NCA Jets Begin Title Defense With Rout Of Rockets

POWERS---The title defense has begun for the North Central Jets.

The defending Eight-Man state football champions scored on every first half possession and flattened the Rapid River Rockets, 64-0, Friday night in Powers.

Jason Whitens ran for two touchdowns and threw for five others as the Jets rolled to a 56-0 lead at the half. The starters did not play at all in the second half, with that final 24 minutes being played on the running clock under the mercy rule.

North Central stayed undefeated at 10-0, after going 13-0 last season in its first campaign as an Eight-Man football program.

"We're happy to have a great group of guys here," Whitens said. "Everyone contributed to this win. We couldn't win without all of our linemen, all of our skilled guys, the sophomores that came up off that JV team and played hard. They executed."

"The kids picked up the blitz well when they tried to blitz," NCA Coach Kevin Bellefeuil said. "Marcus (Krachinski) is a great receiver. He runs great routes and has excellent hands."

"Dylan Gagne has been coming on for us strong the past three, four, five weeks. He was good tonight. Lucas Dombrowski caught a few balls for us out there," Bellefeuil continued. "Hunter Riley did a good job for us in the second half because at that point, with the running clock, our guys were healthy, and I wanted to jeep them that way."

Whitens scored the first two touchdowns of the game on runs of 11 and 14 yards, and then he hooked up with Marcus Krachinski on a beautiful pass along the sideline for a 51-yard touchdown. Bobby Kleiman then got into the act with a 15-yard touchdown run, giving the Jets a 28-0 lead with still 3:21 left in the first quarter.

Rapid River (6-4) then had its best offensive drive of the night, as senior quarterback Mason Berglund passed to fellow senior Austin Wicklund for an 11-yard gain.

A 15-yard penalty moved the ball into Jets territory, and then Beglund hooked up with Logan Hardwick for a 20-yard pass to the NCA seven yard line.

But the Rockets' best chance to score came to an end when Krachinski out-jumped Hardwick for an interception in the end zone, turning the ball back over to the Jets. Then came a scary moment for the entire stadium, as Kleiman broke free for a 45-yard run into Rapid River territory.

The Rockets' Jarrett LaCasse tried to make the tackle, and got twisted around.

He was down on the field (but conscious the whole time) for more than 30 minutes with a neck injury as they waited for a Hermasnville ambulance to arrive.

LaCasse was taken to St. Francis Hospital, and then transferred to Marquette General Hospital for evaluation. LaCasse had an MRI taken and was to see a neurologist early Saturday morning, according to his mother, Johanna Thorbahn.

After the lengthy time out, the Jets put the game away as Whitens threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Kleiman, and then threw three straight TD passes of five, 14, and ten yards to Dylan Gagne. That made it a 56-0 lead at halftime.

Whitens completed 15 of 19 passes for 248 yards and five touchdowns.

Krachinski caught six passes for 112 yards. Gagne had five catches for 59 yards, and Kleiman had four catches for 77 yards. And all of this in the first half of play.

On the ground, Whitens rushed four times for 51 yards (and two TD), while Kleiman rushed for 136 yards on eight carries and one score.

North Central had 435 yards of total offense in the first half of the contest.

The only touchdown of the second half was on a 12-yard run by Travis Bentley, with backup quarterback Hunter Riley engineering a 54-yard drive with passes to Lucas Dombrowski (18 yards) and Shaun Gogolewski (24 yards) along the way.

Rapid River turned the ball over three times, with two interceptions and a fumble.

Rockets quarterback Mason Berglund finished his four-year career by making the playoffs in all four years. He rushed for 90 yards on 23 carries, and completed 7 of 18 passes for 57 yards. Hardwick caught three passes and Wicklund caught two.

North Central hosts Forest Park next Friday night. The game will be broadcast live on WUPF-FM (Eagle 107.3), and on-line at www.radioresultsnetwork.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see videos and photos taken by Mike Dagenis, and to listen to interveiws with Berglund, Whitens, Ryan Plunger, and Coach Kevin Bellefueil.