Flint Powers Catholic ekes out 12-9 win over Notre Dame Prep in D4 regional final
PONTIAC — Pontiac Notre Dame Prep’s powerhouse of an offense met its match in the Flint Powers Catholic defense.
Powers eked out a 12-9 win in the Division 4 regional final at Notre Dame Prep on Friday night. The Chargers (10-2) advance to the state semifinals on Nov. 23 where they will face will face the winner of Saturday’s Birmingham Detroit Country Day-Milan game.
It was an emotional end of the season for the Irish.
“They’ll be remembered to date as the most successful senior class we’ve had here,’’ Notre Dame coach Pat Fox said. “They went 10-2, they won a (district championship) trophy, they had some great wins, they had an unbelievable great win earlier in the year down at Divine Child. They had a great year, 10-2 is a great year. A 10-win season with a trophy hadn’t been done here before. We had a great year. Tonight it hurts, but we’ll be fine.’’
+25 Notre Dame Prep vs. Flint Powers Catholic regional football photo gallery
The Irish just couldn’t get their offense in gear.
“They have really good edge rushers that hurt us a little bit early and we helped them a little bit. We turned it over once, we made some mistakes, but they’re a very good football team,’’ Fox said.
The Irish averaged about 40 points per game in their 10-2 season, but it wasn’t to be on Friday. They scored a touchdown on a 7-yard scamper by Clayton Bone late in the first quarter, but it was negated by a holding penalty.
“When you get to this level your margin of error is small, we had our chances, we needed a stop and didn’t get a stop and sometimes you’ve got to win on offense, sometimes you have to win on defense, sometimes you win on special teams and they did that tonight,’’ Fox said.
Connor Gaeschke, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, dives forward for extra yardage during D4 regional final football action against Flint Powers Friday, Nov. 15, 2019. The Irish fell to Powers 12-9. (LARRY McKEE – For MediaNews Group)
(LARRY McKEE – For Media News Group)
Midway through the second quarter, after quarterback Jacob Bendtsen connected with Connor Gaeschke on a 41-yard pass, the Irish got to Power’s 34-yard line where they fumbled a handoff that was recovered by the Chargers. On that drive, Powers started on its own 38 and scored a touchdown on a 1-yard run by Donavan Franklin with 39.5 seconds left in the first half. The extra point was no good, so the Chargers held a 6-0 lead at the half.
“We knew it was going to be a four-quarter football game. If we could hang in there, and find a way to put some points on the board, believe in our defense, we could get some stops and everything came together for us,’’ Powers coach Jerry Todd said.
In the third quarter, the Irish turned it over on downs after failing on a fourth-and-goal from Powers' 1-yard line.
Four plays later, Powers had a bad snap and the Irish tackled the punter in the end zone for a safety.
Early in the fourth, Notre Dame scored its only touchdown on a 1-yard touchdown run by Gaeschke to take a 9-6 lead with 10:56 remaining.
Powers’ went on a five-minute, 90-yard drive to retake the lead, 12-9, with a 9-yard touchdown run by Franklin.
With 5:40 left, the Irish had time to get down the field, but Bendtsen, who was under pressure, was intercepted by Ben McCartney with 4:34 left.
“It’s just good team defense. We had a great game plan, we lost a little discipline there at times. We thought the weather would be a factor with them throwing the ball around like they do,’’ Todd said. “But hats off to them, they played a heck of a game, anybody could have won at the end.’’
Coach Fox denied that the frigid temps affected his team’s offense.
“No. what hurt us is they’re good up front, they’re a very good football team, they’re well coached, they’re solid, they’re not fancy, they don’t hurt themselves, they did a nice job,’’ Fox said. “We had our chances, we turned the ball over, we made some mistakes, we had a touchdown called back early in the game. We got a tough pass interference call on fourth down which sort of dictated a score for them. A game like that you can’t make those mistakes.’’
NOvember 15, 2019