the sidelines that theme players believe in themselves and if they continue to play like they did Friday they will be putting up more W’s as the season and the team progresses.

Next Friday Fremont will renew an old rivalry with Grant in the first of 4 road games in a row. The Packers won’t return to play at home until October 14 when they face Whitehall, currently the #2 ranked D4 team in the state.
Ludington will play in a battle of the unbeatens as they travel to Oakridge.