Johannesburg 30 - St Ignace 27 district football

The Johannesburg-Lewiston Cardinals continue on their way in the Division 8 Michigan High School playoffs with a 30-27 home victory over the Saints of St. Ignace Friday night. A contrast in styles, as the Saints are a free-wheeling passing team, and the Cardinals ground it out with a wing-t running attack, and each team showed their offensive skills on this night. The Cardinals were led by Quaterback #3 Darren Dobyn with 196-yards rushing, and #42 Jake Graham with 187-yards rushing to pace the ground attack, while the Saints had 282-yards of passing from #3, QB Garrett Mortensen. The Saints jumped out to a 20-6 lead in the first half, but the Cardinals were are to add a TD late in the 1st half, and ground out 2 straight drive sin the 3rd quarter for touchdowns to take a 30-20 lead into the 4th quarter. The Saints were able to get a turnover deep in their own end, and drive the ball the lenght of the field to cut it to 30-27, but Joburg was able to ground out th elast 5-minutes of the 4th quarter with 3 first downs, and the Saints wer never able to see the ball on offense again. Joburg, one of the final 8-teams in Division 8, will now host their 3rd straight playoff game this coming week against Frankfort, on either Friday night, or Saturday afternoon.

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#3 Mortensen scrambles out of the pocket, as he did all night on his way to 282 passing yards.


#11 St. Louis was on the receiving end of many of those passes from Mortensen.


A Joburg huddle late in the game.


#3 Dobbyn refelcts a few plays after his fumble set the Saints on a drive to bring the game to a 30-27 score late in the 4th quarter.

Boyne City 42 - East Jordan 0

A great view at Boswell Stadium when the leaves are changing colors.

A Saturday afternoon spent in East Jordan, Michigan for the Red Devils homecoming game against Boyne City at Boswell Stadium. This venue for high school football is one of the best in Northern Michigan, but the team of East Jordan has not been, as they are 0-7 on the year after dropping this game to Boyne City 42-0. This was just a wet, windy, and for the first time this fall, snowy day, but the crowd was large on the home side. What was strange though, was after the half-time activities for homecoming, 80% of the East Jordan side left the game, including the band. It was really a strange feeling as the Red Devils were only down 14-0. I'm sure the day had a lot to do with it, but there was just no support for the kids on the field. As the game was going on, people were cleaning up around the field all of the decorations put up for homecoming.....it was like the game just did not matter in the whole scheme of things for East Jordan's homecoming. It was one of the strangest things I have seen since photographing sporting events over the past 5-years.

The first snow of the season took place during this game. The wind really made it cold.

Dan Devine used to coach at East Jordan, and the story is on a rock just inside the entrance to Boswell Stadium.

A portion of the large crowd.....during the first half. Sadly, most would leave right after half-time.

Grayling Redskin youth football

Another long Satuday of youth football in Grayling, as the Redskin teams took on the Lions from Standish, the Junior Chiefs from Cheboygan, and the Clare Pioneers. My plan was to head to Traverse City for the St. Francis game, but changed my plans and set myself on the Redskin field for 5 straight youth games, 2 3rd&4th grade games, a 5th&6th game, 7th grade game and a 8th grade game. Always fun to watch the younger players in action, and the Grayling Redskins have an excellent youth program.

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Standish Lion from the 5th & 6th grade game. I just love the colors of the Lions uniforms, and being a big Detroit Lions fan, I took a bunch of them :)


This Redskin wide receiver checks with the official to make sure he is onside.


Some photos do not seem all that great, until you get a chance to see them on your computer. 8 of the 11 Lions are in on this tackle. Something about this photo I really like.


Always some interesting photos of the younger players, and not all are when the play is going on.

Gaylord St. Mary 51 - Oscoda 6 high school football

After last week off to broadcast the Gaylord St. Mary Snowbird game on the radio, I made my way on the field for Friday night photos, and stayed home for the Snowbird game vs Oscoda, won by St. Mary 51-6. It was a wet windy night, and my plan was to head to Boyne City for the game vs Charlevoix, but with the rain coming down, just figured I would stay close to home, and try out my new rain cover that I had purchased for my camera this year, the AquaTech Sports Shield. The cover worked great on this homecoming night for the Snowbirds, as it rained from start to finish. Another dominating performance for the 'Birds as the go to 6-0 on the year, which qualifies them for the MHSAA playoffs once again, and moves them closer to a final showdown game for the Ski-Valley Conference vs. their man rivals, the Johannesburg-Lewiston Cardinals, in week 9.

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#81 Clay Becker on a 2nd-half punt return.


This just caught my eye. Why would an oar be at a high school football game? Maybe there in case the rains became worse LOL.


Loved the Oscoda uniforms, and the Oregon logo on the side. Very nice looking!!

Gaylord 7th & 8th grade football vs Traverse City St. Francis

Just a quick note, as I was able to make the last 5-minutes of the 7th grade game between Gaylord and Traverse City St. Francis, which had much action packed into that time frame, as Gaylord took home the 36-12 win over TCSF, but the 8th grade game was much different, as TCSF put a whipping on the Gaylord team 46-0. You can view all the photos from these games by clicking on the link below.

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Leland Huey and Nick Parker await the snap in the single wing offense of Gaylord.


Gaylord players in between plays.

Youth football from Joburg

Spent a portion of my Saturday attending 4 youth football games at Johannesburg-Lewiston High School, capped by the final 2 games of the local Joburg Oilers 5th/6th & 7th/8th grade teams, against Onaway Cardinals. The early games were 5th/6th & 7th/8th Atlanta Eagles vs the Rogers City Bears. It is always fun to shoot football at the youth levels, although the games can go by rather quickly. We have had so much sun in Michgan the month of September, that is has caused havoc, creating shawdows it seems every game I photograph. I long for those nice light cloudy days that let me shoot from anywhere on the field :) Both Rogers City teams dealt shutouts this day over Atlanta, while the Joburg/Onaway games split, with the Oilers taking the 5th & 6th grade game, and the Cardinals the 7th & 8th grade game.

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This Atlanta Eagle 5th & 6th grade player chases down the Rogers City player on a long run downfield.


This pass just misses in the Atlanta/Rogers City 7th & 8th grade game.

5th & 6th grade Joburg Oiler players line up for the National Anthem.

This 7th & 8th grade Onaway Cardinal cannot escape the grip of this Oiler tackler.

Mancelona 22 - Joburg 6 varsity football

My Friday night game this week to me to Johannesburg High School, for a big Ski-Vally tilt between the Cardinals of Joburg and the Ironmen of Mancelona. The Ironmen played a strong game to take the home field away from Joburg, who cam into this game rated as high as #3 in Division 8 in the State of Michigan. Mancelona exposed the Joburg pass defense on this night, and with some strong inside running by #32 Borst, and outside by #12 Dalton proved to much for the Cardinal defense to handle on this night. Joburg and Mancy still have a chance at the Ski-Valley title, which may come down to a week 9 match-up between the Cardinals and the Snowbirds at Joburg.

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