(22) Todd Walraven rockets through the air catching incoming pass for a Garber first down.

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Garber Rides Over North Branch Broncos 16-7

The Bigger They Are . . . The Harder They Fall . . .

September 20, 2008
By: John Keuvelaar

The bigger they are, the harder they fall was the theme for the night.

Garber, facing a much larger North Branch team, showed great poise and execution as they moved the ball with great precision as they came away with a 16-7 win at North Branch.

This also marked the third straight game that a different player stepped forward to help lead the Dukes to victory. The Dukes forced the Broncos to go three and out on their opening drive. Then the Dukes marched the length of the field on a nice mixture of run and pass to the Bronco 13.

While this took up much of the first quarter, the Dukes came away empty handed. North Branch, using a tight double wing formation, got a break when #21 Dion Ci mini ran a counter play, broke some tackles and ran to the Garber 48. From there, the Dukes took over at their 13 and started moving the ball again but an interception and return to the Garber 41 gave the Broncos some momentum.

34 Andrew Ahoy is caught from behind after gaining good yardage.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

Jake Hebert eludes a flying Bronco.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

From there, North Branch put together what was to be their best drive of the night as they moved the ball down the field with power running. The Broncos finished off the drive with a nice option play where #11 Douglas Griffin pitched to #7 Cody Stack as Griffin was being tackled allowing Stack to jog into the end zone. Garber came right back as Hebert showed great confidence and maturity in his play.

While North Branch was keying on stopping Andrew Ahoy, Hebert showed his running ability as he took a roll out pass play and turned it up field for big gains. Then key passes to #44 Anthony Galsworthy and #27 Jimmy Conj but them on the Bronco doorstep where Andrew Ahoy drove it in from the one yard line for the score. Garber then took the lead as they ran a fake kick and Hebert ran the ball around right end with Galsworthy making a key block allowing Hebert to reach the end zone. This put Garber up 8-7 at the half.

This momentum carried over into the second half as Garber took the kickoff and march right down for the field. Then Hebert rolled to his left and hit a well covered Conj in the back of the end zone putting Garber up 14-7. Garber then was flagged on the extra point pushing them back and forcing them to go for two. This turned out to be an important two points as Hebert hit tight end #84 Mike Schroeder with a dump pass putting Garber up by 9 points, 16-7. That made it a two score lead.

Todd Walraven keeps fighting as a Bronco try to drag him down.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

17 Jake Hebert spots Travis Britko on this touchdown attempt.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

12 Lee Madziar catches a running Bronco as 27 Jimmy Conj gets ready to dole out some punishment.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

The rest of the game was tight and a real nail bitter as the Dukes moved the ball but couldn't put North Branch away. Penalties and muffed hand offs kept Garber from scoring. Defensively the Dukes held off the Broncos who could seem to do much with the ball except run a counter play to Ci mini that often resulted in big gains. The nine point lead seemed to affect North Branch's attack late in the fourth quarter.

Unable to pass on the Dukes, they were forced to run sweeps to get the ball out of bounds and the famed counter play. Garber by now was ready for that play and shut it down. Then Hebert intercepted a fourth down pass with 2:08 to play seeming to put the game away. However, the next play a muffed hand-off gave the ball right back to the Broncos and it seemed North Branch was back in business.

The Dukes defense again answered the call shutting down the Broncos for the win. For the game, Andrew Ahoy ran the ball 33 times for 128 yards. For the game, the Dukes had 204 rushing yards with Hebert running for most of the remaining 76 yards. He also threw for 62 yards on 6 for 9 passing. The Dukes improve to 4-0 overall and are 2-0 in TVC play. Next, they travel to Millington to take on the Cardinals.

12 Lee Madziar shows quarterbacks and hit.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

87 Brian Keen leads the way for Andrew Ahoy.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

84 Mike Schroeder has become a defensive weapon as he booms this punt.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

11 Doug Griffin passes under heavy Duke pressure.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

53 Shane O'Mara is superman on D.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

12 Lee Madziar and 56 Kyle ASL on a timely QB sack.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)