SMASHING PUMPKINS: Northville laser-focused in first-round playoff win
Northville running back Drew Meussner bursts through a gaping hole Friday night against Woodhaven.
WARNING: Beware of facing orange-clad high school football opponents on the night before Halloween.
It’s not like Woodhaven had a choice who its MHSAA first-round opponent would be on Friday night, but Northville played with an Orange Crush mentality from the opening kickoff.
The Mustangs filled its first-half Halloween Eve bucket with plenty of sweet plays — including two long Cassius Montgomery scoring receptions thrown on the dot by quarterback Greyson Harris — to build a 21-0 halftime lead before holding off a late Warrior rally to win 28-19.
Showdown with Saline on deck
The triumph improved Northville’s record to 8-2 heading into Friday’s 7 p.m. district final showdown at undefeated Saline.
“We knew coming in that Woodhaven was very good, that they played tough Downriver football,” said Northville Head Coach Brent Luplow. ‘We been getting off to great starts all season and I’m proud of the kids that they continued that tonight.
“We wanted to establish the run, which we did, along with some big plays by Cassius. We figured whoever could run the ball better would probably win.”
Running behind a large and mobile offensive line, Northville running backs Danny O’Neil, Jack Deller and Drew Meussner exploded for multiple chunk running plays that kept Woodhaven’s defense honest.
(To check out a quick clip of Cassius Montgomery’s two TDs, click here.)
Play-action passes were effective
And just when it appeared the Mustangs were on the verge of another between-the-tackles power play, Harris’s play-action helped free up Montgomery and tight end Jason Woodlow for explosive downfield passes.
Defensively, everyone who wore a number between 0 (Andrew Shukeireh) and 99 (Tristen Salvas) more than completed their assignments.
Ethan Frye, Nathan Miller, Deller and Malek Bazzi delivered crunching textbooks tackles throughout the night.
Junior DB Erik Brown sealed the win by intercepting a long Woodhaven pass with just under 90 seconds to play.
Two of Woodhaven’s TD’s came on spectacular receptions by Jordan Jackson, who hauled his first scoring reception with just one hand.
Northville kicker Nathan Baird boomed all four of his extra points through the uprights.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
