Sault Ste. Marie dominates border battle with Superior Heights
SAULT STE MARIE – The Sault Blue Devils welcomed Superior Heights of Sault, Ontario on Saturday afternoon and were not overly-gracious hosts.
At the end of the day, the Blue Devils sent the Steelhawks home on the losing end of a 60-7 scoreboard.
The Blue Devils kept things pretty simple on offense and rolled with the old axiom “if it ain't broke, don't fix it.” In the game, the Devils threw just one pass and only ran 24 total offensive plays.
“I know those numbers seem a little crazy,” Blue Devil coach Scott Menard said after. “We had a lot of success running the ball and there were multiple occasions when we scored on our first play of a possession.”
The Blue devils scored on six runs of over 35 yards in the contest. Cale Bell was the leading rusher for the south Sault with 117 yards and two touchdowns on just three carries. His scores came on runs of 56 and 41 yards. Will Ohman had five rushes for 101 yards and found pay dirt on an 83-yard 2007 run.
Alexander Jacek had two carries and scored on both of them, one coming from 60 yards and the other on a 36-yard scamper. Ryver Ryckeghem rushed for 95 yards on five carries and had a 56-yard td run, while Nick Albakal had five carries for 82 yards and a score.
Quarterback Callen Campbell's lone pass attempt was a 24-yard completion to Kaydin Lujon.
The Devils led 47-0 at the half.
With the win, the Blue Devils start the season 4-0 for the first time since 2007.
“We feel pretty good about where we're at right now,” Menard said of his team's position in the race to get to the playoffs. "But we know there's still a lot of work to do. Last year, we were 6-2 and we didn't get in. You always want to try and win every game you play, and we are taking the mindset that the next game on the schedule is the most important one. I feel like if we can do that, the playoff situation will take care of itself.”
Defensively, the Sault was led by Lujon. He recorded 10 tackles, had a sack, and a fumble recovery. Tim Garland had six stops, while Campbell and Calvin Aldrich each had a sack.
The Devil's secondary was also active as Ohman had a 20-yard interception return for a touchdown, and Carter Oshelski had a pick-six good for 60-yards.
Menard liked what he saw from his reserves.
“Whenever you have a game like this, there's always someone that stands out and forces you to get him in the game more often,” Menard said. “We had several of those guys today.”
The Sault will travel to Ogemaw Heights on Saturday to take on the Falcons.
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Sault Ste. Marie dominates border battle with Superior Heights
