Sault Ste. Marie moves to 3-0 behind victory over Cheboygan

SAULT STE. MARIE – The momentum was there for the Cheboygan Chiefs at halftime.

After a long touchdown, which was then followed by a big-time defensive play, the Chiefs were in business, only trailing 14-8 at unbeaten Sault Ste. Marie.

However, the one big problem the Chiefs haven’t been able to solve so far this season – limiting big plays – haunted them again.

Once the Chiefs surrendered those big plays at key moments, they weren’t able to stay within striking distance of the Blue Devils, who improved to 3-0 with a 35-8 home victory on Friday night.

“We gave up some big plays on defense, that hurt us,” said Cheboygan coach Dave Schulz. “Offensively, again, we had some nice drives, but we didn’t finish those drives in the end zone, we didn’t execute well enough, and the Sault won.

“You play good teams, good teams capitalize when you make mistakes, and that showed today.”

Just as the game looked like it was going to swing in Cheboygan’s favor to start the third quarter, Sault senior kickoff return man Alex Jacek broke loose and got deep into Chiefs’ territory to start the half. Just a few plays later, junior tailback Ryver Ryckeghem scored the third of his game-high four touchdowns on the night with an eight-yard run, while a made 2-point conversion put the Blue Devils back up 22-8.

While the Chiefs (1-2, 0-1 Northern Michigan Football League Legends Division) built momentum with a long TD drive capped off by a one-yard score from senior tailback Seth Flores late in the first half, their offense struggled the rest of the way against the defense of the Blue Devils (3-0, 2-0), who shut down Cheboygan’s rushing attack and pitched a shutout in the second half.

“I thought for us, this was our most complete game that we’ve played this season,” said Sault coach Scott Menard. “We didn’t play well against Grayling the week before, and we played a good second half against Escanaba. I thought that we played well. To be honest, we only ran 10 plays in the first half and had 14 points, but I thought our defense did a good job. That’s a tough offense to defend, and they (Cheboygan) were giving us fits. We made a couple adjustments at halftime on both sides of the ball, and I’m really happy with the way we came out.

“I thought the kickoff return by Alex Jacek to start the second half was a huge play, and we just kind of took the momentum from there.”

The Blue Devils used a nine-yard TD score from Ryckeghem late in the third, then put the game to rest with a six-yard TD toss from junior quarterback Callen Campbell to senior wide receiver Max Scott, making it a commanding 35-8 Sault advantage with about six minutes to play.

The start to the contest was a bright one for the Chiefs, who forced a three-and-out on the Sault’s opening possession. But after the Chiefs couldn’t capitalize off strong field possession, they mishandled a punt in their own territory, giving a short field to the Blue Devils. The Blue Devils, who looked stymied on their first offensive possession, immediately woke up when Ryckeghem got loose for a 30-yard score that put the home team up 6-0.

With the touchdown came momentum for the Blue Devils, who saw Ryckeghem explode again with an 80-yard score on the very next possession that helped build the Sault’s lead to 14-0 with 10 minutes left before halftime.

“We had to be on our game, but we knew we could move the ball, that we could make enough plays to win the football game, but we fell short on certain drives and had a couple mistakes, but the kids keep playing hard and that’s what we ask for as coaches,” Schulz said.

Despite the slow start for the Sault, Menard praised his team’s ability to stick to the game plan and not get rattled.

“We’ve got a bunch of kids who’ve been on the varsity for two or three years – they've seen a lot of games and a lot of situations,” Menard said. “We don’t worry about situations where we’re down because we’ve been in a few of those situations this season. We’ve been there before, we’ve got some good senior leadership, and it showed again tonight.”

The Chiefs, who manufactured just 161 total offensive yards – all rushing – were led by 43 yards on the ground from Dylan Balazovic, 41 from Keegan Mosher, 31 from Cody Lane, and 25 from Flores, who scored the touchdown.

“He works hard,” Schulz said of Flores. “We’ve got some of the other running backs going both ways. Beau Ginop’s injured and we’re just trying to have fresh legs and fresh bodies out there that can chew up yards, and I thought (Flores) did a nice job of getting some of those carries.”

In addition to his four TDs, Ryckeghem carried 15 times for a game-high 123 yards to lead the Blue Devils, who received 41 passing yards from Campbell.

The Chiefs ended the contest with two turnovers.

Isaiah Ming, who gave the Chiefs momentum going into halftime with an interception in the end zone, made six stops, while Jacob Seaman also had six tackles. Kaleb Goodrich made four tackles, Luke Munger and Balazovic each tallied three, Tommy Jones and Lane added two apiece, and Nick Rocheleau, Mason Baiel, Michael Beck, Hunter Schaefer and Mosher chipped in with one each.

“We got a nice mixture of backs,” Menard said. “We got a couple of nice fullbacks, we got a couple of kids that can get you on the edge, we’ve got a quarterback (Campbell) who’s always a threat whether it’s legs or his arm, so I think between the guys in the backfield – which are all brand new from last year – I thought we really stuck to the game plan that we really wanted to use tonight.”

Cheboygan continues NMFL Legends play when it hosts Ogemaw Heights at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16 at Western Avenue Field.

Sault Ste. Marie, which beat Cheboygan for an eighth consecutive time, will look to remain unbeaten when it takes on Sault Ontario (Superior Heights) in non-conference action next week.

This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Sault Ste. Marie moves to 3-0 behind victory over Cheboygan