LANSING –– The Dryden football team was prepared for the fireworks on the field when it traveled to Lansing Friday for a win-or-go-home game for the Section IC Class C playoffs.
The Lions weren’t prepared, however, for actual fireworks.
The Lansing faithful, which came out in droves to support their team in the final game on their grass field, set rockets into the air to celebrate each Bobcat touchdown. The fans manning the mortars were kept busy as Dryden fell to Lansing in a 33-0 rout.
The Lions were plagued all night by an explosive Bobcats rushing attack spearheaded by senior running back Korbin Lovejoy. Lovejoy accounted for two touchdowns by himself in the first quarter, including a 19-yard sprint to the right pylon to open the game.
Bobcats quarterback Jaxson Mayo, looking to keep Dryden honest, took to the air for one of the few times throughout the course of the game soon after, putting a 20-yard strike straight into the bucket for Brennan McMillen to put his team in control.
Dryden was plagued by penalties on the other side of the ball. Holding calls proved to be the death of multiple drives that initially seemed promising.
When the laundry on the field wasn’t ending drives, the Bobcat defense was doing it themselves. When his Bobcats found themselves playing from within their own 40-yard line, Asher Benson came off the line and met Lions quarterback Brennan Poole in the middle. Benson stripped Poole and immediately recovered his own forced fumble to snuff out the Lions’ best scoring opportunity of the night.
The Lions ran most of their offense through the backfield tandem of Jay and Carmelo Miles. Despite hard running by both backs, they never got close enough to put points on the board for their team.
Back on defense, Dryden was still struggling to stop the run. Mayo, along with Dominick Smith, added on rushing touchdowns to increase the lead and cue even more fireworks from the fans.
Despite the appearance of a one-dimensional offense, the Bobcats added enough wrinkles to keep Dryden on its toes.
“Up front, they’re quick enough to turn block,” Dryden head coach Ralph Boettger said. “They’re not combo blocking or trapping. (Benson), their guard who pulls a lot, adds an extra man to their point of attack, and that’s tough to deal with. They’re huge up front, and once they turn on you it’s hard to get past them. They also have a stable of running backs that mix power and speed. It’s hard to tackle those guys who look to be 200 pounds or so.”
With the loss, Dryden ends its season at 3-6. Despite his drive to get back to work as soon as possible, Boettger knows that his team needs to recover before progress can be made toward turning it around in 2025.
“We’re going to let the players get away from the game for a while,” Boettger said. “We’re going to meet on Monday. I’m a big believer in starting the offseason training program immediately, but we need to be aware that it’s been a long season for these guys. After that, we have to do some recruiting because our numbers are so low. Within the next week or two, we’re going to send some letters out, conversations had and meetings held to try and figure out how to get some more people to come out and join the program.”
