Imlay City falls to rival, 33-7

IMLAY CITY — Imlay City wound up with a 33-7 road loss to North Branch in a Blue Water Area Conference varsity football clash last Friday night.

With the decision, North Branch moves to 2-1 and 2-0. Imlay City falls to 1-2 and 0-2.

North Branch is a big strong physical team,” Imlay City Coach Dave Brown commented. “We need to be more consistent on both sides of the ball to compete for four quarters,” he noted.

“I believe in what we are doing and the guys we have. We will keep working to get better.”

In Friday’s clash, Imlay City spotted North Branch a 14-0 advantage after one quarter was over with and trailed 21-7 at the half.

That was followed by a scoreless third quarter.

North Branch then outscored Imlay City 12-0 the rest of the way, putting the finishing touches on a 33-7 win.

Imlay City produced their seven-point total aided by a Brady Homer to Brett Lestage 52-yard touchdown pass (followed by an accurate extra point kick courtesy of Josue Zepeda).

For the night, Homer completed five of 14 pass plays for 70 yards as Imlay City’s quarterback.

His successful tosses went to four different targets. Lestage (two catches for 59 yards), Trystan Whiting (one reception for six yards), Eddie Dervishi (one catch for three yards) and Quinten Towell (one reception for two yards).

The Imlay City ground attack managed 56 yards on 24 totes.

Individually, Daniel Rojas (six rushes for 17 yards) and Homer (17 yards on 10 totes) paced Imlay City. The remaining eight Spartan rushes netted a combined 22-yard gain.

Lestage (nine) and Travis Tramontana (eight) supplied the highest Imlay City tackle totals. They were backed by Noah Gaboyes (five stops) along with Rojas and Homer (four tackles each).

The Imlay City defense also registered one takeaway.  Lestage (an interception) provided that.

Imlay City will look to bounce back this Friday when it visits Yale. The Blue Water Area Conference matchup is slated to get underway at 7 p.m.