Prep Notebook: Where Otsego area football teams stand headed into week three

We are two weeks into the 2022 high school football season, and things are already getting hard to follow.

Fans of Gaylord High School have experienced not one, but two second-half comebacks en route to their first 2-0 start since 2018.

Meanwhile, St. Mary's bounced back from two major injuries to get their first win of the season last Wednesday, while Johannesburg-Lewiston have played back-to-back tough opponents to start the season.

See where area teams stand headed into week three of Michigan high school football.

Gaylord

Things may not have been pretty, but the Gaylord Blue Devils football team is 2-0 through two games, and no one in that locker room is going to be upset by that fact.

"Being 2-0, obviously not the way we thought we would get there, but the boys showed a lot of heart," head coach DJ Szymoniak said.

It has taken second-half adjustments and comebacks in back-to-back weeks, but Gaylord is riding high into week three after a 15-14 victory over Lake Fenton in week one and a 17-16 win over Kingsley in week two.

What has been most impressive in the Blue Devils' first two games, aside from the resiliency to comeback on good teams twice, is the versatility they played with in both games and on both sides of the ball.

Defensively, coordinator Jeff Pretzlaff and the coaching staff have had to get the kids prepared for two very different offenses; a pass-heavy team in Lake Fenton to start the year followed by the run-first, run-often philosophy of the Wing-T offense ran by Kingsley and head coach Tim Wooer.

And in both cases, while both opposing offenses were successful moving the ball on the Blue Devils (Lake Fenton threw for 234 yards, Kingsley ran for 248), the Gaylord defense held firm, giving up just two touchdowns in each game and giving their offense a chance to comeback.

Gaylord's linebackers have led the way, with Brady Pretzlaff's 10.5 tackles along with his game-sealing interception leading the Blue Devils against Lake Fenton while Riley Hush's 11 tackles and game-changing fumble recovery helping Gaylord past Kingsley in week two.

After back-to-back close wins, the Blue Devils are traveling to the UP this weekend to take on Marquette. The Redmen football team sits at 0-2 after their first two weeks resulted in close losses to familiar opponents to Gaylord, dropping their opener to Traverse City West 7-0 and their week two matchup with Alpena 18-16.

Marquette, a fellow Division 3 school, has made the playoffs the previous three seasons, going 7-3 a season ago with a loss to Mount Pleasant in the first round.

St. Mary

Coming into the season, the St. Mary's Snowbirds had four of the best players in the state when it comes to 8-player football.

With seniors Gavin Bebble, Brody Jeffers and Donovan Blust joined by junior Dillon Croff, the Snowbirds' had four players with all-state potential in their backfield.

Two weeks in, injuries to Bebble and Jeffers have left them with just two of those four.

While the increased load has resulted in breakout performances from Croff in Blust in consecutive weeks, it has also allowed for one rising St. Mary's athlete to take a new step in his progression as an ahtlete.

Daniel Jacobson, a Ski Valley all-conference honorable mention in basketball last season as a freshman, has stepped up at quarterback for the Snowbirds' and now holds a 1-0 record as a varsity QB after St. Mary's 48-36 win over Central Lake/Ellsworth last Wednesday.

The first half was about what you would expect of a first-time varsity starter as Jacobson forced a few throws that resulted two ugly interceptions. However, something sparked a maturation process in the young QB, a process that took place in the span of a few minutes. Head coach Kevin O'Connell credits his injured seniors for setting the young QB straight.

"It was mature football in the second half. The first two quarters were not mature, and he knows it and he owns it," O'Connell said. "I think Gavin and Brody took him under their wing at halftime and he grew up in about seven minutes."

Jacobson finished with seven completions for 83 yards and 12 carries for 26 yards in the win over the Trojans last Wednesday. Most importantly, he went from two first-half turnovers to none in the second half, and that played a big part in the team being able to pull away.

Johannesburg-Lewiston

The Johannesburg-Lewiston football team is trying to fight it's way back to prominence after a less than characteristic 2021 season for a historically dominant program.

The defense has struggled in back-to-back losses to start the 2022 season, but offense has showed signs of being capable of scoring on good teams. The key moving forward will be putting those two parts together in one, complete game.

Against Mancelona, Nate Hummel led the way as the feature back, accounting for 109 of the Cardinals' 232 rushing yards in the 44-22 loss to the Ironmen.

JoBurg has a chance to get in the win column on Friday night as they host East Jordan in conference play. The Red Devils enter winless as well, coming off back-to-back close losses to Charlevoix and Elk Rapids in the opening weeks.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Prep Notebook: Where area football teams stand headed into week three