Fordson Football Blanks Crestwood in 40-0 Victory

The football team redeemed itself after last week’s downfall against Detroit Catholic Central by dominating Dearborn Heights Crestwood 40-0 on Friday.

The Chargers, who are now 0-2, were short-handed with 25 players compared to the roster-heavy Tractors, who have 61 players. The 36-man advantage gave the Tractors an upper hand in the game, according to Chargers’ head coach Aaron Moran.

“They’ve got 60 guys we’ve got 25,” Moran said. “They’re a lot bigger than we are and when you’re banging and banging and banging your smaller guys tire down quickly and that’s what happened after a while.”

Fordson took the early lead with a touchdown by quarterback Dominic Mathews just a minute into the opening period. Soon after, junior Michael Berry returned a punt 67 yards to increase Fordson’s lead to 16-0 with 8:56 remaining in the first quarter.

Berry finished with 212 rushing yards.

Fordson not only moved the ball on the ground but also in the air. Mathews threw a 28-yard pass to tight end Mohamed Berry, which set up a two-yard touchdown run by senior Zuri Norman midway through the first half.

“I don’t mind not getting touchdowns but if I can help my team get touchdowns and keep them scoring it’s fine by me,” said Berry, who celebrated his 17th birthday tonight.

“It’s always great to celebrate a win, but on my birthday it’s twice as good,” he added.

“Our kids played hard, there’s nothing we could’ve done tonight,” Moran said. “Our kids came out they hit and we got a lot of congratulations from Fordson on the way that our kids came out.”

Fordson head coach Zaban said this game helped boost his team’s confidence and get them ready for next week against Warren De La Salle.

“I think this helps the confidence but I don’t know how to judge us right now,” Zaban said.  “The game last week didn’t end up to good and going into next week I think De La Salle is going to be a tough challenge.”

De La Salle has one of the top-ranked quarterbacks in the nation in Shane Morris. Morris has caught the attention of collegiate recruiters of Michigan and Michigan State among other colleges, according to the Detroit News.

“Even if I am excited and happy we played a perfect game (today), we still got De La Salle next week so we can’t enjoy for too long,” Zaban said. “We need to probably stop their offensive attack, their passing attack, that’s where they’re really good, and I think that’s going to be the key to staying in the ball game.”

Fordson will host Warren De La Salle at home on Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. is also set to premiere on that day at noon.