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Walled Lake Western stays unbeaten, tops Waterford Mott 33-21

By By DREW ELLIS, 09/27/15, 10:30PM EDT

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WATERFORD – With five wins under its belt, the Walled Lake Western football team can now enjoy the rest of the season from home.

The Warriors finished up their road schedule on Friday, strangely enough in Waterford Mott’s home opener, and picked up a 33-21 win in a hard-fought KLAA North contest.

“It’s going to be nice not having to get on a bus the rest of the year. It just changes everything and makes things easier in every aspect,” Western coach Mike Zdebski said of his team finishing the season with four straight at home. 

Mott (2-3, 1-2 KLAA North) held a 21-17 lead at the break but was held scoreless in the second half as they committed three turnovers.

“We fought hard. (Western) just made some plays. We just didn’t play well enough to win. We just need to make better decisions with the ball,” Waterford Mott coach Chris Fahr said. “We played with a lot of energy and a lot of passion, it just didn’t work out.”

Mott struck first, scoring on the opening possession. Quarterback Jacob Baldwin hit Avery Carter on a 53-yard pass that set up a 3-yard TD pass to Avery a few plays later.

The Warriors (5-0, 3-0) would get on the board late in the first with a 46-yard field goal from John Camilleri to make it 7-3. Western would then take its first lead on its next possession when Kyle Thomas hit Cam Burke on a 15-yard touchdown pass, making the score 10-7.

The Corsairs would respond with a touchdown of their own on the next possession as Baldwin scored on a 2-yard run to make it 14-10. 

Western held a 17-14 lead after its next drive when Jalen Marshall scored on an 8-yard run, but the Corsairs finished the half with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Baldwin to Desmond Fitzpatrick, who made an impressive diving catch for the score.

“We had a lot of adversity in the first half and we could have sat there and whined and cried about it, but we just had to worry about the next 24 minutes,” Zdebski said of trailing at the break.

Jack Dodge intercepted a Mott pass early in the third to put the Warriors in scoring position. Thomas then found Kameron Ford for a 9-yard touchdown pass on 4th-and-1 to put the Warriors up 24-21.

“(Mott) was playing pretty stingy defense, so the short field was key in the game. It’s a lot easier to score when you have a short field,” Zdebski said of the turnovers helping setup the offense.

Mott looked like it had regained the lead on its next possession when a Zac Loll caught a 61-yard pass from Baldwin, but the play was nullified on a holding penalty.

Dodge would then intercept his second pass on the next play. Burke would add a third interception for the Warriors early in the fourth that led to a Marshall 4-yard TD run. Western would tack on a safety minutes later to complete the scoring at 33-21.

“I think we can be as good as anybody in the state,” Zdebski said after the win when asked how good his team can be.

The loss puts the Corsairs in a position to need to win out to secure a playoff spot this year. Mott will have three of its final four games at home, but Fahr doesn’t want his team thinking about needing to win four straight games.

“I am not getting into all that other stuff with them. Why put pressure on them,” Fahr said. “We just have to go out and get better every day and continue to work hard.”

Mott will host Walled Lake Central next Friday while Walled Lake Western hosts Walled Lake Northern in a battle of the lone unbeatens in the KLAA North.

 

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