SHS falls at Paw Paw, 56-42
The Sturgis football team scored 42 points on Friday night.
The bad news was they were on the wrong side of a 56-42 decision at Paw Paw.
There was some good news for the Trojans, even in defeat.
Junior quarterback Taner Patrick threw for better than 300 yards and five touchdowns in the game, three went to Rasean O’Tey.
Carter Plangger proved to be an issue for the Trojan defense, he scored six times for the Red Wolves.
The opening score came from Paw Paw, which held the football for quite a while in the first quarter. Zeyon Davis would find the end zone on a 3-yard run, the extra point made it 7-0 Red Wolves.
Paw Paw would score the next six points in the game as well, going up 13-0.
Sturgis blocked the extra point.
After a nice drive for Sturgis on the ensuing possession, the Trojans found paydirt. Patrick pitched it to Callahan Lamb, who scored on an 8-yard catch. Jacob Thompson booted the extra point through and made the score 13-7.
Unforunately for Sturgis, the next two scores came from Paw Paw. It proved to be instrumental in the game. The Red Wolves scored just before the half on an 8-yard run from Davis, the conversion made it 21-7, which was the score at halftime.
Paw Paw scored first in the second half as well. Plangger scored this time on a 9-yard run, making the game 27-7.
Thompson and Sturgis answered right back. He would score on a 26-yard TD run that was fewer than 30 seconds removed from Paw Paw’s last score.
But, after another lengthy drive from the Red Wolves, Plangger scored again. In fact, he would score once more before the end of the third quarter, making the game 41-14.
In the fourth quarter, 43 total points were scored in the game. Sturgis made it interesting by posting 28 points, but could not overcome the early two-score deficit.
Patrick would find O’Tey on touchdown passes of 68, 46 and 51 yards in the fourth quarter. He also hooked up with Brock Fergison for a 33-yard score that was deflected.
Sturgis out-gained Paw Paw 470-438 in the game. The Trojans ran 44 plays for an average of 10.7 yards per snap.
Paw Paw did not complete a pass in the game, but did hold a comfortable 31:43-16:17 edge in time of possession.Paw Paw totaled 34 first downs in the game.
Patrick completed 10 passes for 303 and five TDs. Thompson rushed for 160 yards and one score.
O’Tey caught five passes for 191 yards and three scores. Dalton Tisdel caught one for 39, Fergison caught one for 33, Thompson caught one for 16, Gibson Cary caught one for 16 and Lamb hauled in one for eight.
Thompson led the defense with 14 stops, including one for loss. Fergison collected eight tackles, O’Tey and Joe Wilson each registered 6.5 tackles, Cary finished with six and Matthew Wickey had five tackles.
Sturgis, now 2-2, will take on Otsego next week.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: SHS falls at Paw Paw, 56-42
