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Panthers succumb to Muskegon's size, strength
Scott DeCamp, November 07, 2008 9:29 p.m.

MUSKEGON - Not many players have rushed for 100 yards against Muskegon Catholic Central's stout defense this season.


But there was Climax-Scotts senior fullback Jacob Smith Friday night, reaching the century mark on the nose with a 2-yard touchdown run in the final minute of a Division 8 district championship game at MCC's Kehren Stadium.


It was a bittersweet ending, however, to the 5-foot-7, 155-pounder's career and his team's season. On a cold, rain-soaked, sloppy field, a bigger, stronger and, in many cases, faster MCC squad rolled to a 27-6 victory.


"They're huge," Smith said of the top-ranked Crusaders (11-0), who will host the winner of today's Mendon/ Pittsford game in next weekend's regional championship. "Coach has been saying all week, 'It's like playing Division I players.' The game was fun."


C-S finishes its season with an 8-3 record, including wins over previously unbeaten Battle Creek St. Philip last week and against perennial power Iron Mountain North Dickinson Week 5 in Gaylord.


"I thought we were a little tentative in the beginning (Friday)," C-S coach Kevin Langs said. "We didn't tackle well, and they were blocking us 10 yards down (the field) at the time. We were going, 'Woah!' and we had to wake up a bit."


By that time - that is, with less than 9 minutes gone from the contest - MCC had built a 14-0 lead. The Crusaders scored on their first two possessions of the game, capped by 2- and 27-yard runs, respectively, by elusive, speedy senior Rodney Anderson.


C-S struggled to corral the 5-9, 170-pounder all night. He totaled a game-high 193 yards on 20 carries, including a 10-yard TD run in the second quarter that gave MCC a 20-0 lead by halftime.


"It was really hard because the first half was really wet," Anderson said. "It was hard to push off. The second half, coach (Mike Holmes) told us to get our whole foot in the ground and (make a) cut off that."


The Crusaders went up 27-0 midway through the third quarter on senior Steve Mitchell's 10-yard run. Mitchell, MCC's leading ground-gainer entering the game, accounted for 61 of his team's 320 rushing yards. The Crusaders outgained C-S in total offense, 337-169, with 60 of the Panthers' yards coming on a first-quarter Smith gallop.


"We run a Wing-T ourselves, so it's nothing new to us, obviously," MCC senior linebacker Brian Johnson, who registered a team-high 11 tackles and two interceptions, said of the Panthers' offensive approach. "The main thing was to stop that fullback on the trap."


The best C-S drive of the game was its last, which came against the Crusaders' reserves. The Panthers marched 66 yards in 11 plays, eating up five minutes and capping it when Smith crashed into the end zone.


C-S's only other scoring opportunity ended on fourth-and-10 from the Crusaders' 12, when Johnson picked off junior Brandon Weaver's slightly underthrown pass at the 1.


"Pretty much we thought we could control things and force them maybe to throw more than they wanted to throw," Holmes said of the Panthers.


C-S junior Beau Langs, who rotated at quarterback with Weaver, was 3-of-5 passing for 33 yards and one interception. Langs, who had nine tackles, was limited to 10 rushing yards on six carries. Smith paced the Panthers with 11 tackles, while Billy Fitzsimmons and Alec Schau made eight stops apiece.


Outside of a 48-20 blowout win over Milwaukee (Wis.) Thomas More, MCC's defense has not allowed more than 14 points in a game this season. Notable victories on the Crusaders' resume include those over Class B playoff teams Hillsdale (41-13), Detroit Country Day (35-6), Hopkins (35-14) and Allendale (14-0), and a 20-3 win over LaCrosse Aquinas, which was a defending state champ in Wisconsin.


"Yeah, they're good," Kevin Langs said of the Crusaders. "Give our kids a lot of credit for fighting, but Mike Holmes has a lot of class and he did a nice job. His kids were tough, physical ... they blocked hard all the way to the end, they tackled well."