2011 Rapid River Rockets Football

Date	Result	Opponent	Record
Aug 26 Sept 1 Sept 9 Sept 16 Sept 23 Sept 30 Oct 7 Oct 14 Oct 21 Oct 29 Nov 4 Nov 12 Nov 18	W, 60-8 W, 59-0 W, 61-26 W, 58-24 W, 50-32 L, 14-20 W, 40-34 ot W, 62-18 W, 54-46 W, 52-20 W, 64-26 W, 40-0 L, 20-59	at Ewen-Trout Creek POSEN TRAV CITY CHRISTIAN at Brimley at Engadine at Cedarville SUPERIOR CENTRAL MID PENINSULA at Bellaire **EWEN-TROUT CREEK **SUPERIOR CENTRAL **ENGADINE **CARSONVILLE PT SANILAC	1-0 2-0 3-0 4-0 5-0 5-1 6-1 7-1 8-1 9-1 10-1 11-1 11-2

NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!                        Rapid River's Joe Dalgord tackles Engadine quarterback Connor Frisch during Saturday's state semifinal game in Rapid River. Left photo: Rapid River's Jake Pearson drags an Engadine player for extra yards. (Alex Pajnich photos) Pearson Scores Three TD; Defense Stifles Engadine RAPID RIVER---Is this really happening? Are the Rapid River Rockets really going to play in a football state championship game? Well, if this is a dream, none of the Rockets players, coaches, and fans want to be woken up anytime soon. The Rockets earned a spot in next week's MHSAA Division Nine (eight-player) state championship on Saturday by smothering the Engadine Eagles, 40-0, in a semifinal game in Rapid River. "It's pretty special, and a lot of people have stepped up to help," Rapid River Coach Steve Ostrenga said. "I've got to give credit to our line. Mitch Narkooli, Joe Dalgord, and another sophomore in Hayden Hardwick. And there's some guys who sub in, they've all stepped up to make this happen." "I'm really impressed with our defense," said senior Jake Anderson, who is a big part of that defense. "We played a hard game. Coach mainly wanted us to 'stay home' and recognize where the ball was going and get to it." "It's indescribable," fellow senior Zac Anderson added. "I got hurt in the second practice of the year, but I made it through therapy and I came back and gave it what I had." For the third straight week, the Rockets started the game on defense, and the Eagles put together a nice drive into Rapid River territory. But a holding penalty put the Eagles in third and long, and junior Eli Orth intercepted a Connor Frisch pass to end the scoring threat. And nine plays later Jake Pearson found Rob Metter for a 24-yard touchdown catch and run. Eli Orth (86) waits for his interception. >>> The Eagles drove again into Rockets territory, but on fourth and nine from the Rapid 22 yard-line, hevay pressure on Frisch led to an incomplete pass. The Rockets then went on a 71-yard drive in ten plays, with Pearson and Jake Berglund each getting the ball five times. Pearson scored on a three yard bootleg run, and although the two-pointer was missed, it was 12-0. Engadine tried to get cute on the next series, running a "hook and ladder" play that turned bad when Metter got in front of the second pass. The interception gave the Rockets the ball, but only briefly, as Pearson's next pass went off Cory Scovill's hands and into the arms of a diving Engadine defender. That would be Rapid River's only turnover of the day. Rapid River's defense forced a "four and out", with Metter providing a huge hit on Jeff Dishaw for a five yard loss. Then, the Rockets were not fooled by the fake punt from midfield and took possession. Pearson moved his team downfield quickly, and then it was Rapid River's turn for some trickery. Zack Pavlat lined up at quarterback and tossed one to a leaping Pearson in the corner of the end zone. It was 18-0 at halftime. In the third quarter, the Rockets took control from the kickoff, with berglund breaking off a 38-yard run to set up a one-yard plunge by Pearson. The Rockets missed the two-point play for the fourth straight time, after making all eight tries last week against Superior Central. <<<Jake Berglund (21) grabs and tackles Engadine's Jeff Dishnaw. The Eagles got it to the Rockets 25 yard line, thanks largely to a nice kickoff return. But three straight incomplete passes ended the Engadine scoring effort, and then drove his team 75 yards for another touchdown. This time, Pearson lunged high into the air to cross the goal line. And Rapid River finally made a two-point play when Pearson