Onaway struggles to contain prolific Rogers City passing attack
· Yahoo Sports
ONAWAY — A couple of rivals facing off on a darn-near perfect night for football.
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For one of those rivals, they came out of it pleased with how they performed.
For the other, there's some obvious work to do.
In the end, it was the Rogers City Hurons — spearheaded by a prolific passing attack led by junior quarterback Bryan McKinstry — who reigned superior in a 46-18 victory over the Onaway Cardinals in a Week 1 battle of Presque Isle County rivals in Onaway on Thursday, Aug. 27.
Here's some takeaways from the matchup.
Cardinals haunted by slow start
Like every team out there, the Cardinals (0-1) intended to get off to a fast start, but the Hurons (1-0) carved up the Onaway defense quickly, opening the game with a 59-yard touchdown pass from McKinstry to senior wide receiver Nolan Lesko on the first play from scrimmage. Leading 8-0 and forcing an Onaway 3-and-out, Rogers City struck again when McKinstry found sophomore Sam Whitford, who scored from 26 yards out, while another successful 2-point conversion pushed the Hurons' advantage to 16-0 just under four minutes into the contest.
Not ideal for the home team, which trailed 22-6 after one.
"It was just sloppy mistakes, blocking, communication," Onaway coach Micah Bailey said. "We all knew our jobs. We all knew what to do. A lack of communication got us in some trouble. We struggled moving the ball for a while, then we started moving it down, and it seemed like we would stall out."
McKinstry's night to shine
The Cardinals responded midway through the first when senior Kayson Jarvis capped off a long Onaway drive with a short touchdown run to trim Rogers City's deficit to 14-6.
However, the night belonged to McKinstry, who tossed one of his career-high seven touchdown passes to sophomore wide receiver Daryl Hawley, who made a nice catch to help stretch Rogers City's lead back to 22-6 with under a minute left in the first. McKinstry finished off a superb half with two more TD throws in the second, one of which went to Lesko, which helped the Hurons take a commanding 38-6 lead into the break.
"(McKinstry) played well," Rogers City coach Chris McKinstry said. "He didn't miss many throws, and even some of the incompletions were just weird angles and they dropped them, but he played a great game, and the receivers helped by catching a lot of those."
A 29-yard TD toss from McKinstry to Lesko in the fourth quarter wrapped up a stellar performance for the Hurons, who made an early statement with the road rivalry triumph.
"This feels good," coach McKinstry said. "It was nice to see that we were starting the year with a win against Onaway."
Encouraging signs for Onaway
It might've been a losing night for the Cardinals, but they played a more complete final two quarters, which featured a pair of TD runs from senior fullback Zach Schmoldt, who broke loose for a 19-yard score late in the third. Schmoldt and Jarvis were the standout runners for Onaway, but they also received quality performances from Jack Hartvigson and Phineas Benson, who were among the defensive leaders.
"I went and told the kids in the huddle at the end of the game that I'm proud of the way they played in the second half," Bailey said. "I didn't mention the first half at all, but I told them I was excited, and if we could play like that for the rest of the season, then we're going to win some football games."
Onaway takes on M-68 rival Inland Lakes in a 7 p.m. matchup on Friday, Sept. 4, in Onaway.
Rogers City travels to face Atlanta in a 7 p.m. contest on Friday, Sept. 4.
Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @sportsCDT
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Onaway struggles to contain prolific Rogers City passing attack