PETOSKEY — Well before the 2024 season began, the Petoskey football team set a goal to complete a Big North Conference title together.
Leading up to Friday, they had done nothing but knock off each step to that major goal.
And on Friday, perfection was achieved.
With a 61-0 victory over Sault Ste. Marie, the Northmen earned their first Big North title since 2011, marking a 6-0 league standing.
“They are very clearly focused and determined,” Petoskey head coach Jim Webb said. “They’re a tight-knit group and you don’t know who is going to step up and make plays, but someone is going to step up and make a play. It’s been a fun group. They started this several years ago, but since last year they’ve been determined.”
Now 8-0 overall on the season and 6-0 within the league, it’s the first time they’ve reached 8-0 since that 2011 season as well.
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First quarter eruption
Petoskey started the night playing about as well as a team could possibly, opening Webb’s eyes even in a 42-0 lead after one quarter.
Webb has been coaching quite a few years and he doesn’t believe he’s coached a team to a 42-0 lead on the scoreboard after just 12 minutes, let alone seen it.
“Not too many,” he said with a laugh. “It’s a great group of guys.”
Petoskey scored on every possession of the first quarter, showing no issue of getting in the endzone.
“That was the thing,” Webb said. “We told them that good teams will come out and take this right off the bat, execute and stay focused on it. Obviously, they did that the first few drives.”
What was even better for the game in Webb’s eyes was that it was seven different players doing the scoring.
Senior quarterback Korbin Sulitis led the way with four carries for 64 yards and a touchdown, then went 5 for 7 with 139 yards and three scores through the air.
Along with Sulitis, Brenden Swiss had three carries for 34 yards and a score and scored on a 72-yard reception, Seth Marek had two grabs for 41 yards and a score, Mitch Eberhart had three catches for 35 yards and a score, Fred Hollerback had six carries for 84 yards and a touchdown and Haden Janes, Justin Klein and Lukas Nemec all added touchdowns.
“Once we got rolling, we thought, ‘Let’s see if we can get there.’” Webb said. “That was kind of fun.”
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Home wrapped up for now
With how Petoskey is playing, a home playoff game is likely in their future, though for now, that marked the final regular season game for the Northmen.
Webb was happy to see another large PHS crowd on hand and had to say something about the Homecoming crowd that showed up the week prior against Marquette.
“We had an outstanding crowd here against Marquette last week, the Pink committee did an outstanding job, the Homecoming committee did a great job and now this tops it off,” he said. “It’s ours outright and it’ll be on the board for a while now.”
Job’s not done
The Northmen will celebrate the win over the Sault over the weekend, but they’ll have to get right back to work against a Clare team that they fell to in a 28-14 game last season.
Clare was off to a 6-1 start to the season entering Friday night.
“They came up here last year and beat us on our home field,” added Webb. “They’re in the playoff hunt and I’m sure they would love to knock us out of our perfect season.”
Note: Check for more on a PHS senior early next week.
Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Petoskey completes the BNC job, earns outright conference title
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