shoveled a pass to Metter at the three yard-line. Metter got crushed by an Eagle defender, but somehow made his way across the goal line to make it a 32-0 lead with 1:09 left. "They had me by the legs," Metter said. "So, I was like 'you know what? I might as well make an attempt'. So, I dove and tried to hit the marker." The icing on the cake came early in the fourth quarter when Berglund scored from four yards out. He had 201 yards rushing on 30 carries. "Jake has put in a lot of time the last couple of years," Ostrenga said. "He's a force. He gets the three, four, five yards, but he's also delivering a blow." And then, big Jake Anderson scored the two-pointer to make it 40-0. Engadine quarterback Connor Frisch (4) gets a good gain on this run. >>> Even when the Rockets didn't score, the one time that they punted, Metter uncorked a booming punt that had everyone in the jam-packed stadium oohing-and-ahhing. It went 73 yards, and without any bouncing on the ground. "I just stuck my toes out, hoping for the best," Metter said. "I hit the ball right and it just spiralled and went downfield. I didn't think it would go that far." Pearson ended up being involved in five touchdowns, three different ways. He scored three times on the ground (100 yards on 17 carries), threw one touchdown pass, and had a touchdown reception. Rapid River (11-1) emassed 404 yards in total offense, while Engadine (7-5) was limited to 182 yards, half of which came against the Rockets' reserve players in the fourth quarter. "The game plan, in the locker room, was to come out and hit them in the mouth," Zac Anderson said of the defensive effort. "We came out flat last week, so we decided to come out harder, and hit them, get 'em down deep. I think everyone stepped up their game today. We knew what was on the line. It was 'win or go home'." And so the Rockets have one game left to play. The state championship. In eight-man ball, not 11-man, but football is football. And Ostrenga says the move to eight-man ball was the right thing to do, win or lose. <<<Jake Berglund (21) dives to try to tackle Engadine's Robert Miller (10) "We couldn't compete in the 11-man game anymore, not for a whole season," Ostrenga said. "You get guys dinged up, then you go down to 9-through-12. We had to go 8-man, with so many Class C teams now becoming big Class D teams. It was an uneven playing field." And the playing field next will be the artificial turf of the Superior Dome. The Rockets will be facing a talented Carsonville-Port Sanilac team from the "Thumb" area of Lower Michigan. The Tigers (11-1) on Saturday scored 47 points in the first half and cruised to a 47-0 win over Marine City Cardinal Mooney. Ostrenga was in the process of getting tape of the game on Saturday to start studying the Tigers team. As for the kids? Well... "I'm really excited for it," Jake Anderson said. "I never thought we'd get this far. It happened! I guess hard work pays off." "I think it's going to be really fun," Zac Anderson added. "We've never made it there before. It's going to be an intense game." WATCH ROCKETS vs EAGLES VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS (Videos Taken by #75 Geno Constantino!) CLICK HERE  to see Jake Pearson score on a QB bootleg run. CLICK HERE  to see Jake Pearson go airborne to score another touchdown. CLICK HERE  to see Jake Berglund score on a four-yard TD run. CLICK HERE  to see Assistant Coach Bill Schram get the ice bucket bath. CLICK HERE  to see Rob Metter absorb a big hit and score two points. CLICK HERE to see big Jake Anderson score on a two-point conversion. RELIVE THE ROCKETS' 40-0 VICTORY IN CLEAR AUDIO! Click the "Rockets-Engadine First Half Highlights" button on the left side of this page to hear these plays: 1. An interception by Eli Orth. 2. Jake Pearson's touchdown pass to Rob Metter. 3. Jake Pearson's touchdown run on a bootleg. 4. A tackle for loss by Rob Metter. 5. Zack Pavlat's touchdown pass to Jake Pearson. Click the "Rockets-Engadine Second Half Highlights" button on the left side of this page to hear these plays: 1. Jake Pearson's one-yard touchdown run. 2. Jake Pearson's leaping touchdown to make it 30-0. 