White Pigeon ends season in regional finals loss to Ottawa Lake Whiteford

White Pigeon traveled more than two hours on Friday night to play Ottawa Lake Whiteford in the regional finals. The Chiefs had the option of waiting and playing on Saturday because of the distance rule for playoffs in Michigan, but ultimately they decided on Friday night.

The time of day was not an issue for the Chiefs. The chilly weather fueled them to play even better, given Shawn Strawser’s team loves to line up and hit people. Running the football at will is something White Pigeon has showcased since Strawser returned to lead the program a handful of years ago. And they were able to run the football against the Bobcats on Friday night. But in the end, Ottawa Lake Whiteford was just a little better than the Chiefs in the game. The win for Ottawa Lake Whiteford at 38-26 was the team’s 12th in a row this season and puts the Bobcats in the state semifinals for Division 8 for the second consecutive season.

“Every year we take a little step further, but we’ve kind of gotten stuck here in this regional round,” Strawser said following Friday’s contest. “These boys buy in, they put so much work in. A lot of schools do that, but these boys have won back-to-back district titles now and no one will ever be able to take that away from them.”

In each of the previous two post seasons, White Pigeon was knocked out of the playoffs by the eventual state champions. Centreville beat them in the district finals in the 2020 COVID year and Hudson beat the Chiefs in an 8-0 battle last year.

Strawser said Whiteford has the potential to continue that trend.

“We’ve lost to the state champs two years in a row and it might possibly be three years in a row,” he said. “I think they’re that good.”

Whiteford was pretty good on Friday night as well. The Bobcats scored on almost all of their possessions on the night, except for one of their final drives when they fumbled the football.

They led in total yardage, 323-303, and rushed for better than 300 of those yards. The offense for the Bobcats was explosive and White Pigeon knew that coming into the contest.

“We knew coming over, we knew we could play with anybody because we’re pretty good up front,” Strawser said. “We run the ball well and teams have trouble stopping us. But their offense was really good, it was tough to stop tonight.”

White Pigeon took the opening kickoff and went to work. The Chiefs took more than half the quarter off the clock and eventually found the end zone on a 4-yard TD run from John Bontrager. The conversion was completed by Dominic Fraschetti, giving the Chiefs an 8-0 edge.

Whiteford could answer on its first possession as well. This drive took almost six minutes off the clock and ended with an 8-yard run from Hunter DeBarr. Jake Iott completed the conversion, which tied the game at 8-8 early in the second quarter.

Here’s where Whiteford built a lead in the game. On back-to-back possessions, White Pigeon could not sustain a drive and was forced to punt.

The Bobcats would score after each of those punts. The first was a 63-yard TD run from Shea Ruddy, shifting through White Pigeon would-be tacklers and avoiding being stopped. Iott would convert the points following the TD, making it 16-8. Ruddy would score on a 10-yard TD on the next possession and Iott ran the conversion in as well. This grew the lead out to 24-8.

White Pigeon would not just quit, though. The Chiefs got a shot in the arm just before halftime.

The Chiefs marched it down the field as the clock was running out, converting on a fourth down and eventually finding the end zone as time nearly expired in the half.

The end result on that play was a 2-yard plunge from Fraschetti, who was de-piled from a big ole group of players stacked up on the goal line. Once the hands went in the air from the officials calling it a touchdown, the Chiefs were down just 24-14. But a missed conversion attempt hurt the Chiefs and kept the game at two scores.

“They got most of their 2-point conversions and we didn’t get ours, which hurt us,” Strawser said.

Whiteford’s 10-point lead at hallftime grew on the opening possession of the second half. Iott ran for a 2-yard TD this time, plus Drew Knaggs converted for the two points, pushing the lead to 32-14.

White Pigeon would score twice in the fourth quarter. Josh Davidson found the end zone on both trips, scoring on a 1-yard run and a 9-yard run. Neither conversion attempt was successful. In between those TDs, Whiteford scored its final points with a 35-yard run from Iott.

White Pigeon actually threw the football a bit in the game. While their offense is predominantly about lining up and running behind the offensive line, the Chiefs had to throw it a couple of times to stay in the game and still get big chunks of yards.

Davidson completed two passes for 36 yards, Caleb Lane completed one for 22 yards and Bontrager completed one for seven yards. All four completions went to Chris Jackson, who totaled 65 yards through the air.

Fraschetti ran for 85 yards in the game, James Stewart rumbled for 52 yards. Lane ran for 37, Bontrager rushed for 36 and Davidson added 13.

Four separate players — Fraschetti, Lane, Bontrager and Davidson — scored touchdowns.

Seth Miller led the White Pigeon defense with seven tackles, Nate Irwin piled up five tackles while Stewart, Jackson and Fraschetti each had four stops.

Iott led Whiteford with 131 yards rushing in the game, DeBarr ran for 84 and Ruddy rushed for 71.

The loss for White Pigeon ends their season at 8-4. The Chiefs have cemented themselves as one of the better programs in Southwest Michigan since Strawser took over and the consecutive district titles help support that.

“This group of seniors has grown more than any group we’ve had. They’ve really learned how to channel emotions in the right way,” Strawser said. “Every group is different and special and we love them all. But we’re proud of the work these guys have put in and how far we’ve come as a program.”

Whiteford moves on to play Clarkston Everest Collegiate, a 30-6 winner over Sterling Heights Parkway Christian on Friday, in the state semifinals.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: White Pigeon ends season in regional finals loss to Ottawa Lake Whiteford