TRAVERSE CITY -- If the pass defense is Traverse City St. Francis' weakness, opposing teams left in the Division 7 state tournament are in trouble.
The Gladiators held pass-oriented Rudyard in check Friday for a 54-8 win in the Division 7 district final at Thirlby Field.
"We played fast and we played hard," Gladiators coach Greg Vaughan said. "We knew they were going to come in and try to pass it around on us. That's the thing everyone says about us is our pass defense isn't great. Defensively, our kids run around. They're very aggressive from that standpoint and we let them play."
St. Francis (11-0) moves on to face Ishpeming next week in the Superior Dome for the regional title. Rudyard fell to 9-2 with the loss.
Pressuring Upper Peninsula Dream Team quarterback Davin Salo was key for the Gladiators, who sacked him three times.
"It was very, very important to get pressure on that quarterback," senior linebacker Gabe Gallagher said. "He can throw the ball out there pretty well. If we don't (get pressure), we've seen in previous games he's been completing a lot of passes."
As the game progressed, the Bulldogs had trouble getting the ball to Salo in the shotgun, and when he was able to get passes off, his receivers dropped a number of them.
"We didn't have that many drops this year," Rudyard coach Pat Maloney said. "It was uncharacteristic of us. But its some of the things when you get further in the playoffs, the tougher the competition. Those types of things happen."
The Gladiators benefitted from seeing a similar offense three weeks ago when they hosted Grayling. St. Francis won that game 59-6.
"Grayling is another one of those shotgun teams," Gallagher said. "I thought they did as good a job as Rudyard did this week in spreading the ball around. That really helped us a lot."
St. Francis senior Matt Zakrzewski picked off a Salo pass late in the first quarter and returned it 46 yards. Two plays later, St. Francis quarterback Riley Bullough scampered 35 yards on a bootleg for a 26-0 Gladiators lead.
"The D-line did a great job rushing the quarterback," Zakrzewski said. "He didn't have much time to roll out and throw the ball to where he wanted to go. That's a shot to my D-line doing a great job."
Injuries forced St. Francis to switch up its defense in the second quarter and Matt Zakrzewski moved from safety to linebacker. He was replaced by his younger brother, John Zakrzewski, who finished with four tackles and came up with some huge hits.
"Johnny's been playing a lot of safety and he's filled in the role very well," Matt Zakrzewski said. "It's always good to see your little brother get success in anything he does."
Offensively, John Zakrzewski also had a breakout game with six carries for 65 yards and two touchdowns.
"We've known for a long time Johnny's a special athlete," Vaughan said. "He showed it last year a little bit for us. We've been blessed this year with some good depth. With (senior running back Ben Swan) coming down with the flu today, we got a chance to put him in there.
"He's been blocking all year. I know his running showed up today, but he's just been hammering people as a back block."
St. Francis jumped out to an early 6-0 lead after Joey Kerridge scored from 51 yards out on the team's first offensive possession. Later in the first quarter, he added a 28-yard score and finished the game with four carries for 95 yards.
Rudyard punted on the second play of the second quarter. Matt Zakrzewski fielded the kick at the 50, cut to the left side of the field and didn't stop until he found the endzone for a 34-0 St. Francis lead.
"That kind of sealed the deal," Zakrzewski said. "I made a move and saw there was green grass. There was a huge line of my teammates and I ran it straight in."
Short scores from Bullough and John Zakrzewski made it 48-0 Glads at the half. Then early after the break, Bullough connected with John Zakrzewski on a 29-yard pass for a 54-0 lead.
Bullough was 3-for-4 passing for 45 yards. Will Grombala also contributed six carries for 59 yards.
Salo was 17-for-43 for 222 yards for Rudyard. With less than 2 minutes remaining in the game, he found Scott Coffey on a 36-yard touchdown pass and then threw to Bill DeYoung for the two-point conversion.
"We just wanted to make sure the younger guys had a little bit of something to build on," Maloney said. "When you catch the ball on the run, you can score. It was a little something we can build for the next year, and try to get to where St. Francis is."
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