3. Jake Berglund's touchdown run. AND IN CASE YOU MISSED THEIR RADIO INTERVIEWS... Click the "Zack Pavlat Halftime Interview" button on the left side of this page to hear his player spotlight interview. Click the "Rob Metter Interview" button on the left side of this page to hear his post game interview. Click the "Jake Anderson Interview" button on the left side of this page to hear his post game interview. Click the "Zac Anderson Interview" button on the left side of this page to hear his post game interview.                     Rapid River's Hayden Hardwick (46) and Mitch Narkooli (55) were in complete control of the line of scrimmage on Saturday. Middle photo: the stands were packed with Rockets and Eagles supporters on a nice, sunny day. Bottom photo: Jake Pearson (7) lands after making a leaping grab of a Zack Pavlat TD pass. (Alex Pajnich photos)

REGIONAL CHAMPS, BY JAKE!                              The Rapid River Rockets celebrate their regional championship after beating Superior Central Friday. Pictured left: Jake Pearson (7) and Jake Berglund (21) were the driving force behind the win. (Thanks to injured Rockets Riley Pajnich and Geno Constantino for the photos and videos) Rockets Rout Cougars To Advance To State Final 4 RAPID RIVER---A storybook season just keeps getting better for the Rapid River High School football team. One year after the program was almost killed, after 16 losses in 18 games, and after almost ten years of playoff drought, the Rockets have put together one of the biggest turnarounds in MHSAA football history. Rapid River whipped Superior Central, 64-26, Friday night to win the MHSAA Division Nine (Eight-Man) Regional Championship. And the Rockets advanced to the state semifinals for the first time in school history. "It's a tribute to these 15 guys who came out for varsity football, and to the 13 guys who stuck it out at JV," Rapid River Coach Steve Ostrenga said, moments after getting doused by the big ice water bucket. "I love these guys. We talked about being a family, and they embraced that. They truly like each other, and they've faced their adversities together." "It's a great feeling, I can tell you that," Rockets senior Jake Anderson said. "We did it! We worked hard in practice all week, and we give it our all." Sophomore quarterback Jake Pearson rushed for 162 yards on 19 carries, and scored five touchdowns, on runs of 4, 1, 23, 31, and 12 yards. Senior tailback Jake Berglund added 149 yards on 19 carries and one score. And in the air, Pearson completed 5 of 11 passes for 104 yards and two more touchdowns: to Zac Anderson (22 yards) and Zack Pavlat (five yards). It's an offense championed by assistant coach Kurt Almonroeder, who had to convince Ostrenga to give it a shot before this season began. "I've always been a 'three yards and a cloud of dust' guy, with the single wing days, and the passing game? What the heck is that?'" Ostrenga said. "But Kurt has these guys understanding and believing in this offense, so as a (head) coach, I just step back and say, 'OK, it's your offense'." But as much as offense ruled this game, with 872 yards of total offense combined (448 by the Rockets), there were some key defensive plays that played a huge role in this Rocket win. In the first quarter, the Cougars marched down the field on a 19-play drive inside the Rockets ten yard-line. Senior Jake Anderson (45) lines up Friday night. >>> But on 4th and 4 from the 8, senior middle linebacker Mitch Narkooli made a huge play as he stuffed Superior Central's talented back, Bill Torongo, for no gain. "That's a senior stepping up," Ostrenga said. "That's a guy who's played three years of football on the varsity that stepped up. You look to your captains to make plays like that."  "I just came strong to the point of attack like my coach told me to do," Narkooli said. "Then everything fell in place and I made the tackle right there. I was pretty excited when that happened." CLICK HERE  to watch the video of Narkooli's pivitol defensive play. The play was a huge momentum-changer. The Rockets took the ball on a 92-yard drive, capped off by a 22-yard touchdown pass from Pearson to Zac Anderson. The two-point pass to Cory Scovill made it 8-0. The Cougars came back, however, on an 84-yard, four play drive, which ended with Torongo ripping off a 20-yard TD run. The two-point run failed, as Narkooli made an open-field tackle at the three yard-line. Both offenses sputtered for a while until the Rockets got a nice punt return from Scovill to the Cougar 43 yard-line. Seven plays later, Pearson hit Pavlat with a shovel pass for a five-yard score. Pearson ran in the two point conversion run to put the Rockets ahead, 16-6. The Cougars had an answer again, as they drove 65 yards in 11 plays, with junior quarterback Trevor Maki scoring from one yard out. But once again, the Cougars could not convert the two-point play, as Rob Metter rushed the quarterback and swatted away an intended two-point pass. CLICK HERE  to watch the Pearson-to-Pavlat shovel for six points! CLICK HERE  to watch Trevor Maki score for Superior Central. Rapid River still had two minutes to work with, and Pearson drove his team downfield, scoring himself from four yards out with 23.8 seconds left in the half. A pass to a diving Pavlat for two points made it 24-12. <<<Rapid River's Joe Dalgord (88) tackles SC's Cody Ransier as Jake Anderson (45) gets ready to pounce. In the third quarter, everything was on the ground. And Berglund took advantage with runs of 20, 8, and 9 yards on the team's first series, setting up a Pearson one-yard TD run. That touchdown made it 30-12. And a pass to Hayden Hardwick for two points made it a 32-12 Rockets lead. When Superior Central (8-3) got the ball back, the Cougars faced fourth and eight at the midfield stripe. That's when Jake Anderson came through with a sack of Maki. The ten-yard loss turned the ball over on downs, setting the Rockets up in good field position. Pearson took advantage by breaking off a 23-yard run into the red zone, and Berglund scored from four yards out. Another pass to Pavlat tacked on two more points, making it 40-12. The Cougars scored a quick touchdown on a 15-yard pass from Maki to Cody Ransier, but Rapid River got that score back when Pearson scampered 23 yards for a touchdown with 1:13 left in the quarter. A two-point pass to Scovill made it 48-18 Rockets. Then things fell apart for the Cougars. They completed a 31-yard pass from Maki to Dan Steward, but the next pass was intercepted. Rapid River wasted no time in scoring, as Berglund got loose for a 55-yard run and Pearson took it in on the next play from 31 yards away. Berglund made the two-point run, and Rapid River was ahead, 56-18. The mercy rule? Running clock? Against Superior Central? Yep! And things got even worse for the Cougars when they tried a triple-reverse play and fumbled the ball. Who was there to recover the ball? Yep. Narkooli! "I saw the first reverse," Narkooli said with a big grin. "I stayed home, just because, who knows what they're going to do? So they tried to pull the second reverse and he fumbled it, and it was right there. I jumped on it!" Pearson put the icing on the cake with a 12-yard touchdown run, and Zac Anderson ran in the two-pointer, making it a 64-18 Rockets rout. CLICK HERE  to see Pearson's final touchdown run of the night. Torongo was held to 71 yards on eleven carries as the Cougars needed to pass after falling behind. That made Rockets senior Joe Dalgord happy. "We definitely stepped it up from the last game," Dalgord said. "We stopped them on defense a couple of times and that feels great. We worked hard in practice on limiting his (Torongo's) yards per carry, and tried to stop him because he's their main offensive player." Both teams brought in their reserves for the fourth quarter, and Superior Central's Colton Gauthier scored a late touchdown. But that did nothing to take away from the moment for the Rockets, who hugged each other and held their helmets high after accepting the Regional Championship trophy. "It's exciting," Berglund said. "You'd never know a couple years ago that we'd be here." "Hats off to these 28 guys who stuck it out here, what a tribute to these young men," Ostrenga said. "I hope they take this experience and when the chips are down, remember that you can come through adversity." Rapid River (10-1) will face Engadine in the state semifinals. WATCH MORE ROCKETS vs COUGARS VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS CLICK HERE to see Hayden Hardwick catch a two-point conversion pass. CLICK HERE  to see Zack Pavlat make a diving two-point pass reception. CLICK HERE  to see Rockets Coach Steve Ostrenga get doused by Cory Scovill. RELIVE THE ROCKETS' 64-26 VICTORY IN CLEAR AUDIO! Click the "Rockets-Cougars First Half Highlights" button on the left side of this page to hear the following plays: 1. Mitch Narkooli's huge fourth down play on Bill Torongo. 