The gridiron heroes were back on the football field Monday afternoon getting ready for their next game.
The Wolves lost their season opener against Rochester Adams on Friday night, 17-7. The loss will aid to their mental and physical preparation for their first league game.
Kurt Richardson, Wolves Head Coach, gave pointers to each of the boys as they practiced drills.
“Our inexperience showed but we are going to be fine,” said Richardson.
Clarkston’s lone touchdown came at the beginning of the final quarter after the Highlanders had scored their second touchdown, with 2:15 remaining in the third quarter.
Running back Joey Goss caught the Highlanders’ punt at the 4-yard line and ran until he was stopped 20 yards later.
The Wolves kept moving forward and controlled possession going into the fourth quarter. They reached the 10-yard line at 4:50 left and were at their fourth down with five yards to go.
Quarterback Mitch Baenziger gave it one last try and threw a 16-yard pass to wide-receiver Chris Canada, with his hands reached out in the end zone.
The play put the boys on the board and a PAT from Alex Barta put the score, 17-7.
“It was a nice job by Mitch to keep the play alive and a nice job by Chris to get open by scrambling around,” said Richardson. “It was a nice play.”
Defense was the key for the boys during the game with seniors Justin Baetz and Ty Foltz and junior Zach Collins putting a stop to Adams’ offense line for a majority of the time.
“Defensively we played really well,” Richardson said, adding the line will continue to work on the fundamental skills.
“There is a lot of learning,” he added. “The fact is we have to get better and get more physical.”
It was the defense line Adams’ Head Coach Tony Patritto was anticipating.
“They played a good defense when they needed to,” he said. “They don’t make a lot of mistakes. They don’t get penalties, they don’t turn the ball over and are well-coached. We had a couple of breaks and a couple key plays. If we hadn’t scored it would have probably been down to the wire.”
The boys host West Bloomfield (0-1) on Friday, 7 p.m.
“They have a lot of talented athletes. They are going to come after us,” said Richardson.