Montague football unable to play keep-away in loss to Ludington

MONTAGUE — Montague's offensive strategy Friday night against Ludington wasn't much different than the one it employed the previous week against rival Whitehall - hold onto the ball and keep an explosive opponent's offense off the field.

The strategy nearly worked against Whitehall in a close loss. It was less successful Friday because the Wildcats were unable to hold onto the ball, turning it over six times in a 49-0 defeat to the Orioles. The last time Montague was shut out was two years ago against Whitehall.

Montague (1-4, 1-3 West Michigan Conference Lakes) had turnovers on the final three of its four first-half possessions (although the last one, an interception in the end zone on the final play of the half, was no different than an incompletion given the circumstances). Its first possession was largely successful, as the 'Cats moved the ball into Ludington territory, but Kian Peters had to jump on a fumble for lost yardage to save possession, which led to the drive stalling out.

Montague was in position to get a third-down stop on the ensuing Oriole possession, but Oriole quarterback Cameron Gunsell escaped defensive pressure and found junior speedster Taj Williams for a 64-yard gain on third down. Williams then scored on a jet sweep pass the next play.

Gunsell would make several plays like that the rest of the game - he was responsible for four scores running or passing - but Montague coach Phil Koops was just as impressed with the offensive line protecting Gunsell and making a lot of those plays possible.

"I want to credit those guys," Koops said. "They pass protect and they run block, and they do a good job up front. It's not just backyard football with some really fast, talented kids running around. They do some unique things on offense and some good things that really play to (Gunsell's) talents."

Williams is just one of several Ludington skill players that presented new challenges to Montague. Orioles' freshman Mikey Himes displayed great speed and instincts throughout the game as well, including that end-of-half pick, which came after the ball deflected off two other players. Brother Messiah Himes had a pick-six for Ludington in the final minutes.

"You just get stretched so thin as a defense," Koops said of trying to slow down Ludington. "You've got to fit their run scheme and then you've got to fit things in a way that you've got to have an extra free player there to make the tackle, because the first guy is probably not going to get them on the ground."

Montague was also dealing with injuries. Explosive receiver Cole Moss was out for the game, as were, Koops said, three starting offensive linemen.

"We had hurt kids all over the place tonight," Koops said. "We had musical chairs up front on the offensive line...those make for hard nights."

Even the one bright spot for Montague, an interception by Dane Roesler on Ludington's first third-quarter possession, worked out poorly for the Wildcats, because when Roesler landed from making the catch, he was at his own two-yard line. The Wildcats got one first down on the ensuing drive, but had to punt, and Ludington went down the field for a touchdown that made the score 28-0.

Three of Montague's six turnovers were fumbles, and two of those were on botched read option exchanges (as was the fumble Peters jumped on early in the game). As much as the Wildcats would prefer the tweaks made to the playbook overnight would seamlessly take, these things take time - and more so when injuries force changes to the personnel.

"It's part of the growing pains of trying to run some option offense," Koops said. "We threw some interceptions that were bad. You just don't want to put handcuffs on the kids and not call certain plays. You can't do that. You've got to run your offense and do what you do."