Junior Matt Dellinger’s quick actions turned Royal Oak’s mistake into a triumph for Clarkston in the Wolves’ Homecoming game.
The Ravens had recovered the football on their own 13-yard line after Quarterback Nick Demattia fumbled the ball. Dellinger swept in as Royal Oak fumbled the ball on their 2-yard line to give Clarkston possession of the ball again.
As the clock counted down the last seconds of the first half, Demattia passed the ball to Junior Shavanta Brown, who went in for the touchdown, sending the boys to the locker room, 28-0.
Two more touchdowns from Dellinger and Ben Kaminsky capped off the night, 41-7.
“It felt good to get in there and be able to help the team,” said Brown. “We have all been working hard during practice, trying to get better.”
The Wolves scored their first touchdown when Phil Sims intercepted Royal Oak’s pass on the their 13-yard line. He ran down the field and into the endzone with 4:25 left in the first quarter.
The next two came from running back Joey Goss. The first was from a 1-yard run with a few seconds left in the first quarter. He struck again six minutes later on a 8-yard run.
Alex Barta scored four PATs in his five attempts and Brian Benway made one.
“Shavanta Brown did a great job,” Wolves Head Coach Kurt Richardson said. “He runs the ball every day on the scout team. He deserved it. We probably should’ve gotten him the second one but I didn’t want to rub it into Royal Oak.”
Another outstanding performance he saw was from Kaminsky.
“Ben also did a good job and is moving up the ladder,” Richardson said. “We finally got him back and got him healthy.”
Though the Ravens remained scoreless until the third quarter, Richardson saw flaws continue as the game was played.
“They were struggling learning some things right now,” he said. “They aren’t doing the things they are coached.”
Brown agreed adding, “we could have done better.”
The win puts the Wolves record, 5-0 in OAA Red and 6-1 overall, qualifying them for the district playoffs.
The next few weeks will put Clarkston to the test. They head to Farmington High School (7-0, 6-0 OAA White) on Friday and face their Lake Orion rivals, also undefeated on Oct. 22.
“We have to play a whole lot better than we did tonight,” said Richardson. “Or we will get thumped.”
The boys play at 7 p.m.