Jeff Theisen
Republished with permission of the Novi News
October 26, 2006
One streak came to an end, while another stays alive. The Novi football team will not be in the playoffs for the first time since 1997.
But the Baseline Jug stays in Novi for the sixth consecutive year with a 27-17 win at Northville.
"When you come out on top, it's just a great feeling," Novi head coach Tab Kellepourey said. "It's also something that we can head into our offseason with."
Junior quarterback Mark Heard played his first full game for Novi, and he responded with a three-touchdown performance on 7-for-13 passing for 157 yards and one interception.
Heard hit Brandon Carnegie (three catches for 100 yards) for a game-winning 41-yard bomb with 8:29 left in the fourth quarter.
"It
was a stutter and go," Carnegie said. "I was just trying to concentrate
on the ball. I was looking through the lights and lost it for a second.
I knew it was over after I got by him. It's always good to beat
Northville."
The scoring play was also play-action. After faking the handoff, Heard saw Carnegie streaking down the sideline.
"I
just threw it as hard as I could to him," Heard said. "It was pretty
exciting filling in for Adam (Chandler). I just had to do what I had to
do and come in and do the job."
Defense steps up
The Mustangs
final chance to score came to a crushing end when Danny Simmons sacked
Matt Kreager on fourth down with 1:27 left to play.
"The last
play of the game for me as a senior to sack the quarterback, it felt
great," Simmons said. "After going through what we went through, the
ups and downs on the season, it felt good to end on a good note.
"The Jug stays here, baby."
R.J. Gordon put the final nail in the coffin with a 16-yard scoring run with 30 seconds left to play.
Kellepourey
said offensive coach John Osborne and his assistants wanted to go for
the touchdown, instead of playing for a field goal. He said the
offensive linemen paved the way for Gordon to put the game away.
The Wildcats struck first on an 18-yard pass receptions by Mike Slack from Heard with 6:00 left in the first quarter.
Northville tied things up in the second on a 25-yard run on a sneak by Mike DeLuca with 5:59 left in the half.
On
the ensuing drive, Novi went back in front when Ryan Figurski was wide
open from 15 yards out on a play-action pass from Heard with 3:46 left
in the half.
The teams went into the half with Novi up 14-7.
The
third quarter was scoreless, but Northville kicker Max Bojovic booted a
28-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Dittrick Williams gave the Mustangs their only lead of the game with a 2-yard plunge with 9:39 left to play for a 17-14 lead.
But Heard hit Carnegie for the game-winner, and the Novi defense put its stamp on the game the rest of the way.
"What a great rivalry game," Kellepourey said. "It doesn't matter the records when you come to play this game.
"I'm really pleased that we had a chance to play in a great environment tonight."
Senior tribute
Kellepourey was obviously happy to have the Jug again, but he will miss his senior class.
"They
have demonstrated tremendous character this year," he said. "They never
gave up on things. Just to come out and play as well as they did, I
just want to tell them that this defines our team at this point."
Jeff Theisen can be reached at (248) 349-1700, ext. 104 or at jtheisen@gannett.com.