FOOTBALL: ‘Gritty’ Wolverines fall just short at Tuscola

Change a play here, a play there, and Polk County might well have left Tuscola’s C.E. Weatherby Stadium on the better end of the scoreboard.

One thing that Wolverine head coach Dustin Fry wouldn’t change, though, is the fight that Polk County showed, especially in a second half in which Polk’s offense barely touched the ball.

“Gritty,” Fry called Polk’s performance. It was enough to keep the Wolverines deadlocked with the Mountaineers until a fourth-quarter touchdown proved the deciding factor between the two teams for the second straight season, Tuscola winning this matchup 21-14.

Jett Bartley’s third touchdown pass of the night, a 15-yarder to Elijah Pruitt with 8:46 remaining, gave Tuscola (1-1) a lead it wouldn’t lose. Aiding that was the fact that the Mountaineers possessed the ball for 19:35 of the 24 minutes in the second half, running 38 offensive plays to Polk County’s 10. It meant the Wolverines had precious few chances to score, especially in the waning minutes.

But after a first half in which Fry felt the Wolverines were a bit flat, the spirit shown in the final minutes proved encouraging.

“We challenged them at halftime and, man, they responded,” Fry said. “That’s really good to see.

“It feels like last year a little bit (Polk’s 29-23 loss to Tuscola), even though we didn’t have the lead. But it was gritty as hell by them.”

The Wolverines (1-1) trailed 14-7 at halftime and went into the locker room stunned by Bartley’s 63-yard touchdown pass to Bo West with nine seconds left in the half. Tuscola (1-1) opened the third quarter with possession and immediately began driving, reaching the Polk 22 and facing a third-and-5.

Bartley looked for a receiver across the middle but found Donte Tingling instead, with the Polk senior snaring the interception, weaving past Bartley and racing 84 yards to the end zone. Billy Booker’s extra point evened the score at 14 with 7:49 left in the third period.

Tuscola responded with a drive into the Polk red zone; the Wolverine defense got back-to-back sacks from Aaron Dickey and Zalen McCraw to stop the threat. An interception, though, returned the ball to Tuscola near midfield. And so began a penalty-filled six-minute span, flags flying both ways, that ended when Tuscola converted a fourth-and-6 at the Polk 23 and followed that with Bartley’s strike to Pruitt.

That play proved doubly painful for the Wolverines; Loreynzo Sanchez suffered an ankle injury and missed the remainder of the game. The severity of Sanchez’s injury was unknown at game’s end.

The Wolverines mounted a final charge on their final drive, pushing to the Tuscola 49 before failing to convert a fourth-and-5 with 4:08 to go. The Mountaineers kept the ball the rest of the way.

“I wish I had made a better call on fourth-and-5,” Fry said.

Tuscola scored on its first drive, Bartley tossing a 17-yard scoring pass to West to give the Mountaineers a 6-0 lead just two minutes into the game. The Wolverines responded late in the first period, with Sanchez taking a fourth-and-6 flip from Gunnar Alm, cutting inside and back out and racing 37 yards to the end zone. Booker’s extra point gave Polk a 7-6 lead with 13 seconds left in the first.

The Wolverines had a long drive in the second period stopped at the Tuscola 23, then another end at the Mountaineer 30 with 33 seconds left. That led to Bartley’s bomb to West, the speedy sophomore slipping behind the Polk secondary, hauling in the pass and scampering to the end zone to delight what had become a quiet Tuscola home crowd. Tuscola’s 2-point conversion made it 14-6.

A different-looking Polk County team would emerge from the locker room. Fry hopes to see them again next Friday as the Wolverines return home to face Blue Ridge (S.C).

“For a young team, the way they responded, I’m very proud of them,” he said. “They fought the second half. They really wanted this. Hopefully, we can respond and come back against Blue Ridge.”

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