Mitch Calvert
The Muskie football team was a pretty banged-up group going into Friday’s tilt with the Dryden Eagles—and came back worse for the wear after a 22-7 loss.
The game started well for Fort High as quarterback Dan Brunetta engineered a long drive in the first quarter using all his receivers.
Mica Gerber and Matt Mutz both made big catches to extend the drive before Brunetta hooked up with Blake Wepruk for a 21-yard score.
But that proved to be all the scoring for the visitors as the Eagles’ defence made the adjustment and came up with some big plays of their own, including a blocked punt that was returned for a defensive touchdown.
They also intercepted a Brunetta pass and ran it all the way down to the red zone—setting up an offensive touchdown to take the lead.
The Eagles would add a long touchdown pass on a defensive breakdown by the Muskies in the second half, which put the Muskies’ in too big of a hole to dig themselves out of down the stretch.
Muskie head coach Vince Gouin noted injuries to tackle Tyler Abma and receiver Jeremy Whitehead, plus a ’flu bug that affected a half-dozen players, certainly didn’t help their cause—but was quick to credit Dryden’s big-play ability for securing the victory.
“The injury bug kind of hit us hard, but overall I think the players played hard and never gave up,” Gouin stressed. “The boys played hard and from the heart, but a few mistakes and that was the difference in the game.
“It was a game we could have won, but they just made a couple more plays than we did.”
The Muskies (1-2) next host Maples this Thursday at 1 p.m. in their annual Homecoming game (the game is being held a day earlier than usual due to Friday being a P.D. Day for district students).