2. Jake Pearson's touchdown pass to Zac Anderson. 3. Jake Pearson's shovel pass to Zack Pavlat for a touchdown. 4. Rob Metter's deflection of a Cougar two-point pass attempt. 5. Jake Pearson's touchdown run just before halftime. Click the "Rockets-Cougars 2nd Half Highlights" button on the left side of this page to hear the following plays: 1. Jake Pearson's four-yard touchdown run. 2. Jake Anderson's sack of Trevor Maki on fourth down. 3. Jake Berglund's touchdown run. 4. Jake Pearson's seventh and final touchdown of the game. 5. Countdown of the game's final seven seconds. Click the "Mitch Narkooli Halftime Interview" button on the left side of this page to hear his player spotlight interview.                     Injured Rockets Riley Pajnich (left) and Geno Constantino (75) pose with the regional championship trophy with Assistant Coach Kurt Almonroeder after Friday's big win!

WAKE-UP CALL RECEIVED                  Rapid River quarterback Zack Pavlat (5) prepares to hand to Jake Berglund (21) as Rob Metter (20) and Corey Scovill (10) block against Ewen. (Chris Morgan photo) Rockets Overwhelm Panthers After Sluggish First Half RAPID RIVER---It didn't matter how many times Rapid River football coach Steve Ostrenga told his kids to ignore Ewen Trout-Creek's record. It also didn't matter that he told them to forget about the 60-8 drubbing the Rockets placed on the Panthers back in August. Kids are kids, and for a long stretch of Saturday's playoff game, the Rockets seemed to be going through the motions. Arm tackles. Dropped passes. You name it. The Rockets went into the locker room on Saturday holding a slim 14-6 lead, and Ostrenga and his assistant coaches had seen enough. "I had the word 'focus' at the beginning of the game on the (locker room) board," Ostrenga said. "I slapped the board and told them 'you've got to focus. You've got to do your job. We've got to be aggressive'. Then Coach (Kurt) Almonroeder gave his fiery speech, and we talked and made some adjustments." All of the above worked as the Rockets scored 24 unanswered points in the third quarter and posted a 52-20 victory over the Panthers. It was Rapid River's first playoff win since 2001, and its first playoff game since 2002. But it wasn't easy. Ewen took the opening kickoff and drove to the Rapid River two yard-line, using 7:59 of the clock on 17 plays that included a pair of fourth down conversions. The Rockets stopped the Panthers on 4th and goal, but it took until the second quarter for Rapid River to score. Zack Pavlat started the game at quarterback as Jake Pearson nursed a bum ankle. <<<Zach Pavlat (5) rolls out. But Pearson eventually came into the game to jump start the offense, and it took just one play for Jake Berglund to roll 85 yards down the sidelines with 10:11 left in the half. Later, Pearson hooked up with Pavlat for an 11-yard touchdown, and a pass to Berglund made it a 14-0 game. CLICK HERE  to watch Pearson's touchdown pass to Pavlat. But the Panthers, despite a 2-7 record, did not give up. They drove 64 yards downfield and scored on a Logan Maki-to-Lane Brown touchdown pass of 15 yards. It would be the only pass the Panthers would throw all day, but it had them within a score halfway through the game. None of that was a surprise to Ostrenga. "I saw them come out with an 11-play drive to the five yard-line against Superior Central, so I knew they were doing something different," Ostrenga said. "And sure enough, they had #68 (Keith Kauss) in the backfield. He wasn't there before; he was on the offensive line. Our guys were looking at their backs, trying to figure out which way they were gonna go. "We got caught flat-footed." The players knew that the first half performance was not good enough. "I was kind of surprised," Pearson said. "They looked a lot better than last time. They