Almont caps 7-0 BWAC season

ALMONT — Almont varsity football made it back-to-back seasons as unbeaten Blue Water Area Conference champions, accomplishing the feat with a 35-14 triumph against visiting North Branch last Friday night.

With the decision, Almont moves to 8-0 and 7-0. North Branch slips to 5-3 and 4-3.

In Friday’s contest, Almont spotted North Branch a 7-0 edge after one quarter was over with.

Quarter two would see North Branch generate seven points as did Almont, putting them up 14-7 at the half.

When the action resumed, Almont struck with a 13-0 third quarter edge. That staked the Raiders to a 20-14 advantage at the time.

Almont followed that up with a 15-0 fourth quarter edge, closing out a 35-14 outcome.

The victorious Almont side produced their 35-point total aided by a Luke Winkler 57-yard touchdown run (followed by a successful extra point kick courtesy of Sean O’Neil); a Winkler 55-yard touchdown run (followed by an accurate extra point kick from O’Neil); a Winkler nine-yard touchdown run; a Jacob Stewart 25-yard touchdown run (followed by a PAT tote by Stewart); and a Chase Battani one-yard touchdown run (followed by a successful extra point kick courtesy of O’Neil).

For the evening, Chase Davedowski completed three of six pass plays for 61 yards as Almont’s quarterback. He threw zero interceptions en route to those numbers.

His successful tosses went to two different targets. Winkler (two catches for 19 yards) and Battani (one reception for 42 yards) formed that group.

The Almont ground attack managed 259 yards on 27 totes.

Winkler (eight rushes for 158 yards) and Stewart (61 yards on eight totes) put up Almont’s best totals. The remaining 11 Raider rushes netted a combined 40-yard gain.

Cohen Ferqueron (three solos and 16 assists), Battani (six solos and eight assists) Eric Haddon (four solos and five assists) plus Colten Karbel and Dominic Medley (nine assists each) supplied the top Almont tackle outputs. Tim Miller (one solo and six assists) made his presence felt as well.

The Almont defense also wound up with a pair of takeaways. Miller and Karbel (a fumble recovery apiece) provided those.

Almont will look to close out a perfect regular season run this Friday when it travels to Detroit Edison. The non-league matchup lists a 7 p.m. starting time.