Rocks stonewall Novi, 35-7, to earn ‘must-win’ victory

Making up for its relative lack of size with relentless tenacity, Salem’s football team earned a much-needed 35-7 victory over Novi Friday night with a perfect blend of power and finesse.

One week after their run game was stymied by Hartland’s big and physical defense, the Rocks rushed for 159 yards (116 coming on designed keepers and spontaneous scrambles by quarterback Luke Creighton) and 213 yards passing.

“After we watched film this week (after losing to Hartland, 28-21, on Sept. 26), we asked the kids, ‘Is it coaching? Is it scheme?’,” Salem Head Coach Landon Garrett said moments after his team’s convincing record-evening triumph. “They all agreed it was about heart and did they ever step up tonight.

“A few of our team leaders even called out some of their teammates this week about toughness and doing the right things, and the entire team responded, which was huge because this was a must-win game for us.”

Multiple milestones

This season marks the first the Rocks have posted at least three wins since 2017, the same year they made their most-recent post-season appearance.

Salem also gained a huge chunk of redemption against the Wildcats, who had won seven straight against the Rocks by a combined score of 272-80.

The tone-setting play came with 3:55 remaining in the first quarter of a scoreless contest when senior two-way Salem star Nye Turner leaped high to intercept a Novi slant pass and return it untouched 65 yards for his first career pick-six.

“My eyes lit up when I saw that ball,” Turner said. “It was just like practice. We knew they liked to throw the underneath passes like that and I was ready for it.

“Best feeling in the world catching that ball and seeing nothing but daylight in front of me.”

No quit in ‘Cats

Novi countered on its next possession, which was capped by a 28-yard TD run by Aidan Cook, who also booted the game-tying extra point.

As far as offensive highlights went for the Wildcats, that was about it.

Salem seized the lead back 5:30 before halftime on a zig-zagging 12-yard TD run by Nate Kava that gave the hosts a 14-7 advantage following Kai Prinzevski’s second of five successful extra points.

The Rocks stretched their lead to 21-7 mid-way through the third quarter when Creighton unleashed a 23-yard laser TD to double-teamed junior Caleb Chinyadza, who leapt high to snag the cruise missile pass.

Creighton’s 1-yard keeper TD with 21 ticks remaining in the third quarter gave Salem a stranglehold on the lead, 28-7. He finished off the scoring with a 23-yard quarterback-draw run through the heart of the Novi defense.

While Salem’s balanced offense was running on all cylinders, it was the Rocks defense that stole the show, limiting the Wildcats to 124 yards in total yardage in the second half.

“Coming in, we knew they were a pass-first team, but the last couple of weeks we’ve struggled against the run, so we knew they’d come out and try and punch us in the mouth with the run,” said senior captain/linebacker Landon Garrett, the son of the head coach.

“We were able to shut down their running game and forced them to pass, and we kind of took over from there.”

Creighton said it was essential that the Rocks established a run game early.

“Our offensive line really stepped up and gave our running backs and myself room to run,” he said. “It was important that we weren’t one-dimensional, relying on the pass too much.”

Salem needs to win two of its final three games — home against Brighton and Plymouth, and away in the regular season-ending KLAA cross-over game — to earn its first playoff appearance since 2017.

“At the beginning of the year, we set making the playoffs as our No. 1 goal,” Coach Garrett said. “So tonight was a must-win game for us. Coming into tonight, we felt we had the better team, but that means nothing when you’re playing a hungry team like Novi. It was a must-win game for them, too, at least as far as the playoffs go.

“Tonight we were hungry, too, and we played like it. We were the lion, not the elephant.”

Creighton completed 21 of 27 passes for 213 yards in addition to running for 116 yards.

Creighton completed passes to seven different receivers. His favorite target was senior Drew Eisenbeis, who hauled in six passes for 68 yards. Kava caught three balls for 38 yards and tacked on 30 rushing yards on five attempts.

Defensively, Salem received game-changing efforts from Kyle Candito, who intercepted a pass before getting knocked out of bounds just short of the red zone, Landon Locke and Garrett, who leads the team in tackles despite his modest (for a middle linebacker) 5-11, 175-pound stature.

Madafferi led the Wildcats with 122 yards rushing. He also returned the opening kickoff for a 99-yard score; however, a block in the back penalty negated the long run.

Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.