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Great season for Western comes to a close

By By KEITH DUNLAP, 11/22/15, 9:15AM EST

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ALMA – Evidently, the offenses and special teams for both Walled Lake Western and Lowell are snow and cold-proof. 

A blanket of snow on the field and cold air for Saturday’s Division 2 state semifinal seemed to indicate there was no way the teams could duplicate the 82 combined points the teams produced in a warm and sunny season-opening Western win at Lowell, but that sure wasn’t the case.

The teams combined for 83 points in the rematch, but unfortunately for Western, it’s Week 1 victory (42-40) couldn’t be repeated like the offensive outburst.

Thanks to six touchdowns by Lowell senior quarterback Ryan Stevens, the Red Arrows avenged their only loss of the season in Week 1 to Western with a 49-34 victory over the Warriors at Alma College.

Lowell returned to the state championship game for the first time since 2011, where it will face Detroit Martin Luther King at 1 p.m. on Friday at Ford Field.

Meanwhile, Western saw another sensational season end at 12-1, falling just shy in a game where neither team missed an extra point or field goal despite the snow.

“I bet you a lot of people are (surprised at the score), but I’m not,” Western head coach Mike Zdebski said. “We could still throw and they could still throw. The receivers had an advantage because they know where they are going and the poor kids on defense don’t know where you are going.”

In addition to the weather and the performance of Stevens, the other big story of the game was the fact Western committed four turnovers to Lowell’s one. 

“There is the difference in the game,” Zdebski said. 

Things were looking great early for Western, which jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter when senior Javon Gabriel returned the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown and when senior John Camilleri kicked a 25-yard field goal.

But Lowell responded by scoring 21 unanswered points on touchdowns runs of 20 yards and one yard by Stevens, and a 15-yard touchdown pass from Stevens to Alex Anschutz, to take a 21-10 lead at halftime. 

“We have been trying to stay calm all year,” Stevens said. “Try not to get too high or too low, so we just got together and said we are going to have to chip away and chip away.”

Then came a see-saw second half where the offenses dominated, even in the bad weather. 

Western started the second half with an interception from senior Jack Dodge at the Lowell 25-yard line and the Warriors took advantage, cutting the Lowell lead to 21-17 on a 7-yard touchdown run by senior Kyle Thomas. 

Lowell responded with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Stevens to Sawyer Olesko to take a 28-17 lead, and then Western cut the lead back to four at 28-24 on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Thomas to Kameron Ford with 33 seconds left in the third quarter. 

Unfortunately for Western, Lowell took over the game in the fourth quarter. 

Lowell kept attacking and took a 35-24 lead on a 70-yard touchdown pass from Stevens to Gabe Steed early in the fourth quarter, and then the Red Arrows intercepted Thomas in the end zone after Western drove inside the Lowell 20-yard line. 

Lowell then separated itself further with an 80-yard touchdown drive that was capped off by a 15-yard touchdown run by Stevens that made it 42-24 Lowell. 

Western cut the lead to 42-31 with 3:24 left on a 5-yard touchdown run by Thomas, but Lowell returned the ensuing onside kick 50 yards for a touchdown to reclaim an 18-point lead at 49-31. 

Western junior wideout Cody White finished with seven receptions for 143 yards in defeat for Western. 

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