adjusted to us pretty good. Our defense was pretty poor. We didn't wrap up very good. We had to do better on that in the second half." After Ostrenga got some defensive tips from former Rockets coach Greg Rubick at halftime, the Panthers were unable to do much until they scored twice against the Rapid River freshmen and JV players. But before that happened, the Rockets also took control of the game offensively. Logan Maki carried the load for Ewen. >>> They took the second half kickoff and marched 67 yards, with Pearson scoring from one yard out and then passing to Zach Anderson for two points. Then after Ewen went three-and-out, Berglund got loose for a 50-yard TD run. The two-point pass to Pavlat made it 30-6. The Panthers managed to drive to the Rocket 20, but turned it over on downs as their workhorse, Logan Maki, was stopped shy of the first down marker. Three plays later, Pearson threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Berglund. And then the two-pointer to lineman Hayden Hardwick. 38-6! CLICK HERE to watch Berglund's 50-yard touchdown run. CLICK HERE  to see the Pearson-to-Berglund 40-yard TD pass. CLICK HERE  to see the two-point pass to Hayden Hardwick. "We started passing a lot more (in the second half)," Pearson said. "Underneath, it was wide open." Rapid River forced another three-and-out, and after a short punt gave them the ball in Panther territory, Pavlat scored from one yard out. The two point pass to Mitch Narkooli made it 46-6. That set the clock in motion. Maki and Ryan Perttula scored late touchdowns for the Panthers, and freshman Josh Parrett closed the scoring for the Rockets. Berglund led the way, as usual, on the ground, chewing up 227 yards on just eleven carries, and two long touchdown runs. He also caught two passes for 47 yards and a score, plus a two-point conversion catch. <<<Berglund goes out for a pass. "Jake Berglund is one heck of a running back," Ostrenga said. "Last year, he was a good running back, but he tweeked his ankle and he was never the same. This year, you're seeing the Jake Berglund that I see in practice all the time. The kid runs hard, and he didn't get as many opportunities because they were keying on him when #7 wasn't in there." When Pearson was in there, he completed 7 of 9 passes for 141 yards. Pavlat caught five of those passes for 94 yards. Rapid River had 452 yards of total offense, with 276 of those yards coming in the second half. Ewen-Trout Creek had 324 yards of offense, with Maki running 28 times for 153 yards and a touchdown. Perttula had 104 yards on 13 carries, and Kauss added 54 yards on 14 touches. Rapid River hosts Superior Central next Friday night. The Rockets beat the Cougars in an emotional game in double overtime last month. This time, it will be for a regional championship, and a spot in the state semifinals against either Cedarville or Engadine. Friday's game is set to start at 7:00. It will be broadcast live on WGKL-FM (105.5) and WCHT-AM (600). WATCH MORE ROCKETS vs PANTHERS VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS (Thanks Chris Morgan for taking all the videos and pictures on here) CLICK HERE  to see a two-point conversion pass to Zach Anderson. CLICK HERE  to see Pearson score on a one-yard touchdown run. CLICK HERE  to see Jake Anderson say "hello" to ETC's Logan Maki. LISTEN TO ROCKETS vs PANTHERS AUDIO HIGHLIGHTS Click the 'RAPID RIVER 52 EWEN TROUT CREEK 20" button on the left side of this page to hear radio replays of Pearson's touchdown pass to Pavlat, plus two of Berglund's TD runs. Click the "Jake Berglund Interview" button at left to hear his halftime interview.

Rapid River Outslugs Bellaire; Share BAC Title  The Rapid River Rockets completed their first-ever "Eight-man" football season with an impressive win over the defending state runners-up Friday night. Rapid River beat the Bellaire Eagles, 54-46, in Bellaire, to earn a share of the Bridge Alliance Conference title. Cedarville earned the other half of the title with a 54-0 win over Mid Peninsula. Rapid River finished the regular season with an 8-1 record and made the playoffs for the first time since 2002.                 Rapid River quarterback Jake Pearson (7) throws during a game against Brimley.