The road to Genesee too rough for Lutheran Northwest

Long road trips in the postseason have not been kind to Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest the past two years.

The Crusaders, who had to travel to the Thumb last season for their district opener in a 52-0 loss at Ubly, faced another potent, state-ranked team Friday in its Division 7 district opener. This time it was Genesee who laid a lopsided beating on the Crusaders, as the Wolves (9-1) rolled to a convincing 54-0 victory.

"The game was won in the trenches, and they were bigger and stronger than we were," admitted Northwest head coach Don Justice. "We have to make a commitment to get better in certain areas.

"Genesee is a very good football team  — don't get me wrong. We were able to move the football some, but we just couldn't stop them at times. They scored on a some big plays," added Justice.

Brandon Small and Carl Youry left the Crusaders (6-4) with some pre-Halloween nightmares, as the Genesee duo combined for over 400 yards of offense and six touchdowns

"They had some guys we jus.t couldn't stop," said Justice. "We had a guy with over a 100 yards receiving and our quarterback played well at times. But they had a lot of weapons that we couldn't stop."

Eric Mischley had 100 receiving yards from the arm of sophomore quarterback Nathan Drews.

It marked the third straight season that Northwest had reached the postseason and fifth overall. It also marked the fourth time the Crusaders have lost in the first round.

In 1999, Northwest's first postseason appearance, the Crusaders also lost to Genesee (40-9).

"I'm proud of these guys for getting here, but this shows how far we have to go," offered Justice. "We have a lot of work to do."