Clawson Suffers First Loss of Season, 48-21 to Marine City

The varsity football team lost to Marine City 48-21 Friday night at City Park for the Trojans' first loss of the season. The Trojans are now 3-1.

Head coach Jim Sparks knew the odds were stacked against his 25-player roster going against the Mariners, who have defeated them in the last three seasons.

"We don't want to be an average team," Sparks said. "We may never be a Harrison or a Brother Rice but we want to be a team where maybe a coach has an off day. You go see them to see what Clawson's about."

Down early, Sparks and his staff kept the team playing hard.

Clawson took the opening kickoff but their initial drive fizzled at the Mariners 35-yard line after 11 plays and 40 yards of offense.

The Mariners used their ground game to score first on a 10-play 64-yard drive. Clawson quarterback Blake Blue was intercepted four plays later at the Mariner 24-yard line. The Mariners wasted little time and drove 76 yards in seven plays for their second touchdown and a 14-0 lead with just over three minutes left in the first quarter.

The Trojans couldn't find any holes in the Mariner defense and punted back after four plays. Marine City took control again and added another touchdown on a 12-play, 65-yard drive for a 21-0 lead. Blue was intercepted again and returned to the Clawson 46-yard line where the Mariners continued to run and pass its way to the end zone for a 28-0 lead by halftime.

Frustration was setting in as Blue was only 4-for-10 passing for 58 yards with two interceptions at halftime. Clawson had only 13 yards rushing while the Mariners had piled up 166 yards and an additional 102 yards passing.

Senior wide receiver and defensive back DeShawn Gilbert took an intended screen pass that was ruled a lateral 48 yards for a score to get the Trojans on the scoreboard 28-7 but the Mariners came roaring back with a 70-yard touchdown run on its first play to go back up 35-7. The Mariners then added another touchdown after a stalled Clawson drive for a 41-7 advantage (and a blocked extra point.)

Blue still couldn't move the team and the Mariners punched in one more touchdown for a commanding 48-7 lead with less than two minutes left in the third quarter.

Sparks made a change at quarterback putting in Gilbert who took the team 67 yards down the field in six plays as senior running back Deonte Hill scored on a 12-yard run. The Mariners tried to run out the clock by rushing but turned the ball back over to the Trojans at the eight-yard line.

Gilbert handed off to senior running back Jordan Ross who ambled 45 yards up field. Then Gilbert took the next snap and scored on a 50-yard run to cut the Mariners lead 48-21. The Mariners then ran out the clock to end the game. Gilbert ended the night with 158 yards rushing on six carries.

"(Gilbert) is good," Sparks said. "He's as good as anyone around. He can flat out play. Name any team around here and he could start for them."

One drawback on the night was a knee injury to senior Jalen Harrison late in the game. The extent of his injury was unknown at the end of the game.

Sparks still has plans to start Blue next week.

"Blake was getting frustrated and he was verbalizing some frustrations so I just made the decision at that time that going in could only take him backwards," he said. "I sent him a message. You can think that way but I don't want to hear it."

Sparks said his team "is headed in the right direction because of the effort" and their team goals are still in reach.

"We want to win our division," Sparks said. "We want to go to the playoffs. We've never been out of the second round and ultimately we want to play at Ford Field (in the state championship) one day."

Next up for the Trojans is a Saturday Sept. 24 game at Centerline. Kickoff is at noon.