BIG RAPIDS -- The Traverse City St. Francis coaches prepared their team to fight for every yard in Saturday's Division 7 semifinal, but in the end it was the big plays that made the difference.
The defending champion Gladiators capitalized on a couple of major defensive highlights and earned their third straight state finals appearance with a 34-7 victory over Ravenna at Ferris State's Top Taggart Field.
"It's incredible," Gladiators senior Max Bullough said. "Every time after this game, it's an incredible feeling. It doesn't get old."
St. Francis will take on Hudson at 10 a.m. Saturday in Detroit for the state title. It will be a battle of unbeatens after Hudson beat Ubly 26-6 Saturday.
"We've got to get better," St. Francis senior Matt Zakrzewski said.
"We had a bunch of missed tackles we've got to work on. We're going to play a good team in Hudson."
The Gladiators may have missed some tackles, but they didn't miss their opportunities to shut down Ravenna's offense.
After recovering a fumble on Ravenna's first offensive possession, St. Francis had its back against the wall up 13-0 as the Bulldogs sat on a fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Senior running back Jamohn Martin got the ball and went for an option pass. Zakrzewski read it, picked off the pass and took it 102 yards down the sideline for a touchdown and a 21-0 lead.
"I saw No. 27 run past my face and I thought, 'Oh shoot, I've got to get back there,'" Zakrzewski said. "I ran out there, they lobbed it up there, and I just ran."
"He proved he could do that last year," St. Francis coach Greg Vaughan said of Zakrzewski's pick. "It's just like Max. Some of his tackles have gone down the last three years, but that's because people aren't running to him. We're asking Matt to do a lot and that's something he can do.
"The rest of the guys getting out and blocking for him ... that was great. A big play."
The play turned out to be a key in the game.
"The game could have been closer had we capitalized when we got in the red zone," Ravenna coach Dusty Fairfield said. "It was a quick turn of events because instead of us getting seven, they turned it into seven. That's a swing of 14 points."
While Ravenna had a reliable kicker in Paulo Suarez, St. Francis coach Greg Vaughan said he would have gone for the touchdown as well if he was in Fairfield's position.
"At that point, they had to prove to their kids and us that they could get after it," Vaughan said. "They needed the seven. At that point, I would have done the exact thing. I could have had the world's best kicker, but I would have gone for it. You have to. You've got to play the odds."
On offense, St. Francis continued to follow its game plan and pound away on the run and look for 4 yards each carry.
"We didn't want them going up to the line ever thinking we needed 20 yards," Vaughan said. "Middle of the season, we were able to move the ball and get big chunks of yards. All of a sudden, we face a team like Ravenna or a team last week like Ishpeming, and we don't get those yards, all of a sudden we're down on ourselves. We preached hard to come out, hit them in the mouth first and get those 4 yards."
Junior fullback Joe Kerridge carried 12 times in the first half for 76 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown run.
"That's what he's got to do, but Ben Swan too," Vaughan said. "He's a very fast kid and we can get him out on the edge, but we said to him this week, 'We like the edge if if's there, but get us those 4 yards.' He came out and did a heck of a job putting his shoulder down."
Swan finished with 11 carries for 91 yards and a TD while Kerridge ran 14 times for 98 yards. Sophomore quarterback Riley Bullough ran three times for 31 yards and Zakrzewski carried twice for 25 yards.
As a team, St. Francis averaged 7.13 yards a carry.
Defensively, the Gladiators once again slowed down Martin and the Ravenna rushing attack. After holding him to 124 yards in a 28-7 semifinal win a year ago, Martin finished Saturday with 30 carries for 100 yards.
"It starts with the D-line and the linebackers," senior defensive tackle Angus MacLellan said. "We work together. We've got two different levels and basically we have to create a wall. They have to either bounce it out or come back in. That's where we get them."
"These guys were definitely a high-powered offense and they've scored a lot of points," Gabe Gallagher said. "They've had our number all year and their coach has said that. We kind of took that personally, went to practice, had a great week of practice and came out on top."
The combination of trailing and struggling to run forced the Bulldogs to turn to the air, something they haven't done a lot of this season.
"We're not typically a passing team," Fairfield said. "We didn't get it done where we needed to on the ground. We did not sustain long drives. They're a very strong football team."
Max Bullough finished the game with 15 tackles while Zakrzewski had 11. John Zakrzewski added seven while Gallagher had five and a sack.
St. Francis led 21-0 at the half and made it 34-0 in the third quarter after a 7-yard touchdown pass from Riley Bullough to Max Bullough, as well as Swan's score. St. Francis missed the PAT after Swan's TD, which would have started a running clock.
Ravenna scored late on a 25-yard pass from Ryan Hogan to Matt VanderWal.
For the second straight year, the Bulldogs finished 10-3 after a semifinal loss to St. Francis at Ferris State.
"The University of Traverse City St. Francis is an exceptional football team," Fairfield said. "They've got a great football staff, but I'll speak for all of the Division 7 and Division 8 public schools in the state of Michigan. It's frustrating. Not whining, it's frustrating to work as hard as we all do in our rural towns and have to face teams that have two Big Ten players already signed.
"As far as I'm concerned, for two years in a row, we're the best public Division 7 school in the state of Michigan."
Hudson, a public school, will be up next for the Gladiators in the state championship. Tickets will be available at the St. Francis athletic office from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday this week.
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