By Mike Moore Photo by Ryan Kerwin, JTV Sports
Staff Writer
Michigan Center — The streak was a dominant one, a one-way ticket to victory every year from 2007 through 2015.
In that span, the Michigan Center football team faced Napoleon nine times.
All nine times the Cardinals exited with a win — many of them lopsided.
That all changed last fall when the Pirates beat Center 33-20 in Week 3, and then ended the Cardinals’ season with a 25-24 win in a Division 6 playoff opener.
The teams are set to meet for the first time since last October Friday night at Center.
“Our goal going into our first home game was to be 2-0 and getting ready to face one of the top teams in the conference,” Center coach Troy Allen said. “That’s what we’ve been able to do.”
The Cardinals opened the year with an impressive 35-6 win over Climax-Scotts before last weekends, well, less-than impressive 15-0 win over Hanover-Horton.
“The offense is a work in progress,” Allen said. “We’re dealing with some injuries, and some other things, so to go from one week to the next is getting better. But really, we had to get guys in some spots and get them some experience last week, which was part of the reason for the kind of ‘ugly’ win.”
Napoleon, on the other hand, was 0-2 last year before beating Center. The game was the first of nine wins in a row before falling to Lumen in a D-6 regional.
The Pirates fell to Columbia Central 35-21 in Week 1, but bounced back with a 45-8 win over Grass Lake last week.
Allen said if his team is to find its third win, the offense had to be better than it was in last week’s win, which featured numerous mistakes and three turnovers.
“Napoleon’s defense can be a little over aggressive at times,” Allen said. “If that happens, we have to find ways to take advantage of it. If we can get a big play here and there, which I think we can, we’ll be all right.”
Allen said he has no doubt his guys will be ready for the challenge Napoleon is sure to provide, not only because this is the first home game of the year.
“The guys are focused,” he said. “Last week was the quietest bus ride I’ve ever been a part of after a win. This is a group with very high expectations, and they weren’t content after last week at all. Now they want to go out and live up to those expectations.”
The game will air on JTV and jtv.tv/live on Saturday at 3:30pm and 9:30pm
Mike Moore is a play-by-play commentator and Sports Writer for JTV Sports.
He’s also a Real Estate agent with Real Estate One, specializing with buyers and sellers throughout Michigan, from the Jackson area to metro Detroit. You can reach him at mmoore@realestateone.com or by calling (313) 770-6365 with any inquiries.
