Saturday, Oct. 7, 2017
Reprinted with permission of the Novi News
The host Rocks broke a 7-7 tie with two second-quarter touchdown. Andrew Davis opened the scoring for Salem with a 72-yard run in the first quarter. Joshua Gilmour added the first of his four extra-point kicks for a 7-0 lead. Novi knotted the score on a 50-yard TD pass from Sean Gilliam to Traveon Maddox Jr. Ryan Young then gave the Rocks the lead for good on a 55-yard TD dash early in the second quarter. Davis’ 5-yard touchdown run late in the period gave the Rocks a 20-7 halftime lead. In the third quarter, Jaquan Baker scored on an 8-yard run and Young plunged over the goal line from 1 yard out to make it 34-7. Gilliam ended the scoring with a 12-yard run, followed by Blake King’s second extra point. Salem didn’t complete a pass, but outgained the Wildcats on the ground, 390-44. Davis carried 11 times for 154 yards, Baker ran 17 times for 108 yard and Young added 96 yards on 11 attempts. Kyle Klosterman paced Novi’s ground game with 12 carries for 52 yards. Gilliam was 9-of-25 passing for 124 yards. Maddox caught four passes for 86 yards. Salem’s defensive leaders included Ryan McAuliffe, Cody Tapp and Tyler Overatis, with 4.5 tackles apiece. Tapp and Brennen McNeal both had two sacks and Davis added an interception. Drew O’Connor had 7.5 tackles and Tyler Vankirk added seven for Novi.
Salem improved to 4-3 overall, 3-2 in the Kensington Lakes Black Division while Novi fell to 2-5, 2-4.