Boyne City leans on running game vs. Elks to stay undefeated
ELK RAPIDS — The Boyne City football team has shown the ability to win games a lot of different ways this season.
And heading into Friday night in Elk Rapids, they’ve done a pretty darn good job of it, as they hadn’t lost yet.
That didn’t change after four quarters against the Elks, but the approach had to change up some, as they picked up a 34-0 win without starting quarterback Jack Neer under center for the first time in four years due to an injury.
But, in one Neer, out the other.
Jack’s brother, Drew, stepped into the quarterback duties to help keep the Ramblers undefeated on the season, splitting the job with senior Mason Wilcox.
“From the minute the kids found out that Jack wasn’t going to be with us for a while they rallied around each other and we had a little tryout this week and played two quarterbacks tonight,” Boyne City coach Dave Suttle said. “Drew did a really good job running the offense and handling a wet, nasty ball. It rained the whole game down here. He threw the ball efficiently for us and then Mason, the same thing, did a nice job closing it out. He had some rushes where he kept the ball and played a really good game.”
The win moved Boyne City to 7-0 overall and 4-0 within the Leaders Division of the Northern Michigan Football League, while Elk Rapids dropped to 5-2 and 3-2 in the league.
Boyne led just 7-0 after the opening quarter, before a 19-point second quarter then set the Ramblers up with a 26-0 halftime lead that they never looked back in.
One of the areas that helped their quarterbacks a bit came up front, with an offensive line that pushed around the Elks and helped lead to 357 yards rushing on a 7.1 average on the night.
“Our offensive line has been getting better and better all year long,” said Suttle. “We missed some stuff tonight, but they’re playing so hard that we can almost make up for that sometimes.”
Joey McHugh churned out 128 yards and a score on 12 carries, Ryan Reynolds ran for 86 yards and a score on 14 carries, Wilcox added 64 yards and score and Gavin Hewitt also had 44 yards and a touchdown.
Neer, only a freshman, turned in an efficient night passing as well, going 6 of 8 for 89 yards and a touchdown, with three passes for 59 yards and the score going to Alex Calcaterra.
“It was a real big moment,” added Suttle on Neer. “He was a little nervous, but once the game started he did a really good job. That’s all about the older kids in the huddle making sure he feels comfortable, listing to him and just turning it into a football game. For a freshman in a conference championship type game, against a 5-1 team, he played flawless in my opinion.”
Defensively, it was a second shutout of the season for the Ramblers. McHugh led with 13 tackles and an interception, Ryan Spate and Calcaterra each intercepted a pass, Jacob Johnson and Leon Xiong each made eight tackles and Conner Rajkovich and Fila Xiong each made seven tackles.
Boyne City can now wrap up a second straight Leaders Division title next week when they visit Tawas (1-6, 0-5) on Friday, Oct. 14.
“Hopefully we can come out of that as back to back champions,” said Suttle. “One of our first goals is always to beat Charlevoix, the second is to compete for a conference championship and then the third is to compete for a district title. I think we’re working on setting ourselves up to stay right on track with that.”
The regular season will then close the following week with a visit from Roscommon on Friday, Oct. 21.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Boyne City leans on running game vs. Elks to stay undefeated
