Gaylord, JoBurg fall victim to big time rushing performances during Week 8

Eight weeks down, one to go.

The high school football season has officially reached the final stretch as teams wrap up Week 8 this weekend, giving everyone one more matchup before Selection Sunday.

Gaylord St. Mary, Otsego County's lone playoff contender, had the week off after picking up a forfeit win over Engadie. That meant Gaylord and Johannesburg-Lewiston represented the Gaylord-area last Friday, with JoBurg hosting its homecoming game against Mancelona while Gaylord was on the road playing one of the top teams in Division 6, Jackson Lumen Christi.

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Catch up with the high school football action in Week 8:

Gaylord shows growth in loss to Lumen Christi

If this game was played in Week 1, Gaylord may have been in a whole lot more trouble.

The early season Blue Devils struggled to move the football and score points as they cycled through quarterbacks and offensive styles through the first five weeks. Since their Week 6 win over Alpena, however, the Blue Devils have looked like a new team with sophomore Andrew Szymoniak taking snaps.

All that nearly culminated in an impressive Week 8 victory over one of the best teams in the state, but the Titans showed the poise that helped them win a D7 state title last season, pulling away for a 37-20 victory to drop Gaylord to 2-6 overall.

It was a back-and-forth game all night, with Gaylord answering the bell anytime JLC scored and trailing by two points entering the fourth quarter. They couldn't stop senior Kadale Williams; the senior Central Michigan commit went for 251 yards and three touchdowns, all three scores coming in the second half and the last two in the fourth quarter icing away the Titans' 37-20 victory.

Still, Gaylord showed a ton of growth from Week 1 to Week 8 not just on offense, but as a team, going from four-straight shutout losses to competing with the top-ranked team in D6. It was also more proof that Szymoniak is the right guy at quarterback as he went for 75 yards on the ground with two touchdowns while completing 7 of 10 passes for 82 yards.

Bennett runs away from JoBurg, Cards fall to 1-6

JoBurg was in a game with Northern Michigan Football Conference-Legacy foe Mancelona, entering the fourth quarter trailing by two scores, but junior quarterback Jackson Bennett scored five total touchdowns and helped the Ironmen run away with a 40-12 victory late.

Senior quarterback Kyler Nowak ran for 68 yards and a touchdown, leading JL on the ground while also completing two passes for 27 yards, Fellow senior Nate Hummell ran for 66 yards and another TD.

Head coach Joe Smokevitch hopes to run the fullback with more consistency in their Week 9 matchup with Manton to hopefully come away with one more win in 2024.

"We're just not running the fullback consistently, and we need to in order to open up other stuff" Smokevitch said. "We weren't able to do that, so that's something we have to find a way to do."

Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Gaylord, JoBurg fall victim to big time rushing performances during Week 8