Reed City coach Scott Shankel said he fired himself probably four times Friday night. On the other sideline, Newaygo coach Scott Van Essen might’ve been pulling his hair out, but one problem with that: He said he doesn’t have much left.
It was just one of those nights – a wild and crazy evening – during their football-game-turned-track-meet at Reed City. The host Coyotes ran away with a wild 70-40 victory in which they piled up 646 rushing yards and the squads combined for more than 1,000 yards of offense.
Reed City improves to 4-0 on the season and 4-0 in the Central State Activities Association Gold Division. Newaygo slips to 2-2 overall and in league play.
“It was kind of one of those back-and-forth barn burners,” Shankel said in a phone interview with MLive. “The last two years with them has been that way. You throw a punch at them and they throw one back at you. They ended up getting us last year where we were just fortunate enough to have a better second half (this time).”
Last season, Newaygo won a 41-38 thriller over Reed City, in which the host Lions stopped the Coyotes on the 1-yard line to seize the victory.
On Friday, nobody was stopping anybody.
Shankel is unsure whether the 646 rushing yards on 67 attempts are a school record, but according to the Michigan High School Athletic Association record book, it ranks No. 2 on the list for single-game production behind Zeeland West’s 755 yards on 54 carries against Holland Christian in a 2012 contest.
Reed City attempted only three passes and did not complete any of them. That’s typically not the Coyotes' game, as they typically stick to their traditionally strong wing-T.
Senior Landen Tomaski had quite a night for Reed City, but he got plenty of help. The 5-foot-9, 165-pound halfback ran 21 times for 294 yards and four touchdowns, plus he returned a kickoff 90 yards for a score just before halftime to take any momentum Newaygo might’ve had at the moment.
Seniors Payton Hansen and Alex Wirgau also surpassed the 100-yard mark for the Coyotes. Hansen rushed 12 times for 180 yards and a TD, and Wirgau added 12 carries for 102 yards and a score.
Shankel said the Coyotes got a great push up front from their offensive line, whose starters include: Center Kyle Crusan, guards Blake Vanalstine and Teddy Cross, tackles Dylan Schebil and Chaz Davis, and tight end Joe Shewan.
“Our offensive line was just getting off the ball, doing their jobs, and moving people,” Shankel said. "Just as much as our backs are carrying the ball, they have to block just as much, too, and they did a great job carrying their fakes out, blocking -- all the little details.
“Our O-line, we hang a lot on 'em because we like to run the ball. We’ve got to be smashmouth and they did a great job getting off the ball and moving people.”
Newaygo head coach Scott Van Essen poses for a portrait during the MLive Muskegon Chronicle high school football media in Muskegon, Michigan on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019. Joel Bissell | MLive.com
Newaygo was a willing participant on the defensive side of the ball, according to Van Essen, who said that the strange nature of this season has been tough on his young team in the way of consistency.
“One, we didn’t tackle, so that helped them,” Van Essen said with a chuckle in a phone interview with MLive. “We really struggled on the defensive side of the ball tonight and obviously they executed their offense.”
Shankel totally gets it. With the lack of 7-on-7′s this summer and having a young secondary himself, the Coyotes are learning on the fly.
On any other night, Newaygo’s offense would have been more than adequate. The Lions ran for 197 yards and passed for 216. Brenden Brechting completed 8 of 15 passes with four TDs. Gavon Rake caught three of those passes and two of those TDs while totaling 115 yards receiving for the Lions. Jarrod Wismar carried the ball 11 times for 111 yards and two TDs.
“I think I fired myself about four times tonight,” said Shankel, Reed City’s second-year head coach, who assisted Monty Price for 15 years and served as his defensive coordinator for a decade.
“With the way this year’s been, without the 7-on-7s and having a young secondary and it’s just one of those things, I just think we’re still learning quite a bit about ourselves. We had a couple blown coverages, a couple plays that we thought they were done and we stopped and missed tackles.”
Reed City led 16-14 after one quarter and 40-33 at halftime. The Coyotes outscored the Lions 16-0 in the fourth quarter and 30-7 during the second half.
“(Reed City) played really well, and then in the third quarter we got it down inside the 20 but didn’t score and I think that was a big point where we couldn’t match them,” Van Essen said. “We had to score on every possession and then we didn’t score on that one and they scored again. We scored late there (in the game), but we couldn’t keep up there after that point.”
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