‘MAX’IMUM OVERDRIVE: Northville rides DeFore to win over Salem
Northville’s Camden Brown looks for daylight during the first quarter against Salem.
The playing surface of Northville’s football stadium just north of Eight Mile Road appeared to be perfectly level during Friday’s night’s game against Salem — except, that is, whenever senior Mustang running back Max DeFore was carrying the rock.
During DeFore’s 17 carries, the gridiron seemed to tilt downhill toward the direction the bulldozer with the No. 9 license plate was headed.
DeFore plowed, spun and sprinted to 258 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Mustangs to a pivotal 37-23 victory over the Rocks, who led 9-7 after quarterback Luke Creighton’s 1-yard quarterback sneak TD with 7:30 remaining in the third quarter.
Super showdown on tap
The triumph improved Northville to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the KLAA West Division. Salem slipped to 2-2 and 1-2, respectively.
The Mustangs travel to Brighton Friday night for a huge showdown against the Bulldogs, who are also unbeaten in the division.
Both teams’ defenses shined throughout the first half, which ended with the hosts owning a precarious 7-3 lead.
Salem struck first when Kai Prinzevski split the uprights from 30 yards out to give the Rocks a 3-0 lead.
DeFore is De Man
Northville countered toward the end of the opening stanza when DeFore hit paydirt from 13 yards out after breaking the grasp of a pair of Rock tacklers with a slick spin move. The powerful senior’s TD came two plays after he rumbled 56 yards to move the ball deep into Salem territory.
(Check out video of Max DeFore’s long run and ensuing TD by clicking here.)
The resilient Rocks regained the lead, 9-7, with a monstrous 16-play drive that was capped by Creighton’s 1-yard run up the middle on fourth down.
The Mustangs seized the lead for good on the next-to-last-play of the third quarter when Cassius Montgomery took a jet sweep 39 yards to the house to put his team ahead 14-9 (after sophomore kicker Alex Baird’s second of five successful extra points.
Northville’s momentum shift gained further strength when MJ Fortuna forced a fumble at the Salem 1 yard line. The ball rolled out of the end zone for a safety, extending the Mustangs’ lead to 16-9.
More DeFore
After two chunk runs by Adam Sakowski, DeFore found the end zone from 11 yards out with 5:12 left in the game to seemingly put the game out of reach.
Undeterred, Salem scored on its next drive, the exclamation point being a 12-yard Creighton-to-Nye Turner TD pass, to pull to within 23-16 after Prinzevski’s extra point.
(Here’s a quick video of the Creighton-to-Turner TD pass.)
Northville put the game away when Drew Meussner scored on a 17-yard run — one play after DeFore galloped 45 yards to the Salem 17 — to regain a two-score lead, 30-16.
The Rocks pulled to within 30-23 on a 5-yard TD dime from Creighton to Drew Eisenbeis, but DeFore ended any comeback hopes for Salem by churning out a 50-yard TD run.
Diving McGarrow pick stops drive
Among the defensive plays of the game was Northville defensive back Austin McGarrow’s diving third-quarter interception to squelch a Salem drive.
(Click here to check out video of McGarrow’s diving pick.)
Another huge defensive effort by Northville’s secondary thwarted another promising drive when Tre Geilow and McGarrow forced a Salem receiver to fumble after a long reception. The ball was recovered by Northville’s Chase Gilbertson.
Salem’s Creighton was stellar in the loss, completing 26 of 44 passes for 260 yards and two TDs.
Rock sophomore Caleb Chinyadza secured eight receptions for 69 yards.
Eisenbeis and Turner both caught six balls for a combined 119 yards.
Northville’s defense was paced by McGarrow, Robbie Kehoe, Mason Moffa and Colton Thiel, who registered seven tackles a piece.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
