Northern cruises past Mott with 499 yards of offense

After two heartbreaking losses at home to start the season, Walled Lake Northern rolled into Waterford Mott and cruised to its first victory of the season, 53-14, on Friday, Sept. 14.

With the win, the Knights (1-2, 1-0 in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association North Division) avoided an 0-3 start that could have had their season circling the drain.

“I thought we played very well. It was a frustration game,” Northern Head Coach Brett Moore said. “We were frustrated from the previous two games. We wanted to make sure that we improve on both sides of the ball from here until the end of the season.”

Mott Head Coach Chris Fahr said that for the second straight week, his team played well but that he and his coaching staff didn’t execute.

“We just have to get used to working with each other,” Fahr said after his Corsairs fell to 1-2 and 0-1 in the KLAA North.

Northern grabbed a 22-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to the arm and feet of quarterback Collin O’Donnell, who rushed for a 77-yard touchdown, threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Matt Kosmalski and ran for an 11-yard touchdown.

O’Donnell also scored on a two-point conversion, as did Jake Ginster.

Alex Moorer scored Mott’s first touchdown on a 32-yard run to pull the Corsairs within 15 at the end of the first quarter.

But Ginster would then score on two straight touchdown runs for Northern from 3 yards and 2 yards out to start the second quarter.

After Dakota Kupp threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Justice Bolling for Mott, Kosmalski caught his second touchdown of the night for Northern on a 27-yard pass from Chase Burton and Andrew Fee blasted a 42-yard field goal to put the Knights up 46-14 at halftime.

Burton’s 30-yard touchdown pass to Ginster would mark the only scoring of the second half as Northern traveled home with a huge victory that it hopes will put its season back on track.

The Knights dominated the Corsairs by garnering 499 total yards, with 350 yards coming on the ground, compared to 169 total yards for the Corsairs.

The only blemish for Northern was its 12 penalties, which accounted for 138 yards.

O’Donnell finished with 134 yards rushing and two touchdowns while completing 3-of-6 passes for 48 yards and a touchdown.

Kosmalski also had 13 carries for 134 yards and two touchdowns while catching three receptions for 83 yards and a touchdown.

Burton also completed 4-of-6 passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns for Northern.

On defense, Garrett had five total tackles for the Knights while Kosmalski and Gieselman each had four.

Kupp completed 10-of-17 passes for 90 yards and a touchdown for Mott, while Bolling had three catches for 55 yards and a touchdown. Moorer had 19 carries for 100 yards and a touchdown, while on defense, Brennan Schneider had 11 tackles.

The Knights will now prepare to host defending KLAA North Division champion Walled Lake Western on Friday, Sept. 14.

Meanwhile, after a promising season-opening win on the road at Wayne Memorial, Mott has now lost two straight games in blowout fashion.

It won’t get easier for the Corsairs as they will face Walled Lake Central on the road on Friday.