Orchard Lake running back RaShawn Allen breaks through the line for a 56 yard touchdown run during the game against Loyola at Hazel Park High School on Friday, Sept. 2, 2016.
Orchard Lake St. Mary’s wasn’t about to start the season with two losses after losing at Macomb Dakota in Week 1.
Detroit Loyola happened to be on the schedule Friday at Hazel Park, and the Bulldogs took the brunt end of St. Mary’s 35-14 victory to even both teams’ records at 1-1.
“Our motto this year is keep moving forward,” said senior Josh Ross, St. Mary’s star linebacker. “I came up with that last night. This week was great. I tried to emphasize to the team that every day we have to get better. We can’t worry about the loss. It was a tough loss.”
Loyola decided to go with a pooch kick to start the game, and the Eaglets’ RaShawn Allen made the Bulldogs pay with a 56-yard TD run on the first play from scrimmage.
On St. Mary’s second possession, Allen went 27 yards around right end to make it 14-0. That gave him two carries for 83 yards and two scores. He finished with 137 yards on 13 carries.
“There were a lot of great blocks on that play (first touchdown),” said Allen. “Our backside tight end made a key block on the safety that helped me break that run. It was a great play.
“It was a tough practice this week. We had to come in, we had to settle down. We had to fix many of the problems we had last week and get ready for this game.”
Loyola got a break, recovering a fumble at the Orchard Lake 12. Eight tough plays later, including a couple of penalties against the Eaglets, Loyola finally scored on a two-yard run by Anthony Robinson to make it 14-6 with 11:08 left in the half.
Play was physical throughout the first half.
Loyola fumbled at its own 34 with Orchard Lake’s John Pearson recovering, but the Bulldogs’ defense stiffened up, stopping Ross in the backfield on downs a yard short of a first down.
A short Loyola punt gave St. Mary’s good field position. One play later, Shermond Dabney broke five tackles on his way to a 23-yard TD run with 3:07 left in the first half to give the Eaglets a 21-6 lead.
Loyola fumbled to start the second with MarJhon Metoyer recovering at the Bulldogs 21-yard line.
“Our defense responded,” said Ross. “MarJhon had a great game for us.”
St. Mary’s turned the miscue into a two-yard run by Kyren Cunningham to make it 28-6 with 9:16 left in the third quarter.
Loyola’s Price Watkins was hit and fumbled on the first play of the fourth with Metoyer recovering and racing in from 24 yards out. Only an 80-yard TD run by Watkins in the fourth with 3:17 left kept it from being a complete blowout.
“We ran the ball, they had a lot of guys in the box,” said St. Mary’s coach George Porritt. “It was a good week. Our seniors took leadership this week. Loyola’s a good football team. They knew they had to bounce back. Next game.”