It’s that time of season. The leaves are changing and it’s getting chilly, Michigan football is dominating and the Lions are losing – wait, that’s not the case this year (fingers crossed). And, more importantly, the Dexter Dreadnaughts are playing football in the postseason.
For the sixth consecutive year, the Dreadnaughts extended their season with a postseason appearance, and for the second straight year, opened the playoffs with a dominating victory.
Despite a somewhat slow start (although they never trailed), Dexter found its footing on a beautiful night for football and knocked off host Allen Park 47-9 in a Division 2 playoff opener. The Dreadnaughts will head Downriver again on Friday to face Gibraltar Carlson in a second-round District Final.
Like the Dreadnaughts, the Marauders lost their first game of the season (31-10 to Carleton Airport, who won their playoff opener 70-12). But since then, Carlson has been perfect, winning eight straight regular-season games and knocking off Livonia Churchill 42-35 in its playoff opener on Friday night.
Dexter improves to 7-3 on the season; 1-0 in the post.
Ronny Johnson, the dynamic junior running back, scored his first of four touchdowns in the game to give Dexter a 6-0 lead over Allen Park in the first quarter. Allen Park answered with a TD to tie the game at 6-6.
In the second quarter, Johnson scored from four yards out to make it 13-6. Dexter QB Cooper Arnedt tossed an 18-yard TD pass to Holden Niemi – so the freshman had a TD in the first half of his first playoff game – to give the visitors a 19-6 lead.
The Jaguars kicked a field goal to cut the deficit to 19-9 but it was as close as the home team would get to the Dreadnaughts.
Johnson’s 8-yard TD run helped give Dexter a 26-9 halftime lead.
The second half was all Dexter.
Johnson scored his fourth TD on a 7-yard run to make it 33-9; Arnedt threw a 36-yard TD pass to Cole Novara for a 40-9 lead; and Niemi caught another TD pass in the fourth quarter (from Arnedt from 32 yards) to push the lead to the final 47-9.
Arnedt was solid in his first postseason appearance for Dexter. The sophomore quarterback completed 9 of 14 passes for 162 yards and three touchdowns. He also had two rushes for 35 yards.
Johnson, only a junior, had 162 yards rushing on 18 carries and the four touchdowns. He also had three catches for 14 yards.
Niemi finished with three catches for 93 yards and two scores. Jaiden Juback had two catches for 19 yards and Novara had one catch for 36 yards and a TD.
Dexter had another impressive game on the defensive side of the ball. The defense was led by senior defensive lineman Sean “cowboy” White with 8 tackles, 2 big sacks and a forced fumble.
Senior Davis Taylor had 11 tackles, including one for a loss. Sophomore Nathan Gersh had 10 tackles and juniors Owen Wondrash and Grant Goodrich each had 9. Senior Noah Pitts had 7 tackles, 2 for a loss; junior Chance Sobbry and sophomore Mateo Kipke each had a QB sack; and junior corner Conner Robeson had an interception.
Looking Ahead: I know, one play, one quarter, one game at a time. But in case you are thinking of making travel plans and/or hotel reservations … the winner of the Dexter-Carlson game (I know most of you already know this) will play the winner of the Birmingham Seaholm-Waterford Mott contest.
Seaholm is one of the best teams in the state in D-2 – yeah, so is Dexter. The Maples lost 28-10 in week two to U-D Jesuit but have won the rest of their games, including Friday’s 56-49 win over rival Groves. Except for the two games against Groves, the wins have been rather easy.
Mott also is a strong team. The Corsairs (awesome name – yes, so is the Dreadnaughts) lost their season-opener to Walled Lake Western and won the rest except for a 38-14 loss to Milford late in the season. Both WLW and Milford reached the playoffs. Mott beat Livonia Franklin (remember them) 41-34 in Friday’s playoff opener.
Other local teams: As was expected, both Huron and Pioneer lost in the first round of the playoffs to powerhouse programs on Friday. The River Rats lost to defending state champion and undefeated Belleville 48-7 while the Pioneers lost 56-14 at Saline. Meanwhile, Chelsea defeated Tecumseh in a hard-fought game 49-35 and will play Haslett in the second round.
