Dexter’s offense continues to put up big numbers but it was the defense that gave them the opportunity to put Friday night’s game in the win column.
The Dreadnaughts needed the ball back one more time in order to score the winning touchdown. The defense, which had already allowed the Railsplitters to put 43 points on the board, came up big at the biggest moment. The Dreads forced a three and out – and the offense did the rest.
“It was crazy,” said Dexter junior running back Evan Krolewski. “It pretty much came down to who was going to get stops on defense.”
And that would be Dexter.
Dexter quarterback Colin Parachek threw his fourth touchdown pass of the game to Rhett Jacobs with 1:33 left to play to give Dexter a 47-43 lead. The Dreadnaughts added the two-point conversion and the Dexter defense again put the brakes on the Railsplitters for an impressive 49-43 comeback win.
Dexter improves to 7-1, extending its winning streak to seven and have now scored 49 or more points in the last six. They finish the regular season at home against Croswell-Lexington (4-4) on Friday night.
Lincoln falls to 2-6. The Railsplitters won their first two games before dropping their last six, including a 48-19 loss to rival Ypsilanti the week before the Dexter game.
After Lincoln took a 7-0 lead, Jordan Watson ran one in from three yards out and Brady Keough kicked the extra point to tie the game at 7-7. Parachek then hit Jacobs on a 45-yard TD pass to push Dexter to a 14-7 lead late in the first quarter.
The Railsplitters answered with two touchdowns in the second quarter (one on a 43-yard run and the other on a 50-yard interception return) to take a 21-14 lead. But Parachek threw a 44-yard TD pass to Antwan Ficklen to tie the score before halftime at 21-21.
The third quarter was back-and-forth with very little defense being played by either team – or maybe it was just great offense being played by both teams. After Lincoln scored on a 31-yard TD pass, Parachek ran one in from two yards out to tie the game at 28-28.
Lincoln took the lead right back on a 4-yard TD run. But again Dexter answered with a 4-yard run by Watson to tie the game at 35-35.
The host Railsplitters took a 43-35 lead on a 15-yard run with about 5 minutes left to play in the game.
The Dreadnaughts came right back again as Parachek threw his third TD pass of the game, this time a 27-yard toss to Ficklen. But Dexter missed the two-point conversion and trailed 43-41.
But the defense forced a three and out and the Dexter offense did what the Dexter offense does and the Dreadnaughts celebrated a very hard fought game.
Parachek had another huge game. The junior quarterback was 17 of 27 passing for 301 yards. He threw four TD passes and ran one in. He also had two interceptions including the one returned for a score.
Krolewski turned nine carries into 160 yards. Watson had three carries for seven yards and two scores.
Ficklen had a big night catching and running after the catch. The senior receiver had seven catches for 148 yards and two scores. Jacobs had five catches for 100 yards and two TDs.
The Dreads finished with 301 passing yards, 182 yards on the ground and 483 yards of total offense.
