Lions Overcome 2nd Half Blues

Packer comeback falls short and Newaygo gets win #1

Photos By Alexis Mercer
Story by Ken DeLaat

​Newaygo 45 Fremont 28
In what has become a weekly ritual for Newaygo fans this battle between these two long time rivals turned out to be 2 different games separated by intermission.
The Lions played their game plan to perfection in the first half as they ran up points while the defense kept the Packers in check. Grant Harkness tossed a couple of timely passes to Nick Ruehmeier, called his own number twice and after Jayden Joseph ran it to the one Harkness finished the job and after Josiah Long’s conversion it was a quick 7-0 lead for the hosts.

The Pack went 3 and out and the punt attempt was tipped to give Newaygo the ball on the Fremont 32. The first play saw Daniel Romero deliver a big hit to Remy Wells and the next play the defense seemed to have Harkness in trouble but he scrambled away for a first down and 3 plays later he chucked a pass to Wells and with another Long conversion it was 14-0.

The Packers moved the ball on the next possession. Kyler DeKuiper found Justin Dirheimer for a long game that could have been 6 if not for an open field tackle by Ethan Reyburn. DeKuiper hit Wei Chen for another 1st down but the drive stalled when a bad snap resulted in a 14 yard loss and 2 plays later the punt team returned the ball to the Lions. After a Packer penalty, a pass to Amaree James and a keeper by Harkness the qb faded back, faked a toss to the right and hit a wide open James who sprinted 52 yards and the Lions went up 21-0.
The Packers were getting beat at the line and yielded the ball again but Dirheimer came up with a huge interception to halt the Newaygo drive then on DeKuiper slid a pass to Chen who dodged tackles and fired down the sidelines to put the Pack on the board. David Wachter made the PAT and the score was 21-7.
But the Lions weren’t done. Two more TD tosses to Wells and the teams hit the break with Newaygo holding a commanding 35-7 lead.

Then came the second half. 
And while a 28 point lead seems pretty safe the Lion faithful have seen a series of second half letdowns already this young season.
And when the Packers put together a scoring drive in their first possession capped by a 28 yard run by a determined Dirheimer there was a bit of angst settling in some spots. An angst that wasn’t helped by a defensive stop and change of possession.
Wells came through with an interception and the Lions were on the move again, working the ball  inside the Fremont 10 before  Dirheimer stripped the ball from Joseph and the Pack were back in business. 

DeKuiper found Chen for a 30 yarder and on the next play Dirheimer busted loose tossing off tacklers and running it to the 10 yard line before taking it downtown on the next play and suddenly it was a 2 score game at 35-21.
The Lions regrouped and put together a scoring drive to go up 42-21 but Fremont answered again in the 4th with Dirheimer taking it in for a 1 yard plunge and a 42-28 game.
But that was a s close as they would come and after Long booted a 30 yard field goal  later in the fourth there seemed to be an audible sigh of relief from Lions fans with a 3 score lead and minutes remaining.

Dirheimer had a huge night on both sides of the ball finishing with 173 yards and 3 TD’s while collecting 5 solo tackles and an interception. DeKuiper tossed for 184 yards and Chen accounted for 240 of them.
Michael Romero led the Pack in tackles with 11.
For Newaygo Harkness merely tossed 4 TD passes and ran another in for good measure as he amassed 179 yards by land and another 251 yards by air. James (107 yds) Wells (66 yds) Dyllan Bazzett (49 yards) and Ruehmeier (21 yds) were the recipients of those passes.
Joseph also eclipsed the century mark rushing as he finished with 107.
Joseph, Cam Goodin and Kody Bazzett led the Lion defense in tackles.
One of the more impressive showings of the night was in the kicking game of both teams. Long converted 7 extra points and split the uprights with his only field goal attempt and on the Fremont side Wachter went a perfect 4-4.

Newaygo (1-3, 1-2)  will host a red hot Tri County team next week while the Packers (0-4, 0-3) will welcome in the Tigers of